Info about sodium: is it worth its salt?

It appears most New Zealanders have no idea how much salt they are eating.

New research, printed in the New Zealand Medical Journal, found the sodium information on packaged foods is not easily understood by the public and is therefore of little use.

The study's authors, pyschologist Dr Andrew Gilbey of Massey University and Sarah Fifield of Airways New Zealand, say consumers tend to exceed the recommended salt intake of 6g a day. This is partly because information about sodium and salt levels is confusing and misunderstood.

Their study examined whether people were able to accurately interpret the nutritional information about salt on the packaging of food products.

Of the 226 participants answered questions about their salt intake awareness and were asked to estimate the salt content of a can of Wattie's baked beans, using the nutritional information on the packaging, most did not know how to interpret the nutritional information, and many underestimated salt content by confusing it with sodium.

More than 98 per cent were unable to identity the amount of salt in the product. More than 58 per cent believed that salt and sodium are interchangeable terms. The researchers say this is a problem because most packaging only gives the sodium content.

"Unless consumers are aware that 1000 milligrams [1g] of sodium is equivalent to approximately 2500 milligrams [2.5g] of salt... then they would underestimate the amount of salt in any given food product by a factor of approximately 2.5."

The researchers cite research showing that a high level of salt intake is harmful to humans. They strongly recommend that food labelling should include the amount of salt per serving and at least a mention of the recommended maximum salt intake for adults per day.

The study showed that 67 per cent of participants claimed they cared about the amount of salt in their diet.