It is well known that a diet high in salt increases an adult's risk of developing high blood pressure and, in turn, suffering a stroke or heart failure. But there is growing evidence that too much salt may also influence children's blood pressure and predispose them to developing diseases such as osteoporosis and stomach cancer. There is a link too to childhood obesity. Salty food increases children's thirst and, research shows, their intake of soft drinks.
We are not born liking salt; we develop a preference for it the more we eat it. So with habits formed in childhood often continuing through to adulthood, limiting children's salt intake in the first place is vital. There is much, though, that early years settings can do to reduce salt levels in children's diets.
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