Daily Salt Limit Calculator

About this calculator

Sodium and salt (sodium chloride) aren't the same thing — salt is only about 39% sodium by weight, so converting a sodium guideline into a salt amount means dividing by 0.39 (or multiplying by roughly 2.5). The World Health Organization recommends under 2,000 mg of sodium per day (about 5 g of salt, roughly one teaspoon), while the American Heart Association's ideal limit is even tighter at 1,500 mg for most adults, especially those with high blood pressure.

Dietitians, cardiac and kidney patients, and anyone reading a nutrition label use this conversion constantly, since food labels in the US list sodium in milligrams while home cooks think in teaspoons or grams of salt added to a dish. The gap between the two numbers matters — someone told to “cut back on sodium” who instead cuts back on salt by the same numeric amount is actually cutting their intake by less than half of what's needed.

This calculator takes your daily sodium target and converts it into grams of salt and teaspoons, so you can plan meals in units you actually measure with.