What are the dangers of children eating too much salt?

Parents must be very cautious when adding salt when making complementary foods for their children. If the baby is under one year old, salt must not be added to the food. If the child is over one year old, a little salt can be added when making complementary foods. This will make the complementary foods taste better and the baby will like it more. But do not add too much salt, otherwise it will cause great harm to the baby's health.

The dangers of eating too much salt for babies:

Babies can eat salt from the age of one, so do we need to add salt to the complementary foods they eat every day? There is a certain amount of salt that babies can consume. Excessive salt content is harmful to the baby's body and affects the baby's health.

If babies consume too much salt, it will kill the original bacteria in the respiratory tract, causing bacterial disorder, leading to respiratory diseases and low resistance.

A high-salt diet can reduce the secretion of saliva in the mouth and lysozyme accordingly, which is conducive to the existence of various bacteria and viruses in the upper respiratory tract.

If babies consume too much salt, it can easily cause the death of oral mucosal cells, reduce their number, and make them more susceptible to oral cell diseases.

If babies consume too much salt, the osmotic effect of salt can kill the normal parasitic flora in the upper respiratory tract, causing dysbacteriosis and leading to illness.

If babies consume too much salt and the sodium ion content in their bodies is high, it will affect the absorption of calcium ions and zinc ions, easily leading to calcium and zinc deficiency in children, affecting their body growth.

If babies eat too much salt, it will increase the burden on their heart and kidneys. The baby's kidneys are not yet fully developed and are not strong enough to absorb excessive salt, which can damage kidney and heart function.

If a baby develops a habit of eating heavy-tasting food from an early age, it may easily cause diseases such as high blood pressure.

How much is one gram of salt?

As a citizen of Greater China, I cook based on my feelings. I don't weigh seasonings by the gram or ounce like foreigners do. But have you ever thought about it? People's feelings are usually wrong. When feeding babies complementary foods, they think that the amount of salt they put in is about one gram, but in fact it greatly exceeds the actual amount! To make it more intuitive, let's take a look at how much one gram of salt actually contains.

The picture above shows the amount of salt a baby consumes throughout the day. Just think about it, when it is spread out in each of the baby’s meals, the amount is even less. Don't forget that milk and food themselves also contain salt.

1. Babies already get enough natural salt from breast milk and cow's milk! Can fully meet the physical needs of your baby. Mommy, please don't add salt to the complementary food you make for your baby.

2. The person who tied the bell must be the one to untie it. The baby's taste follows the parents. If the parents have a strong taste, the salt content in the child's diet will naturally be high. China's salt intake is seriously exceeded, so the whole family should be mobilized to eat a light diet.