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EntityQ11254· pop 198· linked from 3,466 articles

table salt

Also known as salt, culinary salt, edible salt, dietary salt, dietary sodium, sodium chloride, dietary

thumb|Rock salt (halite)

OverviewAI-generated

Table salt is an ingredient and mixture that manifests saltiness. It is classified as a food ingredient and spice, with its main category being edible salt. The substance is said to be the same as sodium chloride and halite, and it is made from materials including halite and rock salt. Its composition includes sodium chloride, impurities, food additives, and anticaking agents.

Nutritional data for table salt indicates an energy content of 5 kcal, with 0.2 g of fat, 0.8 g of carbohydrates, and 0.2 g of proteins. It contains 0.1 g of saturated fat, 0.5 g of sugars, and 1.5 g of fiber. The salt content is 83.33 g, resulting in a Nutri-Score of E and a NOVA classification of 2. In the Openfoodfacts database, it falls under the salts category, which contains 117 products.

The Unicode character for the subject is 🧂. It is referenced by 3,466 other encyclopedia articles. Descriptions of the topic appear in sources such as The Catholic Encyclopedia, Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, Gujin Tushu Jicheng, and the Jewish Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron. A PubMed query for table salt yields a count of 14,095.

Synthesized by Vinony from 29 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, PubMed, Openfoodfacts, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Nutrition · Open Food Facts

Typical values per 100 g · averaged across 117 products

eNutri-Score

2NOVA · Processed culinary ingredient

Energy: 5 kcal
Fat: 0.2 g
— of which saturates: 0.1 g
Carbohydrates: 0.8 g
— of which sugars: 0.5 g
Fibre: 1.5 g
Protein: 0.2 g
Salt: 83.33 g

Browse on Open Food Facts →

via Open Food Facts · ODbL

Research

14,095 papers

Himalayan Salt and Table Salt Intake among Hypertensive Individuals.Arquivos brasileiros de cardiologia · 2022Dorna MS, Seki MMDOI: 10.36660/abc.20220243
Salt on the table is more than seasoning.Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland) · 2023Aycicek GS, Koca MDOI: 10.1016/j.clnu.2023.06.001
The taste of table salt.ReviewPflugers Archiv : European journal of physiology · 2015Roper SDDOI: 10.1007/s00424-014-1683-z
A Review of Microplastics in Table Salt, Drinking Water, and Air: Direct Human Exposure.ReviewEnvironmental science & technology · 2020Zhang Q, Xu EG, Li J et al.DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.9b04535
Salt added at the table, APOE genotype and incident dementia.Maturitas · 2025Ren JJ, Li ZH, Zhong WF et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.maturitas.2024.108183
Adding salt to food at table as an indicator of gastric cancer risk among adults: a prospective study.Gastric cancer : official journal of the International Gastric Cancer Association and the Japanese Gastric Cancer Association · 2024Kronsteiner-Gicevic S, Thompson AS, Gaggl M et al.DOI: 10.1007/s10120-024-01502-9
Fluoride content in table salt from the Element Project in Mexico City.Salud publica de Mexico · 2024Tamayo-Cabeza G, Mantilla-Rodríguez A, Cantoral A et al.DOI: 10.21149/15734
Microplastics in Spanish Table Salt.Scientific reports · 2017Iñiguez ME, Conesa JA, Fullana ADOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-09128-x

via PubMed

~28 min read

Encyclopedic overview

13 sections

Contents

History
Physical properties
Edible salt
Fortified table salt
Other kinds
Salt in food
Biology of salt taste
Sodium consumption and health
Non-dietary uses
Production
In religion
References
Sources

thumb|Rock salt (halite)

Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as rock salt or halite. Salt is essential for life in general (being the source of the essential dietary minerals sodium and chlorine), and saltiness is one of the basic human tastes. Salt is one of the oldest and most ubiquitous food seasonings, and is known to uniformly improve the taste perception of food. Salting, brining, and pickling are ancient and important methods of food preservation.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “table salt” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.