Salt intake and Obesity
Salt intake is related to soft drink consumption in children and adolescents - a link to obesity?
Children who eat less salt drink fewer sugar-sweetened soft drinks and may significantly lower their risks for obesity, elevated blood pressure and later-in-life heart attack and stroke, researchers reported in the print and online issue of Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Previous studies have shown that dietary salt intake increases fluid consumption in adults. But researchers at St. George's University of London , England , are the first to examine whether the same is true in children.
"If children aged 4 to 18 years cut their salt intake by half (i.e., an average reduction of 3 grams a day), there would be a decrease of approximately two sugar-sweetened soft drinks per week per child, so each child would decrease calorie intake by almost 250 kcal per week," said Dr. He, one of the authors. "Not only would reducing salt intake lower blood pressure in children, but it could also play a role in helping to reduce obesity."
Click here to access Dr Myron Weinberger's editorial regarding this paper