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HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE SERIES · ARTICLE 6 OF 12
The salt problem
Foods to avoid and where it’s actually hiding.
The average South African eats somewhere between 8 and 12 grams of salt a day. The World Health Organization recommends no more than 5 grams — about a level teaspoon. Our typical intake is twice that. The body was not built for it, and the body shows it: roughly a third of our adult population is now living with high blood pressure, and salt is one of the biggest drivers.
The trick is that most of the salt is not on the dinner table. Less than a quarter of what we eat comes from the salt shaker. The rest is built into food before it ever reaches us — into bread, into polony, into stock cubes, into takeaways, into the corner shop atchar. This article is about finding it and cutting it out without losing the food you love.
The numbers in one place
5 grams of salt a day — the World Health Organization recommendation, roughly a level teaspoon.
2 grams of sodium a day — the same thing on a food label. (Sodium × 2.5 ≈ salt.)
8 – 12 grams — what the average South African actually eats.
Halve your salt intake and your systolic BP drops by an average of 5 mmHg. Bigger cuts give bigger drops.
Sodium vs salt — what the label says
Food labels in South Africa list sodium, not salt. The two are related but not the same. Sodium is the chemical that does the damage; salt (sodium chloride) is what we sprinkle. The conversion is simple:
Sodium × 2.5 ≈ salt
So a packet with 800 mg of sodium per 100 g is the same as 2 g of salt per 100 g. To stay under 5 g of salt a day, you have to stay under 2 g (2 000 mg) of sodium a day.
The 100 g rule
Always look at the sodium per 100 g column on the label, not the per-serving column. Manufacturers shrink the serving size on the box so the per-serving number looks small, even when the food is salty. Per 100 g is the honest number and is on every South African label.
Sodium per 100 g Category What to do Less than 120 mg Low salt Eat freely 120 – 600 mg Medium salt Eat with awareness More than 600 mg High salt Limit or avoid
Memorise just one number: 120 mg per 100 g is low, 600 mg per 100 g is high. Almost everything you pick up will be one of those three categories. Once you know the rule, supermarket shopping becomes much faster.
Where the salt actually lives
For an average South African, more than 75% of dietary salt comes from packaged or prepared food. Here is where it is hiding, in rough order of how much it contributes to the national salt intake.
1. Bread — the biggest single culprit
Bread is the largest single source of salt in the South African diet, for one simple reason: we eat a lot of it. Even a “regulated” white loaf still contains around 380 – 400 mg of sodium per 100 g. Two slices of toast in the morning and a sandwich for lunch can deliver 1 200 mg of sodium — more than half of your daily limit, before you have eaten anything else.
The South African government introduced legal salt limits for bread in 2016 (regulation R214). Salt levels have come down a little, but bread is still high enough to be the number one source for most adults.
What to do: eat less bread. Two slices a day is fine. Four slices, every day, is the BP problem. Where you can, choose whole wheat or seed loaves (they are no lower in salt, but the fibre helps offset some of the BP effect).
2. Processed meats — polony, viennas, ham, bacon, biltong
The saltiest mainstream foods in the South African shop. Polony averages 1 000 – 1 200 mg of sodium per 100 g. Viennas, bacon and ham are similar. Biltong is even higher — often 2 000 mg or more per 100 g, which is enough to push you over the daily limit in a single snack.
What to do: treat processed meats as a “once a week” food at most. For sandwich filling, swap to leftover roast chicken, tinned tuna in spring water, plain cheese (still salty but less), peanut butter, mashed avocado, or scrambled egg.
3. Stock cubes and powders — Knorr, Aromat, Royco, etc.
One stock cube contains around 2 000 – 2 500 mg of sodium — your entire daily allowance, in one cube. Powdered seasoning (Aromat, Royco) is similarly salt-heavy, sometimes worse per gram than the cube.
What to do: cook with garlic, onion, fresh or dried herbs (thyme, oregano, parsley, paprika, peri-peri), lemon juice, vinegar, and tomato. None of these add salt. All of them add flavour. If you must use a stock cube, use half a cube and pad with the rest of the list.
4. Takeaways and fast food
A single Big Mac contains about 950 mg of sodium. A KFC Streetwise Two combo can deliver 2 500 mg — your entire daily limit. A Nando’s Quarter Chicken with chips and a roll comes in around 1 500 mg. Even seemingly “healthier” options like a Steers chicken burger are usually over 1 000 mg.
