How much salt and sugar per day?

The WHO recommends less than 5 g of salt per day for an adult (i.e. 2 g of sodium) and less than 10% of total energy intake from free sugars, roughly 50 g for 2,000 kcal. ANSES, for its part, sets a maximum of 100 g of sugars per day for an adult, excluding lactose and galactose. These benchmarks do not measure the same thing and are not personalised medical advice.

How do you convert sodium to salt?

The European regulation on food information to consumers sets the formula: salt = sodium × 2.5. A product containing 0.4 g of sodium per 100 g therefore contains about 1 g of salt per 100 g. The mandatory nutrition table expresses the value as salt.

What is the difference between natural sugars and added sugars?

Natural sugars are present in the food itself, such as the lactose in milk or the fructose in fruit. Added sugars are introduced during manufacturing. The nutrition table adds both together under "of which sugars": to know whether a sugar has been added, you need to read the ingredients list. Fruit juices and honey, for their part, count as free sugars for the WHO.

What does "low in salt" mean?

Under the European regulation on claims, a product may carry this claim only if it contains no more than 0.12 g of sodium (or the equivalent in salt, i.e. 0.3 g) per 100 g or 100 ml. "Very low in salt" corresponds to 0.04 g of sodium, and "sodium-free" or "salt-free" to 0.005 g per 100 g.

Hidden sugar and salt: where to find them and how to spot them

Why talk about hidden sugar and salt

Nobody eats a packet of salt by the spoonful, yet in France, salt intake exceeds the benchmarks. According to theANSES, following the INCA 3 study, adults consume on average around 9 g of salt per day for men and 7 g for women, slightly above the targets of the Programme national nutrition santé (8 g and 6.5 g). Sugar follows the same logic: ANSES indicates that20 to 30% of adults and adolescents exceed 100 g of sugars per day.

The reason is simple: most of this intake does not come from the salt cellar or the sugar bowl, but from processed foods where people do not look for it. This article lists the food families concerned, the names to know on the label, and the benchmarks for comparing two products.

The benchmarks to keep in mind

Two official sources give numerical benchmarks, which do not measure the same thing:

The WHOrecommends limiting free sugars toless than 10% of daily energy intake, i.e. around 50 g for a person consuming 2,000 kcal per day, and keeping salt below5 g of salt per dayfor an adult, which corresponds to 2 g of sodium. Going below 5% of energy from free sugars is presented as an optional additional goal.
ANSESrecommends not exceeding100 g of sugars per day (excluding lactose and galactose)for an adult, natural and added sugars combined, with 75 g for 8 to 12 year olds and 60 g for 4 to 7 year olds. It also advises not drinking more than one glass of a sugary drink per day.

The WHO's free sugars include sugars added by the manufacturer, the cook or the consumer, but also those in honey, syrups, fruit juices and concentrated juices. ANSES's benchmark counts all sugars except lactose and galactose. The two figures are therefore consistent without being comparable. For a full overview, see our article onthe daily benchmarks.

Natural and added sugars: the difference

The European regulation on food information to consumers defines "sugars" asall monosaccharides and disaccharides present in the food, polyols excluded. The nutrition table therefore does not distinguish origin: the "of which sugars" line adds together the lactose in milk, the fructose in fruit and the sucrose added during manufacturing.

This distinction matters. In the INCA 2 data analysed by ANSES, the"fruit" and "milk" groups weigh heavily in total sugar intake, precisely because they contain sugars by nature. Plain yoghurt shows lactose, not added sugar. To know whether a sugar has been added, you need to read theingredients list, not just the table.

One nuance: ANSES points out that the available data do not allow the health effects of naturally present sugars to be distinguished from those of added sugars. Liquid forms (sodas, nectars, juices, smoothies) are, however, singled out as contributing particularly to weight gain.

Where sugars hide: the confirmed food families

ANSES has ranked the food groups that contribute most to total sugar intake, based on INCA 2 (2006-2007). Among them, five groups containing notably added sugars appear in the top ten contributors for both adults and children:

thesoft drinks(sodas, colas, but also fruit juices);
thechilled dairy products(yoghurts and similar products);
thepastries and cakes;
thechocolates;
thedesserts, cream desserts and set milks.

