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...

Two simple suggestions that could help to stem the worldwide increase in childhood asthma

A crucial dietary measure that would reduce the incidence and severity of childhood asthma is to avoid feeding children salty meals and snacks. - See this article, where you will read, "According to a new study published in the American Dietetic Association, high-salt foods and snacks are linked to lung changes that trigger asthma symptoms.," and that researchers in Greece found, using questionnaires, "Kids who ate high-salt foods more than three times a week saw their risk of asthma symptoms go up almost five times." 

 

We read in this Telegraph report of research in Rome, Italy, led by Dr Giuseppe Corbo. "The study of 20,000 six and seven-year-olds, published in the medical journal Epidemiology, confirmed a strong link with asthma and obesity, but found that salt was the biggest risk. Those with the highest intake were two and a half times more likely to develop asthma." (my emphasis) See also Salt/Sodium in Foods.

 

Another important precaution is to avoid dosing children with paracetamol/acetaminophen (aka Tylenol and Calpol). There is a wealth of statistical data on that webpage which suggests a link between acetaminophen and childhood asthma.

 

Since AsthmaUK suggested this week that a third of people with asthma are at a high risk of having a potentially fatal asthma attack (see this BBC report), I reckon AsthmaUK ought to do the decent thing and bring these simple precautionary measures to the attention of asthma sufferers and their relatives and carers. Surely it is a moral imperative.

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).

A bit of good news about Calpol, the version of paracetamol that is, unfortunately, given to children.

A bit of good news about Calpol, the version of paracetamol that is, unfortunately, given to children. - See BBC News report. - The bit of good news is that the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency says there will be more specific dosing instructions for this product, with narrowed age brackets. This will probably reduce some of the dangerous and damaging over-prescribing of paracetamol to toddlers that has been going on.

"Dr June Raine, the MHRA's director of vigilance and risk management of medicines, insisted the change was not because of safety concerns.

"The change is to ensure children get the most optimal dose of paracetamol suitable for their age.

"This updated dosing advice will clarify the doses, making it easier for parents and carers to know exactly how much paracetamol they should give their children.""

I'm sorry, Dr Raine, that you " insisted the change was not because of safety concerns". - It damn well ought to have been for safety concerns! I regard giving painkillers to little children as harmful, risk-laden folly.

Apart from the very real and present physical harm that can result, the practice of medicating every little pain and symptom in a child's life can produce an adult who will carry on the habit, looking for health and well-being in pills and potions, instead of in good food, good nutrition, good friends, fresh air, exercise and all the other good, drug-free benisons you, Dear Reader, would yourself list.

Here's an excellent article that gives information about the harmful ingredients that are added to Calpol as well as the paracetamol itself. And here's another such article.

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.

Bernard Matthews: A man whose debased food products have harmed the health of many thousands of people

The Guardian's obituary for Bernard Matthews: A man whose debased food products have harmed the health of many thousands of people. This obituary seems a fitting tribute.

I always think, in particular, of the school-children who were served his highly-salted, toxic, Turkey Twizzlers as their school dinners, thereby damaging their health at that time and also giving them the taste for salty meals that would continue to damage them throughout their adult years. Children need to be protected from salt and salty food.

The Education Authorities and the Health Authorities that permitted children's health to be damaged by perversions of food in order to save money and to prosper big business, share the responsibility for harming those innocent children, and for much of the nation's present ill-health by way of obesity, high blood pressure, heart problems, stroke, diabetes, cancer, arthritis et al.

Tamiflu should not be given to children

The Telegraph reports that Tamiflu should not be given to children.

The Telegraph further reports that Tamiflu reduces flu symptoms by only half a day anyway!

What a pig's ear the government and the Department of Health have made of their swine flu strategies! The drug companies have worked a blinder in conning the powers-that-be, haven't they?

What a waste of money and resources the ludicrous Tamiflu phone debacle has been!

Ballroom dancing is very good for children's health and fitness.

The Telegraph reports that ballroom dancing is very good for children.