What to do: if takeaways are weekly or less, you are fine. If they are several times a week, the salt is part of the picture. Useful swaps: grilled instead of fried, hold the cheese, hold the sauce, skip the chips. Ask for chicken with no salt added (Nando’s and many sit-down places will do this).
5. Instant noodles, packet soups and gravy granules
A single packet of instant noodles (most brands) contains 1 200 – 1 800 mg of sodium — most or all of your daily allowance in one bowl, most of which is in the seasoning sachet, not the noodles themselves.
What to do: use only half the seasoning sachet, or skip it entirely and add your own flavour with garlic, ginger, soy-substitute, herbs and vegetables. Better still: cook plain pasta or rice instead, and flavour it yourself.
6. Cheese — particularly processed cheese and feta
Mature cheddar contains about 600 – 700 mg of sodium per 100 g. Processed cheese slices come in around 1 200 mg. Feta is one of the saltiest cheeses on the shelf at 1 100 – 1 500 mg. A modest 30 g slice of feta is 350 – 450 mg of sodium.
What to do: cheese is not the enemy, but the portion matters. A small amount of mature cheddar (more flavour per gram) lets you use less. Cottage cheese is a relatively low-salt option at about 350 mg per 100 g.
7. Atchar, pickles, and chutney
Traditional atchar, when made with brine, contains around 1 500 – 2 500 mg of sodium per 100 g. A tablespoon (15 g) is 225 – 400 mg. The chillies and oil are not the problem; the salt curing is.
What to do: treat atchar as a small condiment, not a side dish. A teaspoon next to your pap is fine. Half a cup is not. The same applies to mass-market chutney (Mrs H.S. Ball’s contains about 480 mg per 100 g — moderate, not high — but a quarter of a cup with a meal adds up).
8. Crisps, savoury biscuits, and pretzels
Regular salted crisps run about 500 – 700 mg of sodium per 100 g. Flavoured crisps (cheese-and-onion, salt-and-vinegar) can hit 900 mg. A standard 36 g bag delivers 200 – 350 mg.
What to do: the unsalted nuts from article 5 are the obvious swap. Air-popped popcorn (made with no added salt) is another. If you want crisps, salted is better than flavoured, and a small bag is better than a large one.
9. Sauces — tomato sauce, mayonnaise, mustard, soya sauce
Tomato sauce: 1 000 – 1 200 mg of sodium per 100 g. Mayonnaise: 700 – 900 mg. Mustard: 1 500 mg. Soya sauce: 5 000 – 8 000 mg — by far the saltiest item in most kitchens.
What to do: use sauces in tablespoons, not in pours. Low-salt or “lite” soya sauce still has about half the sodium of the standard kind. Make your own dressings with oil, lemon juice and garlic.
10. Breakfast cereals — often surprising
Many supposedly “healthy” cereals contain more salt than you would expect. Corn flakes have about 700 mg of sodium per 100 g. Some bran-style cereals are similar.
What to do: plain rolled or instant oats (article 5) are by far the best low-salt breakfast. Weetbix, shredded wheat, and most porridges have lower sodium than packaged corn-based cereals.
The hidden-salt scorecard
A quick reference for South African foods, ranked by sodium per 100 g. Use it next time you are standing in front of the supermarket shelf.
Food Sodium per 100 g Verdict Soya sauce 5 000 – 8 000 mg Very high Biltong \~2 000 mg Very high Atchar (brine) 1 500 – 2 500 mg Very high Stock cubes \~5 000 mg (1 cube ≈ 2 000 mg) Very high Mustard \~1 500 mg High Feta cheese 1 100 – 1 500 mg High Polony / viennas 1 000 – 1 200 mg High Bacon, ham \~1 200 mg High Tomato sauce 1 000 – 1 200 mg High Mayonnaise 700 – 900 mg Medium-high Salted crisps 500 – 700 mg Medium Cheddar cheese 600 – 700 mg Medium Corn flakes \~700 mg Medium Most breads 380 – 450 mg Medium Cottage cheese \~350 mg Lower Plain rolled oats \< 10 mg Very low Fresh vegetables, fruit \< 50 mg Very low Plain rice, pasta, samp \< 10 mg Very low Dried beans, lentils \< 20 mg Very low
Five everyday swaps that cut salt in half
2 slices of polony on bread → A boiled egg or peanut butter on bread Saves about 700 mg of sodium per sandwich.
Stock cube in your stew → Garlic, onion, thyme and a tomato Saves about 2 000 mg per meal.
Salted crisps as a snack → Unsalted peanuts Saves about 250 mg per serving — and adds magnesium.
