Children | Back to Vulnerable Groups List
When children become fat it is essentially because they are eating salty food. Children are especially vulnerable to salt because of their small size and small blood volume, and because their blood vessels are weaker than those of adults. Salt, and the water it attracts to it, can more easily distend weak blood vessels than fully mature ones. The resulting increase in blood volume and other fluid retention results in weight gain, as well as higher blood pressure and many other undesirable consequences. The smaller the child, the less salt they should have - and a baby, of course, should have no salt at all. - Babies can die if they are fed salty food.
Because children have much smaller bodies than adults it would
be best if they had no more than half as much salt as adults. Most
children, however, have much more than this because they eat so many
snacks and instant foods.
Just one cheeseburger, for instance, contains almost double the
recommended daily salt maximum for children. There are high amounts of
salt in packet soups, instant noodles, ketchup and sauces, sausages,
burgers and savoury snacks. Fat children will lose weight fast if they
eat less salt. And even faster still if they eat plenty of fresh fruit
and unsalted vegetables, because these are rich in potassium, which
helps to displace sodium from the body.
A few bread manufacturers have lowered the salt content of certain loaves. Warburton's, for instance, make some special healthy bread, which has only 0.3g sodium per 100g bread, compared with most bread, which usually contains 0.5g or more per 100g. It would be well worth buying this healthier bread for your children.
In the school lunchbox, try replacing crisps by a little packet of seedless raisins or a banana. If you can't wean them off crisps completely, try to find unsalted or lower salt versions And in sandwiches use unsalted butter or No Salt Flora rather than salted butter or salted margarine.
Try to find children's foods with less salt. Or provide home-cooked meals, without any, or without much, added salt, rather than commercially produced ready meals and snacks.
For breakfast consider providing porridge, ReadyBrek, Shredded Wheat or Shreddies, all of which have no added salt, rather than cornflakes or most other breakfast cereals, which have had a lot of salt added by manufacturers.
If your children are keen on beans in tomato sauce, look at the label on the tin. - Buy the tin with a lower salt/sodium content. Give them smaller helpings of the beans.
In general it would be good for children not to develop a taste for salt. Providing snacks of fresh fruit, ready-to-eat dried fruit or unsalted nuts instead of salty savouries would help them.