Salt and sodium: how to read the milligrams on a label

Say the sodium line on a ready meal reads 920 mg (an illustrative figure, not from a real pack). Salt advice comes in grams of salt, so convert it: multiply by 2.5 and move the decimal point three places. That is about 2.3 g of salt, a little under half of WHO's limit for a whole day.

Why the label counts sodium, not salt

Table salt is sodium chloride. Labels count only the sodium, the part health advice is about, which is why the number looks smaller than the salt you would measure with a spoon. WHO's conversion: 1 g of salt is equivalent to 400 mg of sodium.

As formulas: sodium (mg) × 2.5 ÷ 1,000 = salt (g), and salt (g) × 400 = sodium (mg). The conversion is approximate but works for sodium from any source.

The limit is 2,000 mg, and the average adult eats about twice that

WHO recommends that adults keep sodium below 2,000 mg a day, yet in 2021 the global adult average was 4,278 mg, about 11 g of salt. Too much sodium mainly raises blood pressure, and that increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (WHO). WHO also advises that the salt you do use be iodized.

Thai labels work from the same number: the front-of-pack GDA label (ฉลากหวาน มัน เค็ม) shows a pack's sodium as a share of a 2,000 mg daily maximum. UK advice uses 6 g of salt a day (NHS), but in Thailand 2,000 mg of sodium is the number to remember.

Most of it arrives already in the food

Most of the sodium people eat does not come from the salt shaker at the table. WHO names soy sauce and fish sauce among its sources and notes that in many high-income countries processed foods supply a significant share. In the UK, the NHS says around three quarters of the salt people eat is already in packaged and everyday foods such as bread, breakfast cereals, meat products and ready meals, and that takeaway, restaurant and café meals are often higher in salt.

In Thai home cooking, much of the salty taste comes from liquids: fish sauce, soy sauce, seasoning sauce and dipping sauces. They are easy to pour without thinking of them as salt, yet a spoonful adds sodium the way a pinch of salt does. Monosodium glutamate counts too, as the sodium salt of glutamic acid, although it usually adds far less than salt and salty sauces. More in our article on MSG.

Where sodium shows up on a Thai pack

The nutrition panel gives sodium in milligrams per serving, with a percentage of the Thai reference daily intake (Thai FDA, Notification No. 445). Check the number of servings per pack: if there are two and you eat both, double the figure.

The GDA label has already done that sum for the whole pack, so a ready meal at 40% brings close to half the daily limit.

Claims such as "low sodium" or "no salt added" are regulated nutrient claims in Thailand, and they are calculated as sodium, not salt (Notification No. 445). A product without one is not necessarily high in sodium; it may never have been assessed for the claim. Sugar on the same panel follows other rules, covered in added and natural sugar.

Habits that move the number

Taste before reaching for the sauce: many dishes are already seasoned. After a salty lunch, keep dinner simple. Between two similar products, compare per 100 g (how to read a ready meal pack). If a doctor has given you a specific sodium limit, follow it; a general article cannot replace that advice.

Why our dish cards show no sodium figure

We aim to use salt and sugar thoughtfully, but no measured standard backs that aim, so we don't call our dishes "low sodium" or "low salt". We don't add MSG (monosodium glutamate) as an ingredient to our recipes, including sauces and broths. Calories and macros on our packs are calculated from the recipe (ingredients and weights), not measured in a laboratory, and the cards on our menu show calories, protein, fat and carbohydrate, but we don't publish sodium figures per dish. If you have a question about a specific dish, reach us on WhatsApp, Telegram or by phone; contacts are in the site footer.