Abstract
Sodium is an essential nutrient for the human body. It is widely used as sodium chloride (table salt) in (processed) foods and overconsumed by both children and adults, placing them at risk for adverse health effects such as high blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases. The current review focusses on the development of salt taste sensitivity and preferences, and its association with food intake. Three -to- four month old infants are able to detect and prefer sodium chloride solutions over plain water, which is thought to be a biological unlearned response. Liking for water with sodium chloride mostly decreases when infants enter early childhood, but liking for sodium chloride in appropriate food contexts such as soup and snack foods remains high. The increased acceptance and preference of sodium chloride rich foods coincides with infants’ exposure to salty foods, and is therefore thought to be mostly a learned response. Children prefer higher salt concentrations than adults, but seem to be equally sensitive to salt taste. The addition of salt to foods increases children’s consumption of those foods. However, children’s liking for salt taste as such does not seem to correlate with children’s consumption of salty foods. Decreasing the exposure to salty tasting foods during early infancy is recommended. Salt plays an important role in children’s liking for a variety of foods. It is, however, questionable if children’s liking for salt per se influences the intake of salty foods.
Highlights
Sodium is essential for the regulation of the osmotic pressure and extracellular fluids in the human body
The high consumption of sodium by children is worrisome and a better understanding of what might contribute to this high consumption might aid to the development of strategies to decrease this high sodium consumption
The current review suggests that both biology and learned experiences influence infants’ and children’s liking for salty foods
Summary
Sodium is essential for the regulation of the osmotic pressure and extracellular fluids in the human body. It has been estimated that about half of the sodium children in the US consume comes from only 10 food categories that include pizza, Mexican-mixed dishes, sandwiches, breads, cold cuts, soups, savoury snacks, cheese, plain milk, and poultry [19] This is in line with 9- to 13-year-old children in Australia (mean sodium intake = 2.7 g/day), who consumed most of their sodium from cereal based products, and meat and poultry products [20]. The problem with these high levels of sodium consumption at a young age is two-fold. This review focusses on human research in non-clinical populations and will not provide an extensive review of neurological processes and brain structures involved in salt appetite in severely sodium deficient populations or animals
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