How to reduce salt intake in children?

The consumption of salt in our country is well above the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), and this also includes children. An adult takes twice the maximum recommended amount, which can cause and almost double the risk of heart attacks and strokes, as well as overweight and obesity.

Among children, although it is not common to find cases of hypertension, a study from the Institute of Preventive Medicine in Wolfson (London) showed that reducing salt intake in childhood can prevent hypertension in adulthood.

In addition, among children a higher consumption of salt is related to overweight and obesity. Eating a lot of salty foods causes you to drink more liquid, which can cause you to ingest more sugary drinks, directly related to excess weight.

How much salt can children have?

WHO advises:

• Avoid salt in children under two years of age, food is sufficient to provide the necessary amount of salt at these ages.
• Children between two and five years old, less than 5 grams of salt a day (1 teaspoon),
• Children over five years of age, a maximum consumption of is 5 grams of salt per day.

Food preferences are established in the first years of life, if the consumption of foods rich in salt is high, it will cause that in adulthood they opt for salty foods, cook with a lot of salt and that foods without salt, seem tasteless. In addition, the food preferences of the family mark that of the smallest, that is why taking family measures such as reduce table salt intake When it comes to cooking and avoiding those processed foods with a high salt content, they will help the whole family.

What foods contain the most salt?

It is stipulated that 72% of the salt we eat per day comes from cold cuts, bread, cheeses and processed foods such as industrial pastries, cookies, breakfast cereals, pizza, hamburgers, salty snacks, packaged sauces ... 20% of the added salt to food (table salt) and the remaining 8% from other foods. Taking into account these data and the trends in infant nutrition, children are major consumers of products rich in salt: potato chips, worms, pastries, cookies, breakfast cereals and pre-cooked meals.

How to avoid salt?

• Limit those foods with high salt content mentioned above, not only because of their salt content, but also because they are also poor quality foods with low nutritional content
• Educate or re-educate the palate of children by following a diet with little salt and avoiding consuming processed foods, so that they discover the real taste of food.
• They can provide a different smell and flavor, such as garlic and onion, pepper, sweet paprika, oregano, thyme, basil, coriander, cumin, ginger ...
• Avoid putting the salt shaker on the table.
• Limit the amount of salt you add when cooking food.
• of the products when buying processed foods to avoid those rich in salt:

• • Very salty food if it is equal to or greater than 1.25 g / 100 g of food.
  • Food with little salt if it has 0.25 g (or less) / 100 g of food.
  • If the label is indicated in the amount of sodium and not salt (the salt is sodium chloride), the sodium figure must be multiplied by 2.5 to find the grams of salt it provides.

Types of salts

Salt is sodium chloride, and despite finding them in different forms such as fine or coarse grain, flakes, crystals ... and of different origin (refined spring gem salt, sea salt, salt from a certain geographical area ...) all are sodium chloride.

Many of them may have different aromas or colors due to their origin, but nutritionally speaking it is irrelevant, excessive consumption is harmful, whatever the type, since the nutritional composition is very similar.

Always iodized salt

We already know that we should not abuse salt, but it is common to add it in certain culinary preparations that require it. In certain geographical areas, the iodine content in the diet is poor, and the recommended daily amounts are not reached, due to the different amounts of iodine present in soils and marine waters.

For this reason, iodine to salt and with this action many problems derived from this deficit were avoided. Iodine is involved in many functions in the body, such as the production of thyroid hormone. The iodine deficiency It is the most important cause of mental retardation in the fetus and in children worldwide, and that is why the use of iodized salt is recommended among the child population. Common salt is not iodized, so the expression must explicitly appear "Iodized salt".

• The WHO advises avoiding salt in children under two years of age and not exceeding 5 grams of salt a day in children under five years of age.
• The salt we eat each day comes mainly from cold cuts, bread, cheeses and processed foods such as industrial pastries, cookies, breakfast cereals, pizza, hamburgers, salty snacks, packaged sauces ...
• Food preferences are established in the first years of life. If the consumption of foods rich in salt is high, it will cause that in adulthood they opt for salty foods, cook with a lot of salt and that foods without salt seem tasteless.

Diploma in Human Nutrition and Dietetics

Master in Pediatric Nutrition and Sports Nutrition