Why food containing salt is necessary for a child’s diet?

A healthy amount of salt helps your body regulate, or control, the right amount of water and fluids. It also helps the heart pump blood at a healthy rate, which gives good blood pressure. Furthermore, salt helps the muscles and nerves of children to function properly. But depending on the age of the child, salt intake should be monitored as excess salt in a child’s body can be harmful.

How high intake of salt can harm a child’s body?

- Blood pressure

A high salt intake has shown to increase blood pressure, which in turn increases the risk of heart disease and strokes. It has been proven that reduction in consumption of salt during a person’s childhood years reduced the chance of getting a cardiovascular disease later on.

- Osteoporosis

A high salt intake can cause calcium loss through the urine which can lead to bone demineralisation and significantly increases the risk of osteoporosis, a bone condition that causes fragility and breakages. Even though osteoporosis is common amongst older people, research has shown that the effect of salt on calcium metabolism can be detected even during childhood, and continue in to adult life. This increases the risk of osteoporosis later in life, particularly for girls.

- Obesity

Thirst is related to salt consumption. The more we consume salt the more fluid we intake 31% of fluid drinks consumed by 4-18 year olds are sugary drinks, which are shown to contribute to childhood obesity.

- Other conditions

A high salt diet during childhood increases the risk of other conditions later in life. These conditions includes: increased risk of the stomach lining getting damaged and increased the growth of the bacteria Helicobacter pylori which can cause sores, called ulcers, in the lining of your stomach or the upper part of your small intestine; asthma by the increased bronchial reactivity; and kidney disease by increasing protein urea. 

How can salt in children’s diet be controlled?

To ensure that children do not consume too much salt, make simple changes such as giving your children healthy snacks such as fruits and yogurt instead of crisps, swapping ham and cheese sandwiches for chicken or tuna. Also, preventing them from ever adding salt to their food is also essential. Even checking the labels of products such as sauces, bread and cereal can all help to reduce the salt intake by children. This safeguards your children and can help prevent problems that arise from high salt intake.