📣 For more lifestyle news, click here to join our WhatsApp Channel and also follow us on Instagram
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Seventy per cent of eight-month old babies eat more salt than is recommended for their age due to being fed salty and processed foods like yeast extract,gravy,baked beans and canned goods,according to a new study.
Many are also given cows milk,which has higher levels of salt than breast or formula milk,as their main drink despite recommendations that it should not be used until babies are at least one year old.
High levels of salt can damage developing kidneys,give children a taste for salty foods and establish poor eating practices that continue into adulthood and can result in health problems later in life.
These are the latest findings from researchers at the University of Bristol based on almost 1,200 participants in the children of the 90s study.
The researchers found that the majority of infants were first introduced to solids around 3-4 months,with the mean salt intake for the highest group at 8 months more than double the maximum recommendation for that age group (400mg sodium per day up to 12 months).
Infants in this top group often consumed cows milk as a main drink,which has higher sodium content at 55mg per 100g than breast (15mg per 100g) or formula (15-30mg per 100ml) milk.
They also ate three times the amount of bread compared to the lowest group,and were given salty flavourings such as yeast extract and gravy.
These findings show that salt intakes need to be substantially reduced in children of this age group. Infants need foods specifically prepared for them without added salt,so it is important to adapt the family diet, said Dr Pauline Emmett and Vicky Cribb,the nutritionists who conducted the research.
The study has been published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
