Sodium vs. Salt Intake

mmminent

After 100+ days of using MFP (while entering everything I eat on a daily basis) I realized that I can easily control my intake of calories, carbs, fats, proteins and sugars at recommended values. Except sodium.

I was wondering why I consume so much sodium, especially knowing that I never ever use salt for anything (I eat tomatoes w/o salt, potatoes w/o salt, I actually use salt on a super rare ocassions). So I did a research and I found out that salt and sodium are not the same thing. I also realized that the main table here at MFP uses sodium but most of the nutrition facts labels in my country use salt.

I even read multiple times that salt and sodium are used interchangeably which is even more confusing.

Then I found out that table salt and most sea salts contain about 40% sodium.

If that is correct then the intake of sodium (which in my report below is actually not a sodium but salt) is not bad at all.



But how do I know if MFP is not using sodium and salt interchangeably?

If I am not correct, then how can I lower my sodium intake? Note: I don't even eat chips, salted nuts, instant soups, commercially prepeared sauces and similar foods high in sodium.

What I realized is that my sodium intake skyrockets from recommended 2,300 mg per day to 4,000 mg, 5,000 mg or even 8,000 mg if I eat only a two or three slices of prosciutto, or half a pizza!? (again, the numbers in my report above are likely all for salt intake, not for sodium)

Now, if these are really my salt (not sodium) intakes then for example on a day when I consumed 6,000 mg of salt - that's actually 2,400 mg od sodium (40% of salt is sodium, right), and that is ok.

Am I correct or not?

Lietchi

The only way to know is to check the food labels. Being from Europe myself (salt on food labels, not sodium) I've seen many, many food database entries where the salt content was entered in the sodium field by unsuspecting members, which is obviously wrong. (The food database is crowdsourced)
I have a link to a salt-sodium converter on my phone to easily find the correct value and correct the wrong foods in my diary: https://campaigns.heartfoundation.org.au/sodium-and-salt-converter/

As for the deeper question: are you consuming too much sodium? Unless you have a health condition that requires that you monitor your sodium intake (most notably sodium sensitive high BP) I wouldn't worry about it too much

mmminent

Thanks for reply! I don't have any health condition. No high BP. I was just wondering if I figured out this salt vs. sodium thing correctly. Because it was confusing to me until I realized that salt and sodium are not the same.

I guess it is too late to correct all these wrongly inserted salt numbers (instead of sodium). I will keep doing it this way and keep in mind that only 40% of the numbers is actually sodium.

Lietchi

You can't be sure that all the numbers are salt instead of sodium, though?

But if you don't have BP issues, I guess it doesn't really matter.

mmminent

Yes, I can't be sure but in the future I will pay attention to it.

I just calculated that daily recommended intake of 2,300 mg of sodium is equivalent of 5,750 mg of salt. Then I checked it with your converter and it says the same.

kshama2001

When I was anemic I verified and updated the iron counts on all USER-created entries as they were invariably wrong.

Absent a medical condition, it's really not worth the time. I replace Sodium with Fiber ages ago and shut off that useless (to me) "Diary Insights" when I started using the app more.

Here's my standard bit on finding accurate entries:

Unfortunately, the green check marks in the MFP database are used for both USER-created entries and ADMIN-created entries that MFP pulled from the USDA database. A green check mark for USER-created entries just means enough people have upvoted the entry - it is not necessarily correct.

To find ADMIN entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP. All ADMIN entries from the USDA will have weights as an option BUT there is a glitch whereby sometimes 1g is the option but the values are actually for 100g. This is pretty easy to spot though, as when added the calories are 100x more than is reasonable.

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

Use the “SR Legacy” tab - that's what MFP used to pull in entries.

Note: any MFP entry that includes "USDA" was USER entered.

For packaged foods, I verify the label against what I find in MFP. (Alas, you cannot just scan with your phone and assume what you get is correct. Note: scanning is mostly only available with Premium these days.)

nsk1951

The original question was marked 'answered' ... yet I still wanted to add this: 1 teaspoon of table salt contains 2300 mg of sodium; according to the article from the FDA I just read. And while the term sodium is often used for salt, they are not the same; as already noted. Sodium is a mineral, salt is sodium chloride with the mineral in it.

AFM, my biggest culprit for intake of sodium is bread. I love rye bread and buy the 'artisan' loaf baked in my grocery store. Two slices has 470 mg of SODIUM. Adds up quick.

Here's a piece of that article from the FDA ...

Check the Package for Nutrient Claims
You can also check for nutrient claims on food and beverage packages to quickly identify those that may contain less sodium. Here’s a guide to common claims and what they mean:
What It Says
What It Means
Salt/Sodium-Free Less than 5 mg of sodium per serving
Very Low Sodium 35 mg of sodium or less per serving
Low Sodium 140 mg of sodium or less per serving
Reduced Sodium At least 25% less sodium than the regular product
Light in Sodium or Lightly Salted At least 50% less sodium than the regular product
No-Salt-Added or Unsalted No salt is added during processing – but these products may not be salt/sodium-free unless stated

mmminent

Thanks everybody for detailed answers! Your help is greatly appreciated. What a great community here.