A dancing initiative backed by professionals from the TV programme Strictly Come Dancing had "more than 2,500 students aged five to 18 learn to cha-cha-cha, waltz and jive in 29 primary and secondary schools across England." It has been found to improve their behaviour and to boost low self-esteem and confidence, as well as improving their health and fitness and communication skills.

Leading scientists publicly denounce unethical use of children in GM experiments

A formal letter of protest relating to a severe breach of medical ethics has been sent by 22 senior scientists from around the world to the Tufts University School of Medicine, together with a call for these GM feeding experiments to be terminated immediately.
Read article on the website of the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) (UK)

Many sweets and chocolates sold in the UK, especially children's sweets, contain harmful chemicals.

Never mind the sugar! Are our children being poisoned by their sweets?
article by Alex Renton in the Daily Mail

I've only just come across this interesting article, which was published on Jan 1st this year, but better late than never...(o:

I do hope you will read all of the original article because it contains such a lot of information important in safeguarding children's health. - Here is an extract:

"During my investigation, I found dangerous colourings and preservatives in famous names such as Cadbury Roses chocolates, Maynards, Wrigley's gum, Jawbreakers, Jelly Babies, Kiddies Mix, Refreshers, Lovehearts, Hubba Bubba bubble gum and Fizz Bombs, as well as a huge range of corner-shop sweets sold as Nisha's or Family Favourites.

Novelty sweets branded on Bratz dolls and cartoon character Scooby-Doo had them too. A build-it-yourself gingerbread house from the John Lewis toy department had more bad dyes than any other item I found.

If it's cheaply made and highly coloured, it seems, it's more likely than not to have an 'azo-dye' (a synthetic nitrogen-based compound dye) in it - and that includes all the children's favourites: the snakes, marshmallows and bootlaces sold loose in corner shops.

The chief villains - the ones everyone agrees are dangerous - are mainly colours derived from coal tar. These are known as the 'Dirty Six' and go under the names sunset yellow (or E number 110), carmoisine (E122), tartrazine (E102), ponceau 4R (E124), quinoline yellow (E104) and allura red (E129).

They're reds and yellows, and commonly found in sweets, jellies, ice lollies, fizzy drinks and many obviously coloured foods, such as icing on cakes. Three of them have been linked with asthma and other allergies. Many of them are banned in medicines, or must carry warnings.

All of them, government scientists now agree, can cause or exacerbate hyperactivity or attention disorder.

For my daughter - who's pretty busy, not hyperactive - the worry is what's known as the cocktail effect: these colourings combined with commonly used benzoate preservatives (which go under E numbers 210 to 219) may exacerbate other allergic conditions as well as hyperactivity.

The benzoates, according to the FSA, are thought to worsen symptoms of asthma and eczema in children who have these conditions - and they're banned in food products for the under-threes."

You may like also to visit http://www.actiononadditives.com/Home/

A ban on six food additives linked to hyperactivity in children has reportedly been backed by the Government, signalling an end to green mushy peas.

Ban on food additives 'supported by ministers'
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Ministers have agreed that if food manufacturers do not voluntarily phase out the additives, which the Food Standards Agency asked them to stop using earlier this year, they will pursue a ban through law, according to the BBC.

One of the additives is used to give mushy peas their bright green colour. Without it, the takeaway staple is a murky grey. Manufacturers have so far been unable to find an effective alternative.

The Food Standards Agency request came after researchers from Southampton University found last September that children behaved erratically and lost concentration after they consumed the additives, which are also commonly found in fizzy drinks, sweets and processed food.

The additives are Allura red (E129), an orange/red dye; Carmoisine (E122), a red colouring in jellies; Ponceau 4R (E124), a red colouring; Quinoline yellow (E104), a yellow colouring; Sunset yellow (E110), a colouring often found in squashes; and Tartrazine (E102), a colouring found in fizzy drinks, lollies and mushy peas."

Well it will be good if/when these additives do get banned, but in my opinion it is much more urgent for children's health to get rid of added salt from children's food.

Children and Obesity

See Sodium in foods

vulnerable groups

Tomato ketchup has become the latest foodstuff to be banned from canteens at some schools as part of a move towards healthier eating.

