Many restaurant meals contain too much salt

BBC News reports that a "survey of nearly 700 popular meals served in celebrity chef and High Street restaurants found half were high in salt - equivalent to a red traffic light label on a supermarket product. From their research, Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) discovered that the 13 saltiest main meals contained more than the maximum recommended daily intake of 6g of salt."

To give Consensus Action on Salt and Health its due, it keeps on checking salt levels in various food products and in various establishments that serve meals, and it keeps on bringing out reports which draw attention to the continued high levels of salt that are potentially harmful to consumers. Professor Graham  MacGregor reminds us that "Salt puts up our blood pressure, and as a result, thousands of people die unnecessarily each year from strokes, heart attacks and heart failure. Whilst efforts have been made by foods in supermarkets to use less salt, chefs' preference for saltier foods is preventing further progress. It's clear from our survey that some chefs are not listening to their customers."

I just wish that, as well as drawing attention to high salt intake increasing blood pressure and causing premature deaths from strokes, heart attacks and heart failure, health experts would inform people that salt intake is a major factor in problems of obesity, child obesity and morbid obesity. This is especially the case for people who take or have taken prescribed steroids, HRT, antidepressants, some contraceptive medications, anti-convulsant/anti-epileptic drugs, anti-psychotics, and some other prescription drugs.

Read about how to lose weight by eating less salt and salty food.

Why is adding salt to food more harmful than in former years?

Adding salt to food is more harmful than years ago because in our developed world, a greater proportion of people are now sensitive to salt than used to be the case. There is both a higher incidence of salt sensitivity and the salt sensitivity itself tends to be more severe. - One of the factors contributing to salt sensitivity is the fact that these days, in general, most children- even toddlers -eat a diet that is too high in salt. Salt is especially bad for children. High salt intake, such as from salty snacks like crisps and salted nuts and junk like Cheesestrings, is a major cause of child obesity. - See Children and Salt. And a taste for salt acquired in childhood is not very easy to 'unacquire'. So the habit of eating over-salted food literally feeds a growing number of related health problems including high blood pressure, obesity, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, stroke, heart disease, depression, dementia and so many more.

 

But at least as important a causative factor in salt sensitivity as high salt intake in childhood is the ever-growing ingestion of pharmaceutical drugs. Pharmaceutical drugs are being prescribed more and more in the UK (and even more still in United States) and other industrialised countries. Most of the prescriptions are for drugs that cause sodium and water/fluid retention and salt sensitivity. I don't mean that they are prescribed with the intention of causing sodium and water retention, but problems with salt are the most common undesirable side-effects of the most frequently prescribed rugs. These include antidepressants, anticonvulsants, antipsychotics, steroids, birth control medications and many more.

 

When you couple the over-prescribing of these dangerous salt-sensitising drugs with the highly-salted processed food that is the norm for a majority of consumers these days, it is assuredly a recipe for disaster both on a personal scale and in the wider social context. - I suggest that you try to avoid prescription drugs as far as you safely can and cut down on salt and salty food as much as you reasonably can. You'll lose some excess weight and improve your health and you'll feel sooo much better!

Obesity: New Vulnerable Group

I see that there's a new Vulnerable Group reared its head - or swished its little tails! - There are some genetically modified mice that are very vulnerable to becoming obese because of a mutation in a particular gene, reported here. Well I don't think we need to trouble ourselves about that particular vulnerability, though one feels sympathy for the mice having their genes damaged, apparently in the cause of providing some information for the drug industry to avail itself of in its never-ending trawl for profitable products to unload on innocent citizens. Unless we allow drug researchers or their mates who work in genetic engineering to interfere with our genes we are unlikely to suffer this genetic problem ourselves, or - perish the thought! - any of us is tricked into eating any of these GM mice and something untoward happens... (Memo: best to avoid eating GM foods, whether animal or vegetable, and best to avoid eating animals that have been fed GM crops. Since no one knows what could happen, the precautionary principle should be applied.)

The Vulnerable Groups in whom I am most interested are those who are vulnerable to becoming obese because of salt sensitivity or sodium retention. The groups of people vulnerable to salt are babies and children, people who take or who have taken certain prescribed steroids, including prednisone and prednisolone, or certain other prescribed drugs, women who take or have taken HRT or other oestrogen-containing drugs such as some contraceptive medications, people who take or have taken amitriptyline or other tricyclic antidepressants or some other psychotropic/psychoactive drugs, pregnant mothers, PMT sufferers and people who ate salt as children. These groups need to minimise their salt intake. They will lose weight easily if they eat less salt and salty food.

