Nutritional information about sodium: is it worth its salt?

This study examined whether members of the general public were able to accurately interpret the nutritional information regarding salt on the packaging of food products. 226 participants answered brief questions about their salt intake awareness and were asked to estimate the salt content of a food product, using the nutritional information panel on the packaging as required. Results indicated that most participants did not know how to interpret the nutritional information, and that many underestimated the salt content of the product by confusing it with sodium content. This finding suggests that the sodium information on packaged foods in New Zealand is not easily understood by the target population, and is therefore of little use in its current form.