Foodwatch | Q. What level of sodium should I look for on a food label?

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Q. What level of sodium should I look for on a food label?

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[THE QUESTION IN FULL]

Q. When comparing the label of a food, I am unsure what level of sodium is acceptable for a healthy diet. Please help!

A. Salt chemically is sodium chloride and it's the sodium part that matters. The recommended intake for adults falls between 920 to 2300 milligrams (mg) sodium a day, although the body needs much less than this to survive.

Round it off to 2000mg and that’s a handy even number to remember when looking at labels. However the average Australian consumes more than double this so we’re overdoing the sodium!

You can work out roughly how much sodium you're eating by totalling your intake from what's on food labels. A slice of bread has 130mg, a slice of ham has 400mg, a 50g snack pack of crisps 450mg and so on. Vegetables, fruits, oats, milk, meat and fish have low amounts, say less than 20mg per serve.

By law, any product labelled 'low salt' or 'low sodium' - such as the low sodium vegetable juice pictured - must have no more than 120mg sodium per 100 grams.

Download a free Fact Sheet on salt and how to cut down in 7 easy steps.