Consumer Affairs lists Kelloggs and Quaker as Worst Children's Cereals

Consumer Affairs reports that Kelloggs and Quaker are the Worst Children's Cereals. It is good to see publicity being given to this important health information. "In a list published by Consumer Affairs, some popular cereals measured between 41.4 and 55.6 percent sugar by weight." - That's a helluvalot of sugar! - I am sure that if a parent were mixing a bowl of breakfast cereal from scratch for their child to eat, it would be a very rare parent who would make half of it sugar. Similarly, I doubt that many parents would add a lot of salt to the bowl. - Yet that is what these breakfast cereal manufacturers routinely do.

As well as the high sugar content damaging children's teeth by causing decay, and both the sugar and salt contributing to child obesity, this unhealthy muck is likely to give children a taste for over-sweetened, salty foodstuffs that will damage their health throughout life. They will be at higher risk of developing hypertension, type 2 diabetes, heart problems, weakened bones, depression, breathlessness and a host of other degenerative conditions that will cause them unnecessary suffering, unhappiness and a shortened lifespan.

Just because this crap is convenient, popular, heavily advertised, sold in brightly coloured packs attractive to children, and just because your children clamour for the stuff, it doesn't mean it's healthy or good for children. - It isn't. - And just because it's legal to sell such unhealthy junk, it doesn't mean it's really OK to feed it to children. - It isn't. - Feeding this stuff to your children is good for the profits of the manufacturers; it is not good for your children's health.

One of my webpages is about children and salt. - You may like to have a look at it.

The Warping of Wisdom: Evidence or Opinion?

There seems to be a view these days that one person's opinion is as good as another's, regardless of whether the opinion is an informed opinion or an uninformed opinion. This may well not do too much harm in itself, but the boundaries have become smudged and too many people now confuse opinion with facts that are well supported by evidence. My especial concern is in the matter of whether more exercise reduces obesity in people in general and in overweight children in particular.

We are in the happy position of being able to check out research on this matter. Researchers from the University of Glasgow found no evidence that exercise either prevented obesity in children or promoted weight loss in children who were already overweight. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2006/oct/06/health.food where we read that the research was lead by John Reilly, a professor in paediatric energy metabolism at Glasgow University. His "team set out to establish whether greater physical activity would prevent children from becoming overweight. They recruited 545 children in their last year at 36 nursery schools. Half the schools instituted three extra half-hour sessions of physical play and activity every week, and parents were given information packs encouraging them to give their children more activity and less television. The other half had no extra activity or information. All the children were regularly weighed and measured and their body mass index (BMI - the relationship between weight and height used to check for obesity) was calculated, and there was no difference between the groups. "Despite rigorous implementation, we found no significant effect of the intervention on physical activity, sedentary behaviour or body mass index," wrote the researchers. The BMJ article about the research is here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1647320/

Dr John Briffa is a UK medical doctor with a particular interest in nutrition and he also has an interest in weight loss for people who are overweight/obese. Here is one of his blog articles, entitled Does exercise promote weight loss? No. He examines the evidence and gives references to relevant scholarly studies. His conclusion is, "There are plenty of good reasons for taking regular exercise. Weight loss isn’t one of them."

There is evidence that obesity is 'set before age of five'. Professor Terry Wilkin, of the Peninsula Medical School, Plymouth, the lead researcher in this research, said, "When they reach the age of five the die seems to be cast, at least until the age of puberty. What is causing it is very difficult to know." He said there must be a factor now that was not there 25 years ago which is making today's children obese. And, given the young age, this is likely to be in a child's home rather than school environment and linked to upbringing rather than schooling. Rather than lack of physical exercise, he believes diet could be to blame. "

As obesity in childhood is an increasing problem, it is most important that advice about remedial measures be supported by evidence, rather than hallowed by tradition, authority and unsupported assumptions. The evidence is clear. The belief that exercising more 'must' bring about weight loss - while fervently and sincerely held by many people - is wrong. It is disturbing therefore to have Bupa, a health insurance company, suggest that exercise helps overweight children lose weight. And of course there is a preponderance of doctors and other health professionals who continue to claim that exercise helps reduce obesity despite the fact that this is incorrect. When authoritative people give flawed information and advice, they bear a heavy responsibility for the harm that results.

