Convert between sodium and salt (NaCl). Compare salt types, check food sodium content against daily limits, and convert mg, mEq, mmol, and teaspoons.
Salt and sodium are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. Table salt is sodium chloride (NaCl), and only about 39% of its weight is sodium — the rest is chloride. This distinction matters enormously for health: food labels report sodium in milligrams, while recipes measure salt in teaspoons, and clinical settings use milliequivalents. This calculator bridges all these units seamlessly.
Enter any amount of salt or sodium in any unit (grams, milligrams, teaspoons, mEq, mmol), and the calculator instantly converts to all other units. It also accounts for different salt types — kosher salt, sea salt, Himalayan pink salt, lite salt — which have different sodium percentages due to mineral content and crystal structure. A built-in common food sodium reference table shows how everyday foods contribute to your daily budget.
The American Heart Association recommends no more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day (about 1 teaspoon of table salt), with an ideal limit of 1,500 mg for most adults. The average American consumes 3,400 mg — nearly 50% over the guideline. This converter helps you understand exactly how much sodium you are consuming and how it compares to recommended limits.
Understanding the sodium-salt relationship is essential for anyone managing blood pressure, heart failure, or kidney disease. This converter eliminates the confusion between labels, recipes, and clinical units. Keep these notes focused on your operational context. Tie the context to the calculator’s intended domain. Use this clarification to avoid ambiguous interpretation. Align this note with review checkpoints.
Sodium (mg) = Salt (mg) × 0.393 (NaCl molecular weight ratio: Na 22.99 / NaCl 58.44). Salt (mg) = Sodium (mg) / 0.393. 1 tsp table salt ≈ 6g ≈ 2,360 mg sodium. 1 mEq Na = 23 mg Na. Conversion factor varies by salt type (39.3% for table salt, 28% for Diamond Crystal kosher).
Result: Sodium: 1,965 mg (85.4% of daily limit)
5g table salt × 0.393 = 1,965 mg sodium = 85.4 mEq. This is 85.4% of the 2,300 mg daily limit — just one teaspoon would put you over.
The DASH-Sodium trial and INTERSALT study established that sodium intake and blood pressure share a dose-response relationship: for every 1,000 mg reduction in daily sodium, systolic blood pressure drops 2–4 mmHg on average. The effect is larger in salt-sensitive individuals (estimated at 50% of hypertensive patients and 25% of normotensive individuals). Combined with the DASH diet (rich in potassium, calcium, and magnesium), sodium reduction to 1,500 mg/day lowered BP as much as a single antihypertensive medication.
Bread is the #1 source of sodium in the American diet — not because each slice is high (150 mg), but because people eat it frequently. Other top contributors: cold cuts, pizza, soup, sandwiches, and poultry (often injected with salt solution). A single fast-food combo meal can contain 2,200–3,500 mg of sodium — an entire day's allowance in one sitting. The FDA's voluntary sodium reduction targets aim to lower average intake to 3,000 mg/day by 2024 through industry reformulation.
In hospital settings, sodium is measured in mEq/L or mmol/L. When calculating sodium deficit or replacement, converting between clinical units (mEq) and practical units (grams of salt, NaCl tablets) is essential. One 1-gram NaCl tablet provides 17.1 mEq of sodium. Oral sodium supplementation for SIADH typically uses 3–9 grams of NaCl tablets per day, divided into 3 doses with meals.
One level teaspoon of table salt (about 6 grams) contains approximately 2,360 mg of sodium. This alone exceeds the AHA ideal limit of 2,300 mg/day. Different salt types have different densities per teaspoon — Diamond Crystal kosher salt has 1,120 mg per teaspoon due to hollow flakes.
Not meaningfully. Sea salt is 97–99% NaCl with trace minerals in amounts too small to provide nutritional benefit. Gram for gram, sea salt has nearly the same sodium as table salt. The perceived health halo of sea salt may lead people to use more, actually increasing sodium intake.
Salt is sodium chloride (NaCl). Sodium (Na) is one of two elements in salt and makes up 39.3% by weight. When a label says 500 mg sodium, that equivalent is about 1,270 mg salt. Always multiply sodium by 2.54 to get salt equivalent.
Morton kosher salt has dense, flat crystals that pack tightly — similar sodium per teaspoon as table salt. Diamond Crystal has light, hollow flakes that occupy more volume with less weight. By weight, both are identical (39.3% Na), but by volume measure, Diamond Crystal has about 30% less sodium per teaspoon.
The biggest sources are restaurant/packaged food (over 70% of intake), not the salt shaker. Strategies: cook at home more, rinse canned vegetables, choose low-sodium versions of condiments, use herbs/spices instead of salt, and read labels (anything over 600 mg per serving is high). Taste buds adapt to lower sodium within 2–3 weeks.
Lite salt (like Morton Lite Salt) is a 50/50 blend of sodium chloride and potassium chloride (KCl). It provides about 50% less sodium per teaspoon. However, patients with kidney disease or on potassium-sparing diuretics should avoid it because potassium accumulation can cause dangerous hyperkalemia.