The CDC recently found that kids are getting too much salt in their diet. Children are receiving about 1/3 more than the recommended amount of salt. The reason this increase in salt is bad is because it puts children and teens at risk of high blood pressure and heart disease. Although these are conditions that often increase with middle age, recent history has shown that now more teens and children are showing early signs of developing these conditions.
The study showed that more than 90% of the participants in the study are getting too much salt. The CDC estimated that school-age children consumed about 3,279 mg of sodium on a daily basis. That’s almost 1,000 over the recommend amount which is only 2,300 mg a day of sodium.
This excess amount of sodium is coming from processed and restaurant foods. The study also looked at where the children are getting the salt intake from. The researchers found that 43% of the sodium comes from the common foods that children eat most often: pizza, bread, cold cuts/cured meats, savory snacks, sandwiches, cheese, chicken nuggets,pasta mixed dishes, mexican mix dishes, and soups.
The researchers also found that 65% of the salt intake comes from store-bought foods, 13% from fast food and pizza restaurants, and 9% from school cafeterias. This is bad because sodium is raising kids blood pressure to the point that now the CDC is estimating that 1 in 6 children in the U.S. have borderline or high blood pressure.
Try to cut back on the salt intake of you and your children! It will save them a lot of health issues in the long run. Make fresh foods instead of eating that burger from McDonald’s. Be aware of the foods you are also purchasing in the grocery store! And try to stay away from can foods because they can have extra preservatives in them.
Read the full article on NBC News