Salty food is very bad for babies and small children

Salty food is very bad for babies and small children. It harms them in many ways. Two new newspaper articles this week draw attention to the harmful effects of salty food on children. In the Telegraph we read that cow's milk is too salty for babies and in the Independent we learn of a study finding that parents are feeding babies too much salty food, e.g. bread and baked beans. Babies and small children need to be protected from salt, not just because of harm in the present - higher blood pressure, serious damage to their immature kidneys, raised risk of heart disease and stroke, type 2 diabetes and all the other degenerative health conditions - but because by developing a taste for salt, or even an addiction to salt, these health difficulties will multiply throughout their (very likely shortened) lives. Inappropriately high salt intake is also a major cause of child obesity. And see Sodium in Foods.

If you harm a baby by feeding it salty food, the harm is permanent; you cannot undo that harm later.

High salt/sodium intake is a major cause of heart disease, hypertension and stroke

High salt/sodium intake is a major cause of heart disease, hypertension and stroke. It is also a major contributor to obesity, especially in children and other vulnerable groups. You could improve your health and lower your risk of many degenerative health conditions as well as reducing excess weight by cutting down on salt and salty food. - Lose weight by eating less salt and salty food! - Go on! try it! - You will feel so much better!

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the voluntary pledges of industry

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the voluntary pledges of industry, big business and multinationals, are unlikely to improve Public Health by the tiniest fraction of the smallest scrap of the littlest bit of an iota, and are negotiated by Governments, Health Ministers and Departments of Health, as the cynical tribute hypocrisy pays to virtue. Who but shysters would appoint the Food and Drinks Industry as advisers to the Department of Health with the aim of tackling the growing health problem of child obesity?

New warning about children's unhealthily high salt intake

The Telegraph carries a new warning report about children's unhealthy eating, especially with regard to their high salt intake. "High levels of salt in fast food, ready-made pasta, cereals and other meal-time treats aimed at children mean many face a ticking health time bomb, say experts." High salt intake is more dangerous for children because of their smaller size and the comparative immaturity of their organs. Their salt intake should be much lower than that of adults, yet for many children their salt intake is higher than the recommended maximum daily salt intake for adults.

The report covers other undesirable aspects of children's diets too, including the high sugar intake and the low nutritional content of much of the food they eat. Children's high salt intake and generally poor nutrition can significantly contribute to chronic and degenerative diseases such as obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

My main concern about children's health concerns their high salt intake and its connection to child obesity. You can read my thoughts about it here. And here is my page about salt/sodium in foods.

Did you know there is a European Childhood Obesity Group (ECOG)?

Did you know there is a European Childhood Obesity Group (ECOG)? - They appear to have had a 'congress' last month: - I wonder how many 'child obesity experts' attended, and how much that 'congress' cost? And whether it has contributed an iota of anything worthwhile toward preventing or reducing child obesity. - I doubt it.

Let's just pick on one guy: Richard Storey. I don't know him or any of the other people who attended the congress. I've just arbitrarily picked on him. - I see that he is Chief Strategy Officer, M&C Saatchi, London, and that his brief is Communicating the messages of obesity prevention to the public. - What d'you think? Think he's doing a good job? Are the messages getting through? - Is child obesity being reduced? Are obese children learning how to combat their very great problems of constantly being insulted and sneered at and bullied and being given the wrong information and advice, and the wrong sort of food? - Or are the messages about obesity prevention that Mr Storey is giving out the same damaging, ineffective pre-digested gobbets of misinformation that obese adults and children have been force-fed for decades now?

If he's plugging the low-fat, calorie-counting garbage that the self-serving Food Industry pushes, then the incidence and severity of obesity will continue to soar. If he's saying that exercise promotes weight loss then he's helping no-one to lose excess weight. If he himself is slim and fit and thinks that 'eating less and exercising more' reduces obesity then he's plain WRONG, and if he thinks that dieting is helpful and that weight loss drugs and weight loss surgery have a part to play in reducing child obesity then I would profoundly disagree with him.

