Salt and Childhood Obesity

The more salt your child consumes, the more likely they are to gain weight. That's because for each additional gram of salt consumed, children drink 100mls of extra fluid - a third of which is high calorie soft drink (1,2,3,4).

Children's weight can be reduced by removing soft drinks from their diets and decreasing their daily salt intake by 3g (about 50% of the average child's intake). The recommended daily intake of salt for children is:

Age (years) / Recommended salt intake (mg/day)
1-3 / 200-400
4-8 / 300-600
9-13 / 400-800
14-18 / 460-920

Vascular Disease

Excess salt consumption raises blood pressure and predisposes adults to vascular disease. Children may not suffer the effects of vascular disease, but excess salt consumption raises their blood pressure which tends to continue into their adult life (4).

How to Reduce Your Child's Salt Intake

- Prepare their meals with fresh fruits and vegetables
- Minimise the amount of processed food in their diet: more than ¾ of dietary salt is hidden in processed foods (2)
- Don't add salt when cooking and encourage your children not to add salt to their meals
- Minimise take away meals and fast foods
- Include healthy snacks in your children's lunch boxes. Boiled eggs, vegetable sticks and fruit are great options
- Check the food labels on your children's snack foods. Salt is often called sodium, or Na. As a general guide, a sodium level of less than 120mg/100g is low and above 500mg/100g is high
- Season their food with lemon juice, vinegar, garlic and herbs instead of salt.

References:
1.Neal B. 2008, 'Salt: Contributing to Childhood Obesity' Paediatrics and Child Health in General Practice, 26
2.James J, Thomas P, Cavan D and Kerr D. 2004, 'Preventing Childhood Obesity by Reducing Consumption of Carbonated Drinks: Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial' British Medical Journal, 328:1237-41.
3.He F, Marrero N, MacGregor G. 2008, 'Salt Intake is Related to Soft Drink Consumption in Children and Adolescents- a Link to Obesity?' Hypertension, 51:629-34.
4.Simons-Morton D, Obarzanek E. 1997, 'Diet and Blood Pressure in Children and Adolescents', Paediatrics, Nephrol (11)