Salt equivalent

Salt equivalent is usually quoted on food nutrition information tables on food labels, and is a different way of defining sodium intake, noting that salt is chemically sodium chloride.

To convert from sodium to the approximate salt equivalent, multiply sodium content by 2.5:

${\frac {m_{\mathrm {NaCl} }}{m_{\mathrm {Na} }}}={\frac {m_{\mathrm {Na} }+m_{\mathrm {Cl} }}{m_{\mathrm {Na} }}}\approx {\frac {23\mathrm {u} +35.5\mathrm {u} }{23\mathrm {u} }}={\frac {58.5}{23}}\approx 2.5$

(see: atomic mass and molecular mass).

Sources

• British Nutrition Foundation article on salt

Further reading

• Food and Health Manifesto, London: Food and Drink Federation, 2005, retrieved 2007-10-12