But Mr Storey may not be treading the doom-laden path I have envisaged. He may be giving the correct advice after all. In which case I'm surprised that it's not been headlined in the press and trumpeted in the broadcast media. Too much salt and salty food is the principal, the most important, the overwhelming, cause of child obesity. Children need to have a low intake of salt/sodium in order to prevent damaging fluid retention/weight gain and also to avoid developing a taste for salty food. Too much sugar can also cause unhealthy weight gain, but salt is a major culprit that most people do not know about. An obese child who is fed food containing no added salt will lose weight rapidly, easily and safely. - No dieting, no hunger, no drugs, no exhausting strenuous exercise: it's a no-brainer.

I invite Richard Storey to read my child obesity page, my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection, and the other information on my website, and to read some of the stuff on my blog/s. I wish him success in his mission.

Zoe has some good ideas about reducing obesity

This Daily Mail article informs us that Zoe Harcombe has written a book which attributes the increasing incidence of obesity on a radical change in government dietary advice a few decades ago, and the promulgation of myths about what is healthy food and how to reduce obesity. I tend to agree with her and I believe that people who follow her advice are likely to be successful in losing some of their excess weight and in improving their health. I especially agree with her in her criticism of the involvement of the food and drink industry in public health advice.

The article does not, however, mention salt intake or salt sensitivity, or that people who are sensitive or vulnerable to salt gain weight because of salt intake, which for them results in fluid retention leading to obesity. Salt and salty food is indeed the main cause of child obesity. Protecting toddlers and small children from high salt intake protects them from many health problems in addition to protecting them from the main factor in children becoming obese.

The other very important omission from the article is the role of pharmaceutical drugs in causing obesity. Prescribed drugs are a major cause of obesity, since many, possibly most, prescription drugs cause fluid retention/obesity when they are taken for an extended period of time. Drugs that routinely tend to cause overweight/obesity include many steroids, HRT, most anti-depressants, anti-epileptics, anti-psychotics, etc. See steroids and HRT and amitriptyline and other anti-depressants.

See Sodium in Foods and my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection. You may also like to read my political page about salt, pharmaceuticals and medical misinformation leading to obesity and a host of avoidable ill-health and suffering.

Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

Child Obesity: Listen to Bringing Up Britain, Radio 4 tonight at 10.15

If you are interested in Child Obesity, its causes and possible remedial measures, I recommend this thoughtful discussion programme (45 minutes), led by Mariella Frostrup, one of my favourite broadcasters. See Bringing Up Britain. The broadcast is also available to be heard on BBC iPlayer for a few more days.

My own webpage about children and obesity is here. See also my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection.

Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

Most bags of crisps are about twice as large as they used to be, despite manufacturers pledging to reduce their size.

See the Telegraph article. You certainly can't accuse snack food manufacturers of falling over themselves to make their products less unhealthy, especially the salty snack brigade. But they do provide us with a free laugh or two, e.g. "PepsiCo, who make Walkers and Doritos crisps, announced a major commitment to healthy living in March, saying they would scrap the 40g and 50g ‘grab bag’ of crisps by 2015." - Only 5 years to wait...(o: - How many children's lives have they damaged with their salt-laden junk? And how many more will suffer in order to swell PepsiCo's profits?

Andrew Lansley, the UK Secretary of State against Health and for Food Inc, favours a “non-regulatory approach” to tackle obesity. Personally, I favour a change of job for Andrew Lansley.

Children need to be protected from salt and salty food. See Children and Salt.

Research finds yet again that obesity is not caused by inactivity.

Read about it in this BBC News item. But you can be sure that the fact that obesity is not caused by inactivity will not stop people, including many 'obesity experts', from continuing to urge overweight/obese people to take more exercise in order to lose weight, or to combine exercise with dieting. They are not interested in evidence or in facts. They have been conditioned to believe, despite lack of supporting evidence, that obesity is caused by a surfeit of calories. They believe that the marvellously complex human body and the multitude of many-faceted problems caused by obesity, can be explained by a bit of arithmetic about calories in and calories out. - Beware these simpletons! They are never sated. - If you don't do as they say (i.e. eat less and move more), you are lazy and greedy. If you do do as they say and it doesn't work (because it doesn't work!) then they will tell you you are a liar, or you did it wrong. They are themselves too lazy to read the research evidence.

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

How to lose excess weight safely and easily without bothering about calories at all.

Child Obesity.

And now, from the Department of the Blindingly Obvious, this report:

CNN reports that fat children are more likely to get bullied than their peers of normal weight.

