Low salt, reduced salt or unsalted?
Some people might find that understanding sodium on food labels can be confusing. Be aware that not all foods that are labeled with these salt claims means they’re low in sodium. For example, a bottle of miso paste that claims to have 25% less salt still has a whopping 1200 mg in 1 tablespoon.
So, what do all of these food label claims really mean?
- Reduced or lower in sodium. The product contains at least 25% less sodium than the regular version.
- Low or lite or light in sodium or lightly salted. Each serving contains 120 mg of sodium or less.
- Very low sodium. Each serving contains 40 mg of sodium or less.
- Sodium-free or salt-free. Each serving in this product contains less than 5 mg of sodium.
- Unsalted or no salt added. No salt or salt-containing additives are added to the food. However, some foods with these labels may contain some sodium.
Remember to check the serving size
When limiting sodium in your diet, a common target is to eat less than 2,000 milligrams of sodium per day. So, always try to select products with less than 200 mg of sodium per serving. And be sure you know how many servings are in a package. Remember that, the serving size is based on the amount of food people typically eat at one time. So if you eat or use more than a single serving, make sure to multiply those sodium numbers to calculate the true total.