Salt in the Diet

What is salt?

Table salt is a chemical compound that contains sodium. It is also called sodium chloride. Salt is often the main source of sodium in your diet.

Why is salt important?

Your body needs sodium to work properly.

• The cells of your body need sodium to keep working normally.
• Sodium helps your body keep the right balance of fluids. Fluid balance is important for many body functions, including maintaining blood pressure, avoiding dehydration, and keeping the kidneys healthy. Too little sodium in the blood can keep brain, heart, nerve, and muscle cells from working properly.

Too much salt in your diet can lead to too much sodium in the blood and cause health problems. For example:

• Your body may keep too much water. This may cause uncomfortable swelling of the hands, feet, and belly.
• Your blood pressure may get too high. High blood pressure increases your risk for heart disease and stroke.

What is the recommended amount of salt?

The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that you eat no more than 1 teaspoon of salt, or 2300 milligrams (mg) of sodium, a day. The average American adult eats quite a bit more sodium than this—often between 4000 and 9000 mg of sodium a day.

You should have no more than 1500 mg of sodium a day if:

• You are 51 or older.
• You have high blood pressure, diabetes or kidney disease.
• You are African American.

How do I lower the amount of salt in my diet?

You can take several steps to decrease the salt in your diet:

• Eat more fresh, whole foods, like fresh fruits and vegetables, which have very little sodium.
• Stop adding salt to food at the table. Try flavoring your food with other spices or salt substitutes that do not contain sodium.
• Use little or no salt during food preparation and cooking. Use other spices instead of salt.
• Read the labels on all canned, packaged, or frozen foods to see how much sodium they contain. Many soups, frozen dinners, lunch meats, instant rice and noodle mixes, and other convenience foods have a lot of sodium. Be aware that food labels list sodium rather than salt content and the amount is always given in milligrams (mg) rather than grams (g). 2,300 mg is the same as 2.3 grams of sodium. Foods that have less than 140 mg sodium per serving are considered to be low in salt.
• Check the sodium content in snack foods, even snacks that don’t taste salty.
• Don't use a lot of sauces and condiments, such as ketchup, on foods.

What are examples of sodium content in common foods?

Fresh, whole foods, like fresh fruits and vegetables, have very little sodium. Most of the sodium we eat is added during food processing and preparation. The list below gives some examples of the sodium content in different groups of foods.

Food                          Serving Size   Sodium Content (mg)
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Grains and grain products
Cooked cereal, rice, or
   pasta, unsalted                1/2 cup        0 to 5
Ready-to-eat cereal               1 cup        100 to 360
Bread                             1 slice      110 to 175

Vegetables
Fresh or frozen, cooked
   without salt                   1/2 cup        1 to 70
Canned or frozen with sauce       1/2 cup      140 to 460
Tomato juice, canned              3/4 cup      820

Fruit
Fresh, frozen, canned             1/2 cup        0 to 5

Low-fat or fat-free dairy foods
Milk                              1 cup        120
Yogurt                            8 oz         160
Natural cheeses              1 and 1/2 oz      110 to 450
Processed cheeses            1 and 1/2 oz      600

Nuts, Seeds and dry beans
Peanuts, salted                   1/3 cup      120
Peanuts, unsalted                 1/3 cup        0 to 5
Beans, cooked from dried or
   frozen without salt            1/2 cup        0 to 5
Beans, canned                     1/2 cup      400

Meats, fish and poultry
Fresh meat, fish, poultry             3 oz        30 to 90
Tuna canned, water pack, no
   salt added                         3 oz        35 to 45
Tuna canned, water pack               3 oz       250 to 350
Ham, lean, roasted                    3 oz      1020
Egg                               1 egg, raw      60 to 80

Fast foods, condiments, and sauces
Burger King Whopper               1 sandwich    1020
Burger King French fries          medium large   640 to 880
Catsup                            1 tablespoon   200
Mustard                           1 teaspoon      80
Soy sauce                         1 tablespoon   914
Table salt                        1 teaspoon    2326
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Eating less sodium is one of the easier changes you can make in your diet. After you have been on a low-sodium diet for a while, you will become more sensitive to the taste of salt in foods. For most people, this takes about 30 days, so it is important to stick with it. There’s a good chance you will find that you enjoy eating foods that have less salt and are less processed. Some foods, like canned soups and packaged meats, may start tasting too salty.

You can use herb and spice mixes to add flavor to your food, but watch out for seasoning mixes that may include salt, such as lemon pepper, Cajun seasoning, and blackening spices.

If you are taking medicine or have any medical problems, be sure to check with your healthcare provider before you change your diet. Don’t use potassium-based salt substitutes unless your healthcare provider approves

If you would like to have a more complete list of the sodium content of common American foods, visit the USDA National Nutrient Database at http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/.

See also: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/hbp/prevent/sodium/sodium.htm for a guide to reducing the salt and sodium in your diet.