Label skills

How to read sodium per serving

The number on the front of a package and the number you will actually eat are rarely the same.

Editorial draft
6 min read
Review status: Nutrition review pending

Sodium is listed per serving, and the serving on the package is often smaller than the portion in the bowl. Learning to do one quick piece of arithmetic in the aisle makes labels far more useful.

Start with the serving size, not the sodium

The serving size appears near the top of the nutrition panel because the values below it apply to that stated amount. If a package contains more than one serving, the amount you use may represent more than one set of the listed values.

Compare like with like

Check whether the two packages use the same serving size. If they do not, convert one.
Divide the sodium by the serving weight in grams to get a per-gram figure for a fair comparison.
Consider the portion you will realistically eat, not the printed portion.
Note the result somewhere you will see it again next shopping trip.

Front-of-pack claims are marketing, not the panel

Phrases like reduced, light, or no added salt describe a comparison to another product, not an absolute amount. Reduced sodium can still be a high-sodium product. The nutrition panel and the ingredient list are the parts worth reading.

Sources

Nutrition facts tables. Health Canada. Updated September 5, 2024.
Sodium: using food labels. Health Canada. Updated July 11, 2025.
Serving Size on the Nutrition Facts Label. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Accessed August 11, 2026.

These direct official sources support the draft. The draft still requires claim-by-claim source checking and qualified review before publication. Sources are not a substitute for instructions written for you. Read our editorial policy.

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Editorial draft

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Nutrition review pending

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Editorial status: Editorial draft — not published
Review status: Nutrition review pending
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