sodium conversion question

kaja
kaja Posts: 145 Member
edited September 20 in Food and Nutrition
I'm trying to keep track of my sodium in take on this site. I find this very difficult to do as a lot of the foods I am entering don't seem to have much sodium in them even though I know that there should be loads.

My question is - when people enter foods are they entering the sodium in grams or milligrams?

This site expects people to enter in milligrams (mg) but most packages tell you the amount in grams (g).

To convert to milligrams you have to multiply the amount in grams by 1000. :frown:

Either that or we could ask the site to change the sodium amount to grams (much less confusing).

What do other people think?

Replies

  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    sodium in food is almost always measured in mg. you only need about 2.5 GRAMS of sodium per day, so we translate that into 2500 mg (2500 is a MAXIMUM amount for most people, more than that is usually unnecessary unless you are working out excessively), all the food packaging I have ever read put sodium levels in mg not g. In fact I've never seen sodium expressed in g on food packaging before. Which foods do you see sodium listed in grams on?
  • kaja
    kaja Posts: 145 Member
    I'm in the UK its always in grams over here.
    A lot of other countries express the amount in grams too.
    Don't expect that the way something is done in America is the same everywhere.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    I'm in the UK its always in grams over here.
    A lot of other countries express the amount in grams too.
    Don't expect that the way something is done in America is the same everywhere.

    actually, when I was in London in March, everything there was in mg of sodium too, that I saw at least. Although admittedly I didn't go food shopping or anything, most of the labels I looked at were either at the airport or at convenience stores.

    But no offense intended. I looked briefly at your profile, saw the WA, which in the US stands for Washington, and assumed you were from there. Since it doesn't say what country people are from, this is a reasonable assumption on my part, which was why my response was what it was. Since the majority of users on here are from the US, I don't think it's unreasonable for me to think in those terms.
  • Shanta1983
    Shanta1983 Posts: 1,228 Member
    I'm in the UK its always in grams over here.
    A lot of other countries express the amount in grams too.
    Don't expect that the way something is done in America is the same everywhere.

    actually, when I was in London in March, everything there was in mg of sodium too, that I saw at least. Although admittedly I didn't go food shopping or anything, most of the labels I looked at were either at the airport or at convenience stores.

    But no offense intended. I looked briefly at your profile, saw the WA, which in the US stands for Washington, and assumed you were from there. Since it doesn't say what country people are from, this is a reasonable assumption on my part, which was why my response was what it was. Since the majority of users on here are from the US, I don't think it's unreasonable for me to think in those terms.


    i totally agree with everything he said in both post:drinker:
  • kaja
    kaja Posts: 145 Member
    The only reason it says WA on my profile is because this site makes you enter a state, it was completely random and I didn't know how to take it off.

    I love this site because it is giving me so much support but obviously it is set up especially for the US market. This means that I spend a lot of my time converting amounts - I really don't get ounces (28g).

    In the UK there are some products in mg but the majority that I find are in g. I did not realise that in the US that most things are in mg.

    I think therefore that the problem with the sodium is that I use foods that have been entered from shops in the UK that are not in the US and most of these have been entered by users from my side of the pond and maybe they have missed that they have to convert g into mg.

    I mean does a stock cube have 0mg of sodium?

    Thanks for your replies SHBoss it has made me understand what the problem is a bit more and that sodium for me on this site is probably too hard to track and i will just have to do it on paper instead.
  • kaja
    kaja Posts: 145 Member
    I just worked out how to change my profile - you have to alter it afterwards.
    You do have to put a state in first and then it give other options.
    Silly me.
  • MattySparky
    MattySparky Posts: 771
    everything I buy has sodium in mg... I have NEVER seen anything in grams... if what you're eating has the sodium listed in grams then Im pretty sure youre eating a high sodium diet... unless an item has over 1000mg of sodium there is no point in the company printing the label in grams... catch my drift? Anything with over 1000 mg of sodium per serving is DISGUSTING!! for that matter anything with over 300mg of sodium per serving I find totally repulsive.
  • Mom_To_5
    Mom_To_5 Posts: 646 Member
    hi there!

    I just wanted to put in my .02 and say that here in Canada sodium is listed in mg as well. I have actually changed my sodium to 2000 mg a day and i am usually under that anyways. Not that i have been good at tracking my foods lately(had lots going on) getting back at it today!

    Hope you are enjoying the site. Yet again ShBoss has some very helpful info!!:drinker:
  • apalesko
    apalesko Posts: 21
    In Japan, it's listed in either g OR mg. Things like miso are high in sodium, so it will say 1.2 g, since that's easier than 1200 mg. Things less than 1 g are listed in mg.

    Just thought I'd share info about another country. :)
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