Among subgroups, yoghurts and similar products, cakes, sodas and colas appear for both adults and children. These figures date from 2006-2007: they describe the broad families, not today's shelves. Drinks are covered in more detail in our comparisonfruit juice vs soda, and sweeteners inSweeteners: aspartame, sugar, which to avoid?.

Where salt hides: the confirmed food families

For salt, ANSES has tracked the food groups contributing most since 2003. Its 2012 opinion retains six groups which, according to the INCA 1 study (1999), accounted for70% of average salt intake:

thebread and rusks;
thecured meats;
thesoups;
thecheeses;
thecomposite dishes;
thepizzas, quiches and savoury pastries.

Two groups were added for their high consumption among children and their place in public debate: thebreakfast pastriesand thebreakfast cereals. Their levels have changed since, and these families should be read as places to look, not products to ban.

This diffuse presence is one of the reasons a diet rich in industrial products accumulates salt and sugar without effort. Our article onultra-processed foodsexplains how to recognise them.

Sugar names on the label

The word "sugar" is not the only one that signals a sugar. According to ANSES, other terms refer to sugars in processed foods:

thesucrose(table sugar), theglucose, thefructoseand themaltose;
theinvert sugar;
theglucose and fructose syrups;
theconcentrated juicesand thefruit syrups;
themusts;
thehoney.

Ingredients are listed in descending order by weight: a sugar cited among the first ones is present in quantity. Manufacturers may also combine several (glucose, glucose-fructose syrup, concentrated juice) so that each one, taken alone, appears low down the list while their sum weighs more. We have not been able to confirm from an official source the exact ranking of other common terms, such as agave syrup or maltodextrin: check them case by case. Thereading of a labelexplains the order of the list.

Sodium or salt: read the table

The nutrition table may show sodium instead of salt, especially on older packaging or in supplementary information. The conversion is set by the regulation:salt = sodium × 2.5. 1 g of sodium is therefore equivalent to 2.5 g of salt. The WHO benchmark (5 g of salt, i.e. 2 g of sodium) follows the same rule.

The table is expressed per 100 g or 100 ml, which allows two products to be compared. Declaring the value per portion remains optional: check the portion size before concluding that a product is "low in salt".

Tips for spotting them

Compare the "sugars" and "salt" lines per 100 gbetween two products in the same family (two soups, two cereals, two sauces).
Look for sugars in the ingredients list, not just in the table: a flavoured yoghurt does not have the same profile as a plain one.
Watch out for products where you would not expect salt or sugar: bread, ready meals, cereals, sauces.
Use the regulatory thresholds, which are the only official numerical benchmarks per 100 g. The regulation on claims (Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006) sets maximum thresholds: "low in sugars", 5 g of sugars per 100 g or 2.5 g per 100 ml; "no sugars", 0.5 g per 100 g or 100 ml; "low in sodium or salt", 0.12 g of sodium per 100 g or 100 ml (i.e. 0.3 g of salt); "very low in sodium", 0.04 g of sodium (i.e. 0.1 g of salt); "sodium-free" or "salt-free", 0.005 g of sodium per 100 g.

These thresholds are used to verify a claim; the regulation defines no "high in salt" version. A claim such as "no added sugars" means that no sugar or food used for its sweetening power has been added, and the label must then state that the product naturally contains sugars. Themarketing trapsshow other detours. People following a particular diet can consult our articles ondiabetes and the glycaemic indexor oncholesterol and hypertension, bearing in mind that personalised medical advice always takes precedence.

For families, the benchmarks forchildren's dietandbalanced mealsrecall that ANSES benchmarks are lower for younger people.

In Yumiq, the product page shows the number of additives detected (harmless, to monitor, at risk). The Yumiq-Score penalises additives flagged by EFSA (risk of overexposure) or by ANSES in the Open Food Facts taxonomy, and the Yumiq star requires the absence of at-risk additives. Sugar and salt contents can be read in the nutrition table on the product page.

Hidden sugar and salt: where do they hide?