Too true, and all too sad, and it is a growing problem. - Here's what to do about it:

Tell the truth about what causes child obesity.There is altogether too much misinformation about child obesity. - When children become fat it is essentially because they are eating salty food. Children are especially vulnerable to salt because of their small size and small blood volume, and because their blood vessels are weaker than those of adults. Salt, and the water it attracts to it, can more easily distend weak blood vessels than fully mature ones. The resulting increase in blood volume and other fluid retention results in weight gain, as well as higher blood pressure and many other undesirable consequences. The smaller the child, the less salt they should have - and a baby, of course, should have no salt at all. - Babies can die if they are fed salty food.

Fat children do not need to go onto a diet or to be pressed into uncongenial exercise. As far as possible, they need to avoid salt and salty food. They do not need to cut down on calories or eat low-fat junk full of strange fillers and iffy chemicals. They need to eat real food - fresh food - not processed, high profit, low nutrition food.

See Children and Obesity

And see Sodium in foods

Lose weight

vulnerable groups

FAT RETENTION

Panorama: Spoilt Rotten - horrifying child health problems of obesity, bad teeth, drunkenness...

I was truly shocked at what I saw in this programme. You can watch the main points here or watch the whole programme on the i-Player: Spoilt Rotten

Poor little children having to have a general anaesthetic to have a lot of rotted teeth out! Poor little souls. Surely their mothers should/must have known that giving them lots of sweets and sugary stuff repeatedly would rot their teeth? That giving a sugary drink in a bottle to go to bed with is especially damaging? That children need to brush their teeth and go to bed with a clean mouth? - Couldn't/Didn't the mothers notice that their children's teeth were rotting? - Some of the teeth were eroded almost to the level of the gums!

Don't Health Visitors stress this sort of information to mothers? Dental decay like this should not be happening. As the programme stressed, this is an avoidable health problem. It's a great shame.

With regard to the obese children featured in the programme, the one most featured was Leon, a five year old lad who weighs over 10 stone! - Yet I heard not one mention of salt! - Not one! - The doctor advising Leon's mother stressed the need for the lad to exercise more, but it has been proved time and time again that exercise does not reduce or prevent child obesity. Exercise is a good thing but it does not reduce weight. How is it that doctors dealing with problems of child obesity are giving such unhelpful advice? When children become fat it is essentially because they are eating salty food. Parents should be told this.

Children are especially vulnerable to salt because of their small size and small blood volume, and because their blood vessels are weaker than those of adults. Salt, and the water it attracts to it, can more easily distend weak blood vessels than fully mature ones. The resulting increase in blood volume and other fluid retention results in weight gain, as well as higher blood pressure and many other undesirable consequences. The smaller the child, the less salt they should have - and a baby, of course, should have no salt at all. - Babies can die if they are fed salty food.

See Children and Obesity

And see Sodium in foods

The programme reported shocking instances of children taken to A and E because they were drunk! And we saw a 13 year old boy who regularly drinks excessive quantities of vodka! Maybe it is time, in the interests of child health, to set limits on the ease with which alcoholic drinks can be bought, and to raise the price of them.

Other children who had been treated for glue ear were suffering unnecessarily because of their parents smoking. Apparently the smoke interferes with the working of the grommets that had been inserted into their ears to assist their hearing. One father gave up smoking and that would have benefited both his own and his son's health. Another father claimed not to believe that his smoking was damaging his child and he continued to smoke. His cigarettes were more important to him than his child's health.

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

Lose weight

vulnerable groups

FAT RETENTION

More children are suffering from EXTREME obesity

See Los Angeles Times blog report.

This tragic state of affairs obtains because members of the public continue to receive the wrong information and advice about obesity, and in particular, about child obesity.

When children become fat it is essentially because they are eating salty food. Children are especially vulnerable to salt because of their small size and small blood volume, and because their blood vessels are weaker than those of adults. Salt, and the water it attracts to it, can more easily distend weak blood vessels than fully mature ones. The resulting increase in blood volume and other fluid retention results in weight gain, as well as higher blood pressure and many other undesirable consequences. The smaller the child, the less salt they should have - and a baby, of course, should have no salt at all. - Babies can die if they are fed salty food.

