Table of Contents

salt / sodium in food products

see also:

Introduction

  • 1 teaspoon of salt = 5g salt containing 2g sodium
    • salt is sodium chloride (NaCl) with molecular weight of 58 and given atomic weights of sodium is 23 and chlorine is 35, sodium content is 23/58 which equates to 40% of salt

Example foods

  • unless you make your own dinners with care and rely more on fresh fruit, veges, unsalted nuts, it is really hard to avoid a high salt diet
    • now you know why nearly everyone is on tablets for high blood pressure - almost no one is on a recommended salt intake diet
    • bear in mind, the average adult should be aiming for around 20g of protein per meal - hence this is listed in the table - if you are ingesting salt without the benefit of adequate protein intake then you really need to review your diet
  • as you can see you should AVOID high salt foods such as processed meats (including fish), most canned soups, most supermarket frozen dinners, most supermarket canned dinners, canned baked beans, and most take aways - although these do not carry salt measurements, you can taste the very high salt content in nearly all - including fish and chips, hamburgers, pizzas, pies, pastas, and “Asian-style” foods (esp. soy sauce) and especially IF it tastes salty - there is FAR TOO MUCH SALT!
    • make your own pasta and then you can determine how much salt you add
  • even a cheese with low salt vegemite toast will give you over 300mg per slice!
  • other foods to minimise include blue vein cheese, olives, tortillas, and bagels.
  • processed meats (ham, bacon, sausages and salami in particular) contribute approximately 10% of daily sodium intake to the Australian diet, and make up an estimated 20% of the population’s meat intake. The target max. salt in bacon and ham is 2.7g/100g, while the UK target for sausages is 1.4g/100g (most Australian sausages are well over this). Salt content of sliced ham in Australia averages 2.6g/100g but ranges from 0.9-4.4g/100g. 1)

table of example foods

food sodium/100g usual serving sodium/usual serving size protein/100g sugar/100g comments
sea water 1.4g none at 14g per litre, this could be fatal!
added salt
1 teaspoon 40g 1tsp = 5g 2000mg 1 tsp would normally be used in 3-10 serves of a meal
small sprinkling 40g 1/10th tsp = 0.5g 200mg
soups
most canned soups 280mg 265g 742mg 2.5g 1.2g eg. Heinz country chicken
dried packet soups / noodles made up with water 265mg 250mL 660mg 0.5g 0.4g no nutritious value just flavoured salty water eg. Continental chicken noodle soup
packet liquid soups ~270mg 320g 835mg 3.2g 2g eg. Only Organic Comfort chicken sweetcorn
lower salt options ~180mg 430g 380-390mg 1-2.6g 2-4g eg. Sth Aust Gourmet Co. Creamy chicken veg or Tuscan tomato/basil
stock cubes 350mg/100mL stock 250mL/cube 880mg <1g 0.4g eg. Massel Chicken style
home made minestrone with pancetta and chickpeas ~160mg 300mL 480mg ~2-3g <1g high nutritious vegetable content, better if you leave out the pancetta but then you lose flavor
meats
raw bacon 600-2000mg 50g 300-1000mg there is a lot of variation in salt content of bacons but generally far too high!2)
pancetta 833mg 50g 420mg 12g <1g
BBQ sausage in white bread, tomato sauce 84g sausage 940mg
bacon and egg sandwich, BBQ sauce 48g bacon 1360mg AVOID BBQ sauce!!
ham sandwich 46g ham 800mg and that's not adding in pickles, cheese, etc!
pizza with ham, etc you don't want to know that is why you are so thirsty after a pizza!
eggs 136mg 60g (1 egg) 82mg 13g boiled, no added salt
milk
2% fat milk 45mg 250ml (1 cup) 113mg 3.4g 4.5g
lactose free low fat milk 40mg 250ml (1 cup) 100mg 3.4g 5.1g eg. Zymil low fat
cheese
light cheddar 700mg 16g/slice 112mg/slice 30g <1g eg. Cheer LightnTasty sliced (thin!)
parmesan 2150mg 5g 108mg 38g 1.1g
spreads / condiments
BBQ sauce 1030mg 15mL 155mg g g average
tomato sauce 845mg 15mL 130mg 1.3g 25g eg. Fountain tomato sauce
fat free coleslaw 850mg 20mL 170mg < 1g 20g eg. Praise 99% fat free coleslaw dressing
mustard pickles 690mg 30g 207mg <1g 14g eg. Three Threes sweet mustard pickles
margarine 360mg 10g 36mg <1g <1g eg. Flora proActiv
peanut butter 255mg 20g (1tbsp) 50mg 25g 4g eg. Mayvers smooth peanut butter
vegemite
reduced salt vegemite 1900mg 5g 100mg 22g 3.5g eg. 40% less salt Vegemite
soy sauce 6880mg 15mL 1030mg 7.7g 10.2g eg. Lee Kum Kee Premium Soy Sauce
bread
light rye 380mg 38g/slice 100mg/slice 8.8g 2.4g eg. Abbots Light rye
crackers and biscuits
water crackers 620mg 11.6g (4 crackers) 72mg 13g <1g eg. Captains Table water crackers
breakfast cereals
Vita Brits 395mg 50g (3 biscuits) 200mg 12.8g 1.7g
pancake shakes
choc chip 360mg 117g (2 pancakes) 421mg 4.9g 18g eg. Green's choc chip buttermilk pancake shake
nuts
dry roasted unsalted 7mg 30g <5mg 16.3g 4.8g eg. Woolworths Luxury nut mix dry roasted unsalted
uncooked pasta
pasta 5mg 80g 4mg 12.5g 3.5g eg. Barilla penne rigate; NB. most would add 1 tbsp salt per litre of water when cooking pasta, but most of this would be drained off
  • dry roasted unsalted nuts in moderation (there are a lot of calories in nuts!) are a great option as well as pasta, fruit and vegetables that YOU have prepared with minimal salt added
1)
https://www.georgeinstitute.org.au/sites/default/files/key-findings-report-processed-meat-sausage-bacon-and-ham.pdf
2)
https://www.actiononsalt.org.uk/salt-surveys/2020/bacon/