Ketchup banned from school canteens due to salt and sugar levels
Article in the Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"The popular condiment has been taken off the menu at primary schools in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales, in a move branded "daft" by some parents.

It comes after Marmite was banned by Ceredigion Council, in Mid Wales, from school breakfast clubs because of "a high level of salt"."

Well that's a good move. Reducing chilldren's salt intake reduces their likelihood of being overweight and having high blood pressure, etc.

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Paracetamol has been linked to three-fold increased risk of asthma in children

Giving young children Calpol or other paracetamol medicines increases the risk of them developing asthma, research has shown. Children aged six and seven who had paracetamol at least once a month were at three times the risk of having asthma than those who were never given it. Babies who were given the drug under the age of one were more likely to have asthma at six or seven but the greatest risk was amongst those who were receiving high doses, defined as once a month for 12 months.
Read article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)

Up to one in 11 children in Britain may suffer from an attention deficit disorder, government advisers will claim this week.

One in 11 children may have ADHD
Article in the Sunday Telegraph

Extracts:

"The guidance by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) is expected to say that up to 9 per cent of children and 2 per cent of adults fall within broad definitions of ADHD. It will recommend that the stimulant Ritalin be prescribed to all children and adults with a severe form of the condition and to all moderate cases which do not respond to talking therapies or parenting classes.

Prof Philip Asherson, one of the experts who produced the guidance, due out on Wednesday, said they tried to avoid following the model of ADHD care in the United States, where medication is the norm and routinely used to tackle minor behavioural and educational problems.

He said: "We worked very hard to avoid the approach in the US, where one in 10 children are being treated with stimulants. The guidance makes it clear that medication is the right approach in some cases but that it should not be used for everyone and certainly not to tackle minor educational problems."

"Dr Sami Timimi, a child and adolescent psychiatrist in Lincolnshire, who does not believe ADHD is a valid diagnosis, said Nice had produced no evidence that the condition existed, or that medication worked, despite coming to conclusions supporting its use."

The psychologist Oliver James accused psychiatrists of medicalising a problem that was caused by upbringing. He said: "Psychiatrists invented this category to medicalise when in fact it is a social problem linked to low incomes and parenting difficulties." He said the best approach to children with ADHD-like symptoms was to give them more attention and affection."

"Latest figures show almost 500,000 prescriptions for stimulants for under-16s last year, more than double the 200,000 issued in 2003. The Department of Health said the figures reflected the number of prescriptions, which could include repeat orders for the same child."

I consider it irresponsible, reprehensible, unscientific and downright dangerous to be prescribing psychotropic drugs to children. If indeed it is reasonably considered that intervention is necessary to improve children's behaviour I would favour improving a child's nutrition, especially by the avoidance of fast food, ready meals, salty junk snacks and diet pretend 'food', and also Oliver James's suggestion of more attention and affection. - And I don't mean attention from medics! - Behaviour problems are categorically not caused by the brain being short of Ritalin!

Medicines for coughs and colds can be life-threatening for babies.

Another study raises questions about the dangers of giving cough and cold medications to babies. A "surprising" number of small children taken to the emergency room after they stop breathing or lose consciousness have over-the-counter cold medications in their systems, according to the authors of an article in Pediatrics.
Read article in USA Today

A superbug capable of killing previously healthy youngsters within 48 hours is on the rise in Britain's playgrounds

Playground superbug can kill children within days

Extract from the Telegraph:

"A superbug capable of killing previously healthy youngsters within 48 hours is on the rise in Britain's playgrounds, and has left at least 10 children fighting for their lives.

Cases of the bug, known as Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL), have more than doubled since 2005, official figures show.

Doctors are particularly concerned that many young people could have been exposed to the infection in their school playgrounds or in local parks.

Children are especially vulnerable to PVL, a member of the Staphylococcus aureas family of infections, and it can combine with MRSA, the deadly hospital superbug.

Once contracted, the infection acts quickly to kill off white blood cells, an essential part of the body's immune system.

The bug can also enter a patient's skeleton, where it becomes particularly hard to cure. Doctors often have to treat the disease by removing infected bone.

Cases of PVL combining with MRSA were first reported in America several years ago and are becoming increasingly common.

