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Salt and your health
Salt is the common name for the chemical compound sodium chloride, made up of 40% sodium and 60% chloride. Most of our sodium intake is through the consumption of salt in our diet.
Why we need salt
A little salt is necessary for good health –sodium helps control the balance of fluids (blood and tissue) in the body as well as controlling muscle and nerve function.
The kidneys do most of the work of regulating how much sodium there is in our bodies. When sodium levels are too high, we feel thirsty and drink – and this liquid flushes sodium from our body through urine and sweat. When sodium levels are too low, the kidneys restrict the amount of sodium lost through urine.
In developed countries like Australia, sodium consumption tends to be much higher than it should be and health complications associated with a high sodium intake are common.
How much salt should I eat?
The upper limit (UL) of recommended sodium intake per day is less than 2400mg for all children (and adults):
||RECOMMENDED DAILY LIMIT|
||1000mg (2.5g salt)|
||1400mg (3.5g salt)|
|9-13 years||2000mg (5g salt)|
|14-18 years||2300mg (5.8g salt)|
2400mg (6g salt)
To put this in perspective, 2400mg of sodium or 6g of salt – the maximum recommended adult daily limit – is the equivalent of 1 teaspoon of salt.
The 2007 Australian National Children's Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey found that kids between 2-16 years were routinely consuming more salt than the recommended upper levels – in fact, boys were generally consuming up to over 9g of salt, and girls up to over 6g.
While it is virtually impossible to work out exactly how much salt we consume each day without cooking everything we eat from scratch, it is useful to know that about ¾ of our daily salt consumption comes through the food we buy. In fact, almost every processed food we consume contains added sodium – even the sugary foods such as sweets and fizzy drinks, as sodium can also be found in other additives such as sodium phosphate, sodium carbonate and sodium benzoate.
Seasoning our food with salt actually accounts for a very small percentage of the sodium we consume each day.
Sodium vs. salt
It is the sodium content in salt that we have to pay attention to as it is sodium that has an impact on our health. As commercial packaging can label nutritional information as ‘salt’ or ‘sodium’, it is worth remembering that sodium only represents 40% of salt – so if the nutritional information lists salt content, you need to multiply that number by 400 to get the sodium content. For example, 1g of salt for 100g is the same as 400mg of sodium per 100g of food.
- Foods with a high salt content have 1.5g or above of salt per 100g (or 0.6g/ 600mg of sodium)
- Foods with a low salt content have 0.3g or below of salt per 100g (or 0.12g/ 120mg of sodium)
Salt and our health
While we do need salt in our diet to maintain good health, most developed countries have to contend with a multitude of health problems associated with too much sodium in our diets. Too much sodium can cause the following health conditions:
- Nausea and vomiting
- Stomach cramps and bloating
- High blood pressure (hypertension)
- Heart failure
Health benefits of iodised salt
Iodised table salt is table salt that has added iodine. The iodine is added primarily to increase our daily intake of this essential trace element. Iodine deficiency is responsible for some types thyroid conditions (such as goiter), mental retardation, brain disorders, miscarriages, and in countries where iodine has been added to table salt, iodine-related disorders have all but disappeared.
Though rare, salt deficiency – known as hyponatremia– can be just as devastating to our health as too much salt. The body loses salt through urine, perspiration, diarrhoea and vomiting. When too much salt is lost from the body, fluid levels in the blood will drop, which can cause muscle cramps, dizziness, nausea and vomiting. A severe lack of salt in the body will ultimately result in shock, coma and death.
We are most vulnerable to hyponatremia when we have acute gastroenteritis or severe sweating, which is why replacing salts with special drinks when we are unwell or undertaking extreme physical activity is very important for our general wellbeing.
Related healthy nutrition articles:
- 12 special diets for your family
Find out more about salt
- Healthy meal ideas for families on the run
- Sugar and your family: The sweet truth
- The foods making your kids fat
- Learn what your kids should be eating with the healthy food pyramid
- How to raise healthier kids
This article was written by Ella Walsh for Kidspot, Australia’s best family health resource. Sources include AWASH (Australian Division of World Action on Salt & Health), National Health and Medical Research Council and Vic Govt’s better Health Channel.
Last revised: Monday, 8 November 2010
This article contains general information only and is not intended to replace advice from a qualified health professional.
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