Salt: How much sodium is in Snus?

[osiris321]

I wrote to general and asked two questions about their snus. They pointedly did not answer my second question about how much sodium is in their products. I realize that they might be protecting their brand formulas, but sodium adds up fast and if I judge only by taste, snus has a fair amount of salt in it. Excess salt has some negative health implications, IMO. Thoughts?

[Norwester]

I wrote to general and asked two questions about their snus. They pointedly did not answer my second question about how much sodium is in their products. I realize that they might be protecting their brand formulas, but sodium adds up fast and if I judge only by taste, snus has a fair amount of salt in it. Excess salt has some negative health implications, IMO. Thoughts?

Its actually pretty insignificant considering that a slice of bread might contain 1/2 a gram. Here's a list of ingredients from Swedish Match and an old thread discussing salt. Welcome to the forum!
ETA I just happened to look at my favorite BBQ rub ingredients. It has 180 mgs of sodium. In a quarter teaspoon. I'm not worried about my snus.

http://www.snuson.com/showthread.php?16894-I-urgently-need-low-salt-or-no-salt-snus-%28
http://www.swedishmatch.com/en/Our-b...ents-in-snus/#

[squeezyjohn]

From my home made snus experiments you need 8g of salt to make 250g of snus which equates to 32mg salt per gram of snus. However in using the snus very little of that salt is actually ingested (the snus it's still just as salty when you spit it out right?) ... Which is probably why they couldn't tell you a precise figure.

[sharesnusinfo!]

about ~5 %

[codyg140]

about ~5 %

that's an answer I'll put my money on

[squeezyjohn]

Thanks Jimmy, is that figure of 5% the total percentage in the snus, or the approximate amount of the sodium which the body actually absorbs when using the snus? It's confusing because unlike when you eat a product, not all of the ingredients in snus are actually taken in by the body.

[mattzq8sonoma]

Thanks Jimmy, is that figure of 5% the total percentage in the snus, or the approximate amount of the sodium which the body actually absorbs when using the snus? It's confusing because unlike when you eat a product, not all of the ingredients in snus are actually taken in by the body.

There's more to it than just saying ~5% salt, as squeezy has pointed out. I know that there is about 3-6% total sodium chloride in snus blends...depending on manufacturer and other things. Of which about 39.3% of that is SODIUM, because we're talking about Sodium Chloride. The Mol wt. of Na+ = 22.99. Cl- = 35.45. total mol wt of NaCl = 58.44. 22.99/58.44 = 39.34%...at 5% salt that equals 50mg of NaCl per 1g portion...or 19.67mg Sodium coming from the Salt per 1g portion. There are other minor additives that are sodium contributors, like sodium carbonate, sodium saccharin (if used, which is rare), etc. Those are much less and would be nominal additions. The other part nobody has talked about yet is from the actual tobacco, which I have seen range from minimal, up to 2.5% depending on where the tobacco comes from (ie. growing close to a salty sea water source = higher sodium content).

That said, as squeezy said, you don't normally ingest the tobacco completely, so you won't be taking all of it in. If you're upper lipping, swallowing to juice, and keeping a portion in for 1+ hrs. you will be ingesting a decent portion of the sodium that is in it...I'd guess about 50%, but I really don't know for sure. An example: If you're using 1g portions for 1 hr each, and are chain snusing and awake for 16hrs, that means you use 16 portions per day, and if you're ingesting 50% of the sodium, which I would guess at a max of 3% sodium all things considered, and no snus for the 8 hrs of sleep (though yes we sometimes fall asleep with one in), that equals 240mg of sodium from snus per day (16g x 0.03 = 0.48g = 480mg x 50% = 240mg). Swedish Match didn't tell you a definitive number because there are way too many variables to be able to pinpoint a number, because of usage differences (upper or lower lip, spit or swallow, how long do you leave it in, how much does your mouth salivate, how much do you use per day, portion or los) and blend differences. Even if you had 100% ingestion, that's only 480mg of sodium per day, which is 1/3 of the daily recommended dose for people 50+ yrs and less than 1/4 for younger people. So snus is not a huge contributor to sodium levels.

[Burnsey]

A bigger concern with sodium is the hidden sodium in food....the average small Lean Cuisine micro-dinner has 2,400 mg of sodium....a Quarter Pounder with Cheese 1,110 mg (fries with that +221 mg)........the suggested 1,500-2,300 mg per day is just about impossible for the average person. By comparison, snus is a minor sodium risk.

[sharesnusinfo!]

Thanks Jimmy, is that figure of 5% the total percentage in the snus, or the approximate amount of the sodium which the body actually absorbs when using the snus? It's confusing because unlike when you eat a product, not all of the ingredients in snus are actually taken in by the body.

Depends on how you calculate, true i would say ~ 5% in the recipe before adding water to the pouch (more water to the pouch less percentage of salt)

The body absorbs avg. 30% of nicotine/salt and other salivating ingredients, but it´s very individual on how a person salivating and using snus

[psychicferret]

If this is for blood pressure 32mg per portion isnt too that equates to 13mg of sodium bad your allowed 1500mg if you have high bloodpressure or 3000mg if you have a normal blood pressure. Just cut out bread and processed foods and dont add salt to your food. Plus eat loads of veggies(1/2 a plate per meal) which are rich in potassium.

Currently i have around 1000mg-1300g of sodium add salt in snus,say 10 portions a day thats 126mg of sodium on top that.