Doctors claim that the Government is not taking the threat of the bug seriously enough.

Mark Enright, professor of molecular epidemiology at Imperial College London, said: "This infection can kill healthy children in one to two days, but the authorities are continuing to treat MRSA as purely a hospital problem and trying to assuage public opinion."

Professor Richard Wise, a leading microbiologist, told a Sunday newspaper that he warned a Government health minister of the threat three years ago."

Tranquillisers are putting children's lives at risk

I don't understand why doctors who prescribe recklessly are not severely punished... I have copied the following from the latest Dr Rath Health Foundation newsletter
http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/Newsletter/archive/newsletter_2008_04_apr_18.html

Tranquillisers putting children's lives at risk
· Anti-psychotics may cause long-term harm, say critics
· Youngsters under 6 being given unlicensed drugs
New evidence has shown children's lives are being put at risk by a surge in the use of controversial tranquillising drugs which are being prescribed to control their behaviour, the Guardian has learned. The anti-psychotic drugs are being given to youngsters under the age of six even though the drugs have no licence for use in children except in certain schizophrenia cases, the report says. The number of children on the drugs has doubled since the early 1990s as the UK begins to follow a trend started in the US, but critics say they are a "chemical cosh" that could cause premature death.
Read article in The Guardian (UK)

2.5m children on drugs in US
Anti-psychotic drugs for children have taken off in the US on the back of a willingness to diagnose those with behavioural problems as having manic depression. Even children barely out of babyhood are getting a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, the modern term for the condition.
Read article in The Guardian (UK)

The Department of Health warns that rickets is on the rise in children and advises extra Vitamin D.

Ministers warn on rickets on rise in children

Extract from the Telegraph:

"The disease is making a resurgence, a spokesman for the Department of Health has warned.

Studies suggest between seven and eight children per 100,000 have vitamin D deficiency. But just 15 minutes of summer sunlight a day is enough for the body to manufacture the required amounts.

Families who qualify for the Healthy Start scheme can obtain free supplements. Dawn Primarolo, the health minister, said: "We particularly encourage women who are pregnant or breastfeeding to take vitamin D, to protect the health and well-being of their baby.""

Food companies including Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Mars and Burger King have signed a European Union pledge to stop marketing junk food to children under 12.

Food companies sign EU ad pledge

Extract from the Guardian:

"An alliance of food companies including Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Mars and Burger King have signed a European Union pledge to stop marketing junk food to children under 12 years old.

The group of 11 companies, which represent more than 50% of the food and beverage advertising spend in the EU, have agreed to stop running junk food ads on TV, in print and on the internet to under-12s by the end of 2008.

The alliance, which also includes PepsiCo, Kraft, Unilever, Danone and Ferrero, have agreed not to market products in primary schools, except where "specifically requested by or agreed with the school administration for educational purposes".

A number of the companies, such as Coca-Cola, Kraft and Mars, have previously agreed a US responsible marketing code around advertising to children.

The difference with this new programme, called the EU Pledge, is that the 11 companies have agreed to have independently verified monitoring of their reduction in marketing, from January 2009."

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke and heart problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

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

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ami.html

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

Wider implications of the flawed theory that excess calorie intake causes obesity

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

MPs call for ban on new homes near high voltage power lines

Ban new homes near power lines, say MPs - Guardian

Extract:

"New homes and schools should not be built within 60 metres of high voltage power lines until the link with childhood cancers is better understood by scientists, according to a committee of MPs. They also recommend that home buyers should be provided with information on the level of electromagnetic fields within homes before they buy.

The committee says the science is still unclear and that any health effects are weak, but in the meantime it argues that the government should adopt a precautionary approach.

The Labour MP and GP Howard Stoate, who chaired the committee, said: "The overall body of evidence shows that there is undoubtedly a link between living near very high voltage power lines and childhood leukaemia. We can't say that one causes the other but we can say that there is an association."

He added: "I've always got the view in science that if you don't know something it is generally better to err on the side of caution, rather than to look back in 20 years time and say, if only we had done more 20 years ago.""


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

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

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...