Most of your salt never touches the shaker

24 October 2026, 2 minute read

Cutting back at the table helps less than reading the bread packet.

The World Health Organization advises adults to stay under 5 grams of salt a day, which is a little less than a level teaspoon. The world average is about twice that.

Salt and sodium are not the same number. Labels in some countries list sodium, and salt is sodium multiplied by 2.5. So the 5 gram limit equals 2 grams, or 2,000 milligrams, of sodium.

Where it comes from

In countries where most food is bought ready-made, about 70 percent of sodium comes from packaged and restaurant food. The salt you add while cooking or at the table is the small part. The biggest contributors are ordinary things eaten often:

• bread and rolls
• cured meat, sausages and bacon
• cheese
• soups, sauces and stock cubes
• pizza and takeaway meals

None of these taste especially salty, which is why the total creeps up without anyone noticing.

What to do with this

Compare the labels of the two or three things you buy every week, such as bread, cheese and a sauce, and switch to the lower one. That single habit moves the number more than hiding the shaker. Cooking from raw ingredients a few more times a week does the rest. Taste food before salting it.

The reason to care is blood pressure. Eating less salt lowers it in most people, and the effect is larger in those whose pressure is already high.