Salt in your child’s food

Table salt is made up of sodium and chloride. These are 2 chemicals that are essential for health but only in small amounts.  Sodium and chloride occur naturally in several foods so it is not necessary to add them to prepared foods.

Americans on the average eat about 1 to 3 teaspoons of salt per day. This adds up to about 2300mg to 6900mg of salt. However the average requirement of salt it much less. It ranges from about 1200mg for children between the ages of 4 to 8 years old and 1500mg  for 9 to 18 year olds. This amount is about half a teaspoon per day.

It is a common habit to add salt to food. Adding moderate amount of salt to taste is acceptable. Excessive salt as a child’s taste preference should be discouraged at an early age. Large quantities of sodium can lead to high blood pressure  later in life. It is good to train children to avoid unnecessary salt. One way to do this is to take the salt shaker off the dinner table. You should also taste food before you add salt and other seasoning. You have to remember that most of the sodium in our diet do not come from salt added at the table or while cooking. About 80% of the sodium we eat are from processed foods such as bread, soups, salty snacks, fast foods, canned food or processed meat.
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