Health & Wellbeing

Handy Salt Meter measures the salt in your food

Handy Salt Meter measures the salt in your food
Thanko's Handy Salt Meter, ready for salt-measuring action
Thanko's Handy Salt Meter, ready for salt-measuring action
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The Handy Salt Meter in use
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The Handy Salt Meter in use
The device has a copper sensor at one end that the user lowers into a hot, liquid item
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The device has a copper sensor at one end that the user lowers into a hot, liquid item
Salt concentrations running from 0.3 to 2.0 percent can be displayed
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Salt concentrations running from 0.3 to 2.0 percent can be displayed
The device is powered by four 1.5-volt LR44 batteries
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The device is powered by four 1.5-volt LR44 batteries
The meter can’t be used on solid or cold foods
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The meter can’t be used on solid or cold foods
Thanko's Handy Salt Meter, ready for salt-measuring action
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Thanko's Handy Salt Meter, ready for salt-measuring action
View gallery - 6 images

Although many people are trying not to consume too much sodium, it can often be difficult to gauge just how much salt (aka sodium chloride) is in that restaurant entree or pre-packaged meal that you’re eating. There’s now a portable gadget that will tell you, though – it’s Thanko’s Handy Salt Meter.

Powered by four 1.5-volt LR44 batteries, the device has a copper sensor at one end that the user lowers into a hot, liquid item (such as soup, sauce or noodle broth) while depressing the power button. Almost instantly, an LED display will light up along the side, indicating the percentage of salt content within the food. Concentrations running from 0.3 to 2.0 percent can be displayed – any higher than 2 percent, and you presumably shouldn’t be eating it.

In order for the readout to really mean anything, however, the user will also have to know the weight of the food itself. As an example (as provided by Thanko), a 1 percent reading on a 100-gram bowl of broth means that if you eat the whole serving, you’ll ingest one gram of salt.

The Handy Salt Meter in use
The Handy Salt Meter in use

That food-weighing and math-doing might be more work than some dieters would wish to do. Additionally, the meter can’t be used on solid or cold foods – its operational range is 60 to 80ºC (140 to 176ºF). It is relatively inexpensive, though, at US$19.80 a unit. It can be purchased at Thanko’s online shop, via the link below.

Source: Thanko via C/NET

View gallery - 6 images
5 comments
5 comments
Slowburn
If you have health kidneys and plenty of water it is almost impossible to get too much salt. The USofA CDC (Center for Disease Control) recently released a study that showed that limiting salt intake provided no benefit for most people.
Gregg Eshelman
Not only did the CDC study show no benefits, it also showed that not getting enough salt is harmful, especially to the heart.
Our human chemical machine runs on sugar and salt. It's only when something goes wonky like diabetes that it's important to very strictly control how much one ingests.
The "Salt is bad, m'kay?" business is based on a couple of very old studies that were far from adhering rigorously to the scientific method. They were much closer to the "Do whatever it takes to get the results we want." method.
How many people have heart damage because their doctors told them to cut out all salt from their diet?
Ebrahim
There is more problem with lack of salt than too much salt. Our boday can handle many grams of salt a day. But salt deficiency can kill!
Jean Lamb
Well, my fingers and ankles swell up like balloons when I have too much salt, and it's not good for my breathing, either. I can gain two pounds in one day from too much salt. And all the tests say my kidneys are just fine.
So some of us out here really can't manage salt for whatever reason.
(still miss my Doritos, waah! Even with a diuretic I can only have a few at any one time, or pay the penalty).
Have fun with your blood pressure, salt fanatics!
Jinpa
It's time for an update, Thanko link inop. Amazon shows at least six brands, varied needing 3 or 4 LR44 button batteries. Comments say some came with no batteries. Instruction on some to hold device "least 2cm / 0.8in above the liquid surface" seems peculiar.