Children's meals in some pubs and fast food chains remain far too high in salt

The Independent reports on new survey findings by CASH (Consensus Action on Salt and Health). "Children's meals at some of the UK's leading pub and fast food chains contain more salt than they should eat in an entire day, a study has found." Perhaps surprisingly, "Nando's and Wetherspoons both had children's meals containing three times as much salt as a McDonald's Happy Meal of a hamburger and fries. " I recommend that parents read the whole article.

There are healthier options available, but parents are hampered if they are looking for the healthier low salt options for their children because menus lack nutritional information. - Even now! - After years of warnings about the harm that high salt intake does to children and the dangers to their long-term health when they become addicted to salt in childhood. - Even now! - Even now parts of the Food Industry are continuing to ladle vast amounts of salt into children's meals, without providing the necessary information that these levels of salt are dangerous to health. - Heightened risk of high blood pressure, increased risk of stroke, heart disease, osteoporosis, asthma and kidney disease: these are the free accompaniments to highly salted children's meals...

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.

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.

Children's health is being damaged and their lives shortened because they are eating too much salt and salty food

Children's health is being damaged and their lives shortened because they are eating too much salt and salty food. See Children are vulnerable to salt. It is important to protect children from processed foods/salty snacks/ready meals and the like. Children are more at risk from their salt intake than adults are.

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 dairy yogurt (but avoid non-dairy yogurt and low-fat yogurt and the sort of yogurt that has added sugar or sweeteners, colours or other synthetic chemical additives).

You may think you don't eat much salt, but have you ever really looked at the nutrition info on the convenience foods you buy?

I think if you check the label information about salt/sodium in your food cupboards and in your fridge you may be shocked at how much salt you are actually eating, even though you very rarely sprinkle salt onto your food yourself. - The food manufacturers usually add a lot more salt to food than you yourself would add. If you were making up a breakfast cereal from scratch yourself, it would probably not even occur to you to add salt to the bowl of cereal, but most breakfast cereal manufacturers add a lot of salt to it. - It's a very cheap ingredient for one thing. I'm sure you can think of other reasons too.

Most health advisers these days recommend that adults should eat no more than 6g a day of salt. That's 2.4g of sodium a day, because to convert sodium content to salt content you need to multiply by 2.5. And for children, because of their smaller size, the recommendation per day is less, in proportion to their size. Salt is especially harmful for babies. Babies should not be given food that contains any added salt at all.

It's very easy to eat too much salt because so many modern foods contain high concentrations of it, for example most bread is high in salt; so is bacon, and cheese, and cornflakes, and processed meats. I invite you to visit my webpage that tells you more about which foods are high in salt and which are low in salt.

Did you know that for people who are sensitive to salt, salt intake can cause weight gain? - You may be sensitive to salt and not know it. Most people who are sensitive to salt do not know that they are. Cutting down on salt and salty food can be a very easy, very fast, completely safe way to lose weight. - What's not to like? - Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - You have nothing to lose but your excess pounds!