Nursery World - Risk to babies' health from too much salty food

Nearly three-quarters of babies have higher than recommended salt levels because they are fed a diet of salty processed foods such as gravy, baked beans and tinned spaghetti, a new study warns.

Researchers from the University of Bristol analysed the data from the Avon Longitudinal study of 1,200 children born in and around Bristol between 1991 and 1992. They asked mothers to complete three-day dietary records for their eight-month-old babies.

The authors found that 70 per cent of babies were consuming more than double the maximum recommended amount of salt for their age, which is 400mg of sodium per day, up to 12 months old. These babies commonly drank cow’s milk as their main drink, which has a higher sodium content than breast milk or formula, ate three times the amount of bread compared to the children with low salt intake, and were given salty flavourings such as gravy and yeast extract, which is found in some spreads.

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