Because children have much smaller bodies than adults it would be best if they had no more than half as much salt as adults. Most children, however, have much more than this because they eat so many snacks and instant foods. Just one cheeseburger, for instance, contains almost double the recommended daily salt maximum for children. There are high amounts of salt in packet soups, instant noodles, ketchup and sauces, sausages, burgers and savoury snacks. Fat children will lose weight fast if they eat less salt. And even faster still if they eat plenty of fresh fruit and unsalted vegetables, because these are rich in potassium, which helps to displace sodium from the body. Overweight children should not be put on a diet; dieting is harmful and unnecessary and does not usually result in weight loss. Once children start dieting it is often the beginning of a lifetime of yo-yo dieting and increasing weight and ill-health.

Unfortunately bread contains a lot of salt and most families eat quite a lot of bread because of using it for sandwiches in packed lunches, and for toast, etc. Because of its high salt content bread is not a healthy food for little children or for anyone who is overweight. Some bread manufacturers have lowered the salt content of certain loaves, but most bread still usually contains 0.5g or more of sodium per 100g. This is too much. - Always check on the packet; look for the lowest sodium content.

Cheese is often recommended as being good for children because it contains calcium, but cheese is not really good for children because it has a high salt content. So don't give them a lot of it. Children can get plenty of calcium by drinking milk and by eating yogurt (but avoid the sort of yogurt that has lots of chemical additives).

See Children and Obesity

And see Sodium in foods

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

Lose weight

vulnerable groups

FAT RETENTION

Three-year-olds show signs of heart disease

BBC News reports on a US study that found obese children as young as three years old show signs of future heart disease.

It is ever more important that the truth be told about how child obesity comes about, namely that it is caused not by over-feeding children, but by giving them food too high in salt/sodium.

See Child Obesity

And see Sodium in foods

UK Teenage Boys Fitted With Gastric Bands

BBC News reports that two 14-year-old boys have had gastric bands fitted at Sheffield Children's Hospital. This appals me. In the report it says:

"Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, said such operations were an example of society's failure to understand the problem of obesity in the UK. "It is a horrendous indictment on society that we should ever allow these children to get this fat," Mr Fry said."

There is a ghastly irony to Tam Fry's statement. Child obesity is the result of misinformation about the causes of obesity and the best ways to remedy it, and that calamitous misinformation tends to be given by organisations like the National Obesity Forum itself - see its NOF's Healthy Eating Tips and Cancer Research UK's Ten Top Weight Loss Tips. Of course the information on these pages may be changed in the future, but as I write this on Feb 15th 2010, the word 'SALT' does not even appear on either of these pages!! - And yet it is Salt Sensitivity/swollen veins/sodium retention/fluid retention/ that is overwhelmingly the cause of obesity, and reduction of salt intake that is the quickest, safest and most effective way to reduce/prevent obesity. Almost all child obesity is caused by high salt intake.

I see that Cancer Research UK claims that its weight loss tips are based on scientific evidence! - I take leave to doubt that. Perhaps they could favour us by giving the references for any scientific evidence showing that those tips work better that simply cutting down on salt and salty food? - Or that as many as half of them even work at all!

And Cancer Research UK's statement that "Simply put, obesity is the result of taking in more calories through your diet than you are burning through physical activity." is simply WRONG. It is not true.

High salt intake is the primary cause of child obesity. It is VITAL to protect babies and small children from salty food.

See Children and Obesity

Sodium in foods

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

Fat retention and fat excretion: the importance of getting enough calcium.

Obesity tends to be set in before the age of two.

See BBC News report. This is a national and international scandal caused largely by the misinformation that has been promulgated for decades by the medical profession, the diet industry, health agencies, government officials et al, and continues to be promulgated.

These unfortunate children have a lifetime's ill-health and unhappiness ahead of them, in which they will be repeatedly insulted and urged to 'eat less and move more', except that the language used is likely to be coarser and more wounding than that. That obesity is on the increase is not because these child victims are greedy and/or lazy. When children become fat it is essentially because they are eating salty food.

Children are especially vulnerable to salt because of their small size and small blood volume, and because their blood vessels are weaker than those of adults. Salt, and the water it attracts to it, can more easily distend weak blood vessels than fully mature ones. The resulting increase in blood volume and other fluid retention results in weight gain, as well as higher blood pressure and many other undesirable consequences. The smaller the child, the less salt they should have - and a baby, of course, should have no salt at all. - Babies can die if they are fed salty food.

High salt intake is the primary cause of child obesity. It is VITAL to protect babies and small children from salty food.

See Children and Obesity

Sodium in foods

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, osteomalacia, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, boost your lung function and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it!

See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Fat retention and fat excretion: the importance of getting enough calcium.