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:

[math]\displaystyle{ \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 }[/math]

(see: atomic mass and molecular mass).

Sources

British Nutrition Foundation article on salt

Salt equivalent

Topic: Physics

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Further reading