Instant noodles with full sachet → Plain pasta with tinned tomato and garlic Saves about 1 500 mg per bowl.
Tomato sauce on everything → Fresh chopped tomato with onion and herbs Saves 800 mg per couple of tablespoons.
Eating out and takeaways
You do not have to give up restaurants and takeaways. You do have to make a few small choices.
• Ask for no salt added. Most sit-down restaurants and most chicken takeaways (including Nando’s) will cook your meal without added salt if you ask before they start. They will not season the chips, the chicken, or the gravy.
• Skip the sauces or take them on the side. A burger without sauce, or with the sauce in a small container, lets you control how much.
• Choose grilled over fried. Both are salty, but fried foods are usually saltier.
• Skip the cheese. One easy choice that saves 300 – 500 mg per meal.
• Avoid the salt on chips. Most chip salt is sprinkled at the end. Ask for chips with no salt.
• Watch the salads. Restaurant salads can be saltier than the burgers, because of dressings, croutons, cheese, and salted toppings. Ask for dressing on the side.
The 4-week salt reset
The good news is that taste adapts. Within three to four weeks of eating less salt, food starts to taste right again at the new, lower level. After a month, a chip you used to love starts to taste over-salted. The body remembers what less salt feels like, and it stops craving the old amount.
Week 1
Two changes only. Stop adding salt at the table. Cut stock cubes from your cooking. That is it. Use the foods from article 5 to add flavour. Don’t try to do everything at once.
Week 2
Drop processed meats to once a week. For sandwiches and lunch, swap to egg, chicken, tuna or peanut butter. Keep going with your other changes.
Week 3
Drop instant noodles, packet soups, gravy granules and tomato sauce. Use the swaps in this article. Add a beetroot per day from article 5 if you haven’t already.
Week 4
Tighten up everything else: smaller cheese portions, less atchar, careful with takeaways. Look at your bread intake; if you are eating four or more slices a day, try to cut it down to two.
By the end of week four, most people are eating around 5 – 6 g of salt a day without much effort, and their BP has usually dropped by 3 – 6 mmHg. That is real, measurable, no-side-effects benefit. Combined with the food list in article 5, the total drop is often 10 – 14 mmHg — enough to take Stage 1 BP back into the normal range, and to make Stage 2 BP much easier to control on medication.
Things you do not have to give up
Salt is not the enemy. The body needs some. The problem is the eight-to-twelve-gram-a-day overload. Once you are inside the 5-gram limit, you can absolutely:
Use a pinch of salt in cooking. Eat a small amount of cheese. Enjoy biltong once in a while. Have a vetkoek with mince. Eat at restaurants. Have a takeaway on Friday night. Live a recognisable South African life.
You just cannot do all of those things every day at once. Pick your moments. Save the high-salt food for the times that matter.
What about salt substitutes?
Salt substitutes use potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride. The body responds to the potassium with lower BP, and the taste is roughly the same. A 2021 study of nearly 21 000 adults showed that switching to a potassium-based salt substitute reduced strokes by 14% and cardiovascular events by 13% over five years.
Brands available in South Africa include LoSalt and No Salt. They cost more than ordinary table salt, and are not suitable for everyone — people with advanced kidney disease, or people on certain BP medications (the “ARB” or “ACE inhibitor” groups), can build up too much potassium if they use them. Ask your clinic before switching.
The bigger picture
Salt is in everything because it is the cheapest way to make food taste like more. It preserves, it bulks out flavour, and it is invisible on the plate. Removing it is harder than removing sugar — sugar at least announces itself with sweetness. Salt does not.
But the prize for getting this right is large. Halving your salt intake brings your BP down measurably, lowers your stroke risk by about 20%, and makes whatever medication you are on work better. It costs nothing. It does not require giving up any food entirely. It just requires a bit of label-reading and a bit of recipe-adjusting until the body re-learns what less salt tastes like.
The next article in the series moves from food to movement: a 12-week walking plan that brings BP down through one of the most affordable, accessible interventions there is.
Where to get more help
Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa — heartfoundation.co.za · 021 422 1586 — for the Salt Watch programme and shopping guides.
World Action on Salt and Health — worldactiononsalt.com — international salt reduction resources.
Phila Today Eat tab — recipes that use the article 5 ingredients without leaning on the high-salt foods.
Phila Today High Blood Pressure Series — next: walking your way to lower BP — a 12-week plan.
Phila Today · Article 6 of 12 in the High Blood Pressure Series