Most Indians eat almost double the recommended salt. Use your monthly salt packet to estimate how much you eat a day — and where the extra comes from.
Fill in the details and click Calculate to see your results.
The WHO recommends less than 5 g of salt (2,000 mg sodium) a day — about one level teaspoon in all, including the salt already in food. Studies find Indians eat 8–11 g a day on average.
A family of four using 1 kg of salt a month is already eating about 6.6 g each a day from home cooking alone, before pickles, papad, snacks and restaurant food. Cutting salt lowers blood pressure within a few weeks.
| Salt your home uses in a month | 1 kg |
| People eating at home | 4 people |
| Pickle a day (tablespoons) | 1 |
| Your salt a day (estimate) | 8.1 g ≈ 1.3 teaspoons |
| Sodium | 3,177 mg |
| WHO limit | 5 g salt (2,000 mg sodium) a day |
| Status | Above the limit by 3.1 g (61% more) |
| From home cooking | 6.6 g |
| From pickles, papad, noodles, snacks & labels | 1.5 g |
8.1 g ≈ 1.3 teaspoons; Above the limit by 3.1 g (61% more).
Less than 5 g a day for adults (WHO) — a level teaspoon — and less for children.
Salt = sodium × 2.54. So 1,000 mg of sodium on a label is about 2.5 g of salt.
Add salt only while cooking, not at the table; cut down on pickles, papad and namkeen; use lemon, herbs and spices for flavour; and check labels for sodium.