Abstract
We determined the average amount of sodium provided in lunches and snacks and the average amount of sodium consumed at lunch in a convenience sample of Australian preschool children attending Long Day Care (LDC). Sodium content of lunches and snacks was determined from standardised recipes. Individual children’s sodium intake was estimated by a validated visual plate waste scale method. Five recipes (lunch n = 35, snacks n = 70) collected from 7 LDC centres; 95 children (50 boys) mean age 3.5 (SD) (0.2) years lunch intakes were assessed. Average total amount of sodium provided from two snacks and one lunch: 590 (146) mg, representing ~59% of the Australian Upper Level (UL) of intake (1000 mg/day sodium). Average total amount of sodium consumed: 541 (98) mg representing ~54% of the UL. Across all centres, the average sodium and energy consumed from lunch: 186 (108) mg (~19% of UL); 948 (437) kJ (38% of energy allowance); morning snacks: 63 (45) mg (6% of UL), 535 (183) kJ (21% of energy allowance); afternoon snacks: 291 (97) mg (29% of UL), 464 (171) kJ energy (46% of energy allowance). Australian LDC centres providing lunches cooked on site resulted in relatively low-sodium lunches.
Highlights
High dietary sodium intake is associated with high blood pressure (BP) [1]
In addition to raised BP, exposure to highly salted foods early in early life may contribute to increased salt preference [10] and in turn may result in a habitually high salt diet persisting across life [11,12]
This study aimed to determine the following: (i) the average amount of sodium provided in lunch and snacks; and (ii) the average amount of sodium consumed at lunchtime in a sample of Australian pre-school children attending Long Day Care (LDC)
Summary
Elevated BP follows a tracking pattern across the lifespan [2,3,4] and children who have raised BP are at increased risk of developing high BP and cardiovascular disease (CVD) as adults [5]. Reported average sodium intakes amongst children aged 1–5 years from economically developed countries such as the United. Kingdom and United States are commonly high (1656 mg/day and 2070 mg/day, respectively), and most children’s intakes exceed dietary recommendations [6]. Dietary sodium intakes in