Eating out for most families is a luxury occasion, as is a naughty takeaway treat; but you those with children, how detremental can it be to their health?Despite a Nando's spokesman being quoted saying, "In our new trial menu all of the children's options will be well within recommended guidelines" their nandino's veggie burger with creamy mash contains 1.3g more salt than the children's recommended daily total allowance.
Another restaurant whose children's meals contain more salt than the RDA (recommended daily allowance) is Weatherspoons, who justify this by claiming that they "aim to provide a range of children's meals" which "feature varying salt levels".
Adding to this, many luxury treats including desserts, cakes and confectionary sold in restaurants contain high levels of salt above childrens recommended amount, so they really aren't as luxury as they may seem!
Now salt, also referred to as sodium is an important part of our diet; it helps cleanse the bowel and we require a small level withing our blood stream, but what happens when we have salt to an excess? Furthermore, what hapens when children have too much of it?
Salt has long been linked to high blood pressure, which is the major cause of strokes and heart failure in the UK. Too much salt is also widely know to cause or is linked to many other illnesses including kidney stones & disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, stomach cancer, asthma, obesity and even Alzheimers disease.
Recent studies now show evidence that high salt intake can affect blood pressure in children and cause many of the above illnesses at a much younger age; children from 'ethnic minorities' are at agreater risk of developing salt-related illness and disease.
Although the research is still incomplete, salt has been proved to affect our satiety causing people to overeat - that why crisps are hard to put down!
As adults, we have a choice on how much salt (sodium) we consume; children however, don't! If you have children, it is extremely important you understand what the RDA's are and what they mean. Learn to check salt content in foods before offering it to you child as their meal and wise up to the detremental health affects too much salt can cause.
Below is a chart from the UK website, CASH; an organisation run by 25 top scientifc members, working with the government to raise awareness of salt intake:
| Age | Maximum Salt Intake |
| 0-6 months | <1g / day |
| 6-12 months | 1g / day |
| 1-3 years | 2g / day |
| 4-6 years | 3g / day |
| 7-10 years | 5g / day |
| 11 years and above | 6g / day |
In order to ensure you, and your family do not have a high sodium diet avoid foods such as bacon, cheese, pickles, ham, stock cubes and salami. Other foods which tend to be high in salt content, but can vary depending on brands include bread, crisps, pizza, condiments & sauces, cereals, sauces and processed meats.
The governments colour guide labels show high salt content as a red traffic light (1.5g salt per 100g) and low salt contemt as a green traffic light (0.3g salt or less per 100g). You can use this guide as a way to calculate salt content in every meal.
Be wise, read the label, and know your salt allowance!
