Salt Intake and the Health of your Children
Children should eat less salt than adults but most children in the UK are probably
consuming as much as, or even more than adults. Children need less than one
gram of salt a day to stay healthy and this is easily obtained from a normal
healthy, varied diet. However, they can easily exceed the recommended maximum
upper daily limit, particularly if their diet includes processed or snack foods.
How salt can affect the health of your children
Blood Pressure
A high salt intake results in higher blood
pressure in children as well as adults. The
higher the blood pressure in childhood,
the higher it will be in adult-hood and
high blood pressure increases the risk of
heart disease and stroke.
Reducing salt intake by around
2.5g a day can reduce the risk of
having a stroke or a heart attack
in later life by a quarter.
Eating too much salt in childhood can also
lead to a preference for salty foods and
therefore an increased risk of heart
disease or stroke as an adult.
Bone Demineralisation and
Osteoporosis
A high salt intake also causes calcium
loss from bones leading to thinning of the
bones. Thin bones are more fragile and as we get older this results in more fractures (broken bones) which take
longer to heal. In teenagers, particularly
girls, a high salt intake could lead to
bones not reaching their maximum strength and because of this, an increased risk of osteoporosis in later life.
Stomach Cancer
Comparison of different countries around
the world shows a close relationship
between the amount of salt eaten in the
diet and the number of people who
develop stomach cancer.
Asthma
A high salt intake has been shown to
aggravate the symptoms of asthma. If
your child suffers from asthma, reducing
their salt intake may be beneficial in
combination with the other treatments for
asthma.