# Sodium in Sugar **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 27, 2005, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sodium-in-sugar/318903 "2005-08-27T21:00:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rippingtons\_fan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rippingtons_fan/32/11767_2.png) [@rippingtons\_fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rippingtons_fan)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sodium-in-sugar/318903/1 "2005-08-27T21:00:34Z")
As people are told to limit their sodium intake, I’ve always wondered: Does sugar contain sodium? How about pepper–does it contain sodium too? On the other hand, does sodium contain any sugar? ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sodium-in-sugar/318903/2 "2005-08-27T21:10:08Z")
The chemical formula for table sugar is C12H22O11. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen. No sodium. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sodium-in-sugar/318903/3 "2005-08-27T21:35:53Z")
If you buy iodized salt it usually contains a small amount of dextrose to stabilize the iodide. I guess if you were really anal you could say there was sugar in your salt. Morton’s iodized salt contains 40 mg/100 g of salt so the actual percentage is pretty damn minute. ---
**Author:** ![MaryEFoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MaryEFoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaryEFoo)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2005, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sodium-in-sugar/318903/4 "2005-08-28T03:22:41Z")
Sugar doesn’t contain sodium, as per **pinkfreud**. Pepper might, see below. Pure sodium is a metal and doesn’t contain sugar. Sodium chloride (plain salt) may contain a trace of sugar, as per **Bill Door** , but it would be a totally insignificant amount. It turns out the spices in my cupboard don’t show sodium, etc, content on their labels. My WAG is that people are not expected to use enough of pepper, or any spice, to make it a significant source of sodium or anything else that might be involved in your metabolism. An exception is plain table salt. It has a label showing that 1/4 teaspoon contains one-fourth of the sodium you need for a whole day (you do need some). Foods that you normally eat and don’t add salt to generally contain all the sodium you need. Check out any ready-made foods like canned soup, prepared frozen dinners, etc–check the labels. That’s any ready-made foods, not just potato chips. One bowl of most canned soups has enough salt in it for half your day’s supply. To avoid getting sodium, people are advised to eat food with no salt. To make the food tasty, they can go ahead and use spices, seasonings, Mrs. Dash, lemon, and so forth, as long as salt isn’t a component of the seasoning (garlic salt, onion salt, etc). So put lemon on fish, or lemon and pepper, or vinegar, or herbs, or garlic, but not garlic salt. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2005, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sodium-in-sugar/318903/5 "2005-08-28T03:48:20Z")
> [@MaryEFoo](#): > > It turns out the spices in my cupboard don’t show sodium, etc, content on their labels. My WAG is that people are not expected to use enough of pepper, or any spice, to make it a significant source of sodium. Here’s a rough calculation: Many tissues, such as people or peppercorns, contain about 100 mM NaCl. Likewise hydrated tissues are about 70% water. 100 mM NaCl corresponds to 5.8 g/liter, or 5.8 g/kg for tissue with a density of 1. 3kg of hydrated peppercorns will dry to about 1 kg pepper. That drying concentrates the NaCl to about 17.5 g/kg. NaCl is about 40% by mass sodium, so dried peppercorns should contain about 6.9 g/kg sodium. No one puts a kilogram of pepper on their food; a gram is a generous serving size. 6.9 g/kg = 6.9 milligram sodium per gram. That’s not enough to worry about. ---
**Author:** ![Future\_days](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cab0a1/32.png) [@Future\_days](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Future_days)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sodium-in-sugar/318903/6 "2005-08-29T00:19:09Z")
Important to remember that your body needs sodium otherwise you die. Dont have too much, but dont have too little either. Best way to limit sodium intake is to avoid things like burgers, pizzas, soup, some breakfast cereals like cornflakes.