How much salt are you eating?
Most of the salt we eat comes from processed foods, fast food, canteen and restaurant food.
In most people’s diet:
- 70%-80% of the salt we eat is from processed foods added during processing
- 20% is added to food during cooking or at the table
- 10%-15% of the salt we eat is found naturally in food
Even if you stopped adding salt to your food at the table, you could still be eating far too much of it each day. The best way to cut down on salt is to eat more fresh foods and fewer processed foods.
Check out how much salt there is in some of the foods we eat every day.
| High in salt |
Lower in salt |
- Pot noodles (4.5g)
- 225g deep crispy pizza (4.1g)
- Two slices of bacon (3.3g)
- 225g tin of baked beans (3.0g)
- Two suasages, grilled (2.4g)
- One sachet of cuppa soup (2.2g)
- 200ml tin soup (2.2g)
|
- One portion fresh chicken (0.02g)
- One portion fresh fish (0.02g)
- One piece of fresh fruit (0.01g)
- Fresh/frozen vegetables (0.01g)
- Serving of potatoes (0.01g)
- Shredded wheat cereal (trace)
- Dried apricots/raisins (trace)
|
Check the labels
Have a look at the nutrition labels to see how much salt is in that food. The proper name for salt is sodium chloride, and sometimes it is the amount of sodium, rather than salt, that is listed on food labels.
1g of sodium = 2.4g salt
As a general rule:
| Foods are low in salt if the label says: |
Foods are high in salt if the label says: |
|
Less than or equal to 0.1g sodium/ 100g
or
0.3g salt/100g
|
Greater than or equal to 0.5g sodium/100g
or
1.5g salt/100g
|
Calculate how much salt you eat
Our salt calculator can help you find out how much salt is in your food using nutrition labels on products
To use the calculator
- Look at the nutrition label and find the amount of sodium in 100g.
- Work out how much of the food you are going to eat and then enter that amount (in grams).
- Click on the “calculate” button to see how much salt is in the serving and what percentage this is of your daily recommended allowance.
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Tips on how to cut down your salt intake