Do you check the nutrition labels before buying packaged meals and snacks for your young children? Would it surprise you to know that a majority of cereal bars, snacks and dinners for toddlers and infants contain way too much sugar and salt?
That’s the finding of new research from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The maximum level of salt that children 1 to 3 years old should consume daily is 1,500 milligrams, but the CDC study says that about 80% of kids consume more than that. The Institute of Medicine recommends that each serving of food for toddlers contain a maximum of 210 milligrams of salt. But the foods studied by the CDC had on average of 361 milligrams and were also found to have a high sugar content.
Too much salt and sugar can contribute to obesity and higher blood pressure in kids, which continues to impact their health later on. And it can lead to youngsters acquiring a taste for sugar and sodium at an early age.
So when buying baby food, crackers, yogurt snacks, packaged mac and cheese and dinners for toddlers, opt for foods that aren’t high in sodium. And watch out for sugars such as dextrose, glucose and high fructose corn syrup that add calories, but have no nutritional value.
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