How Much Salt Per Day: The 5 g Rule and Where the Rest Sneaks In
Quick answer: The WHO recommends under 5 g of salt a day โ one level teaspoon โ which is 2 g of sodium. US guidelines allow 2.3 g sodium (about 5.8 g salt). Most adults eat 9โ12 g of salt a day, roughly double the limit, and about 75% of it is already inside the food when you buy it: bread, processed meat, cheese, sauces, soups, ready meals and restaurant dishes. The shaker on the table is a minor contributor. The effects you can feel this week are water retention โ morning puffiness, a scale that jumps 1โ2 kg overnight โ and thirst.
Salt vs sodium: the conversion everyone gets wrong
Labels in the US list sodium; labels in the EU and UK list salt. They are not the same number.
- Salt = sodium ร 2.5
- Sodium = salt รท 2.5
So "2.3 g sodium" on a US label is 5.75 g of salt. "1.2 g salt" on a European label is 0.48 g sodium. Mixing them up is the most common reason people think they are well under the limit when they are double it.
Guideline summary, in both units:
| Body | Sodium | Salt |
|---|---|---|
| WHO | <2 g | <5 g |
| US Dietary Guidelines | <2.3 g | <5.75 g |
| AHA ideal | 1.5 g | 3.75 g |
| UK NHS | 2.4 g | 6 g |
| Germany DGE | โ | 6 g |
Where the salt is
A day that lands at 10 g without a single pinch added at the table:
| Item | Salt |
|---|---|
| 2 slices of bread (breakfast) | 1.0 g |
| 30 g cheese | 0.5 g |
| Ham sandwich (2 slices bread, 50 g ham) | 2.0 g |
| Bag of chips | 0.5 g |
| Restaurant pasta with jar-style sauce | 2.5 g |
| Soy sauce, 1 tbsp | 2.3 g |
| Canned soup, 1 bowl | 1.5 g |
| Total | ~10.3 g |
The heavy hitters, by category:
- Bread and cereals. Bread alone is the #1 source of salt in most Western diets โ not because it is very salty, but because people eat a lot of it. 0.4โ0.6 g per slice.
- Processed meat. Ham, bacon, salami, sausages, deli turkey: 1โ2 g per 50 g.
- Cheese. Feta, halloumi and blue cheese are highest (2โ3 g per 100 g); mozzarella and Swiss are lowest.
- Sauces and condiments. Soy sauce, fish sauce, miso, stock cubes, bouillon, ketchup, pickles, olives. A tablespoon of soy sauce is nearly half the day's limit.
- Ready meals and takeaways. Pizza (2โ3 g per two slices), instant noodles (3โ5 g per pack), Chinese, Thai and Indian restaurant dishes (3โ5 g per main course).
- Snacks. Chips, salted nuts, crackers, popcorn.
- Restaurant food in general. Chefs salt for flavour, not for your blood pressure. A restaurant main course is often 3โ4 g before the bread and the side.
Foods that surprise people: breakfast cereal, sweet biscuits, some bottled waters, canned vegetables, cottage cheese, and "reduced-fat" products, which often add salt to compensate for lost flavour.
What too much salt does
Long term โ the well-known part: higher blood pressure, which drives heart disease, stroke and kidney damage. Reducing salt from 10 g to 5 g lowers systolic blood pressure by around 4โ5 mmHg on average, more in people who are already hypertensive.
Short term โ the part you can see:
- Water retention. Sodium holds water. A high-salt day can add 1โ2 kg of water weight overnight; the scale goes up, the face and hands look puffy in the morning, rings feel tight. People on a calorie deficit regularly panic over a "gain" that is salt from last night's takeaway.
- Thirst and bloating. Obvious, but often misread as hunger.
- Sleep. High evening sodium is linked to more night-time waking and bathroom trips.
- Stalled scale. Weekly weight trends get noisy when salt swings day to day. Tracking salt is often what makes weight data interpretable.
Why nobody tracks it
Salt is on every label and in every database, and almost no calorie app shows it on the main screen. It is not a macro; it does not affect calories; photo-based apps struggle to estimate it. So it stays buried in a detail view that people open once.
CalMePlease shows salt as one of ten primary metrics on each meal, against the 5 g target, and its AI coach uses it: a day already at 4 g by lunch produces a nudge toward a low-salt dinner, and a morning weight jump after a high-salt day is flagged as water, not fat.
How to eat under 5 g without cooking everything from scratch
- Read the bread label. Choose the lowest-salt loaf you can tolerate; it is the biggest single lever for most people.
- Halve the processed meat. Replace one deli sandwich a day with chicken, eggs, tuna in water, or beans.
- Measure soy sauce, stock and bouillon. Use half, or switch to reduced-sodium versions (typically 40% less).
- Cook rice, pasta and vegetables without salt and season at the end โ you use less when you can taste it.
- Add flavour that isn't salt: acid (lemon, vinegar), heat, garlic, herbs, umami from tomato paste or mushrooms.
- Treat restaurant meals as 3โ4 g each and keep the rest of the day low.
- Keep potassium high โ fruit, vegetables, beans, potatoes, yogurt. Potassium offsets some of sodium's effect on blood pressure.
Taste adapts in two to three weeks. Food that seems bland at first tastes normal by week three, and previously normal food tastes over-salted.
FAQ
How much salt per day is safe? Under 5 g of salt (2 g sodium) per the WHO; under 5.75 g salt (2.3 g sodium) per US guidelines. Most adults eat about double that.
Is sodium the same as salt? No. Salt is sodium chloride and is about 40% sodium by weight. Multiply sodium by 2.5 to get salt.
What are the symptoms of too much salt? Thirst, bloating, puffy face and hands in the morning, sudden 1โ2 kg weight gain from water, headaches in some people, and over years, high blood pressure.
Does sweating mean I need more salt? Heavy, prolonged sweating (long endurance sessions, hot manual work) increases losses, and athletes may need more. A normal gym session does not offset a 10 g diet.
Which foods are highest in salt? Soy and fish sauce, instant noodles, processed meat, cheese, bread (by volume eaten), pizza, ready meals, canned soup, pickles and restaurant food.
Can I eat too little salt? Very low intakes (under ~1.5 g salt) are rare on a normal diet and not a concern for most people. If you eat any processed food at all, you are not at risk of too little.
Related: Hidden sugar: where it comes from ยท How much water per day ยท Barcode scanner for calories: what the label doesn't tell you
CalMePlease tracks salt on every meal, from a photo, voice note or barcode, and tells you when a weight jump is water. Free on the App Store.
