Sodium vs. Sodium Chloride

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literatelier
literatelier Posts: 209 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So I have been trying to get a handle on my sodium intake after seeing a post somewhere on here saying MFP put the daily limit way too high and it should be more around 1500mg instead of the default of 2400mg. I reset my macro and got to work....er, not to any improvement whatsoever because there seems to be way too much sodium in pretty much everything.

However I have been doing some reading and read that sodium is actually very different from "salt" or sodium chloride, and that by mass salt only makes up 40% or thereabouts of actual sodium, so the daily limit of 2400mg is actually accurate.

Does anyone have any insight?

Replies

  • literatelier
    literatelier Posts: 209 Member
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    Anyone?? Any thoughts at all?
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    Salt is NaCl - the Na is sodium with a weight of 23 the Cl is chlorine with a weight of 35.4 so the proportion of sodium in salt is just under 40% of the total mass.

    The UK GDA for salt is 6g which is 2400 mg (2.4g) of sodium.

    HTH.
  • Carol_L
    Carol_L Posts: 296 Member
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    See myth #5

    http://www.simplyshredded.com/the-truth-behind-5-food-myths.html
  • kacarter1017
    kacarter1017 Posts: 651 Member
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    It's true that sodium is only part of sodium chloride. However, labels read the SODIUM content of food. Not the sodium CHLORIDE content of food. The current "appropriate" level of sodium intake is somewhere between 1500 and 2500 mg daily. From what I'm hearing at professional meetings, the goal is to get it to 1500 mg over time. It's healthier at that level. The issue is all the sodium in preservatives and processed foods in America. It's very difficult to keep our sodium levels below 2000 mg daily if we eat anything that is processed on any level. Even my bread has almost 200 mg/slice! There is work occurring to lower sodium content of food; I have a feeling there will be quite the hue and cry about this. I make my own taco seasoning and baked beans now. My family thought I forgot something- the flavor just wasn't quite right. The issue turned out to be the decrease in sodium. Now that we eat this way most of the time, they have grown accustomed to the flavor. Working to lower your sodium intake to the 1500 mg level is a terrific thing to do. Might have to get creative to get it done however.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    Labelling varies by jurisdication.....

    Sodium 0.3g
    Salt Equivalent 0.7g

    from Heinz beans, per 100g
  • literatelier
    literatelier Posts: 209 Member
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    Thanks everyone - sounds like I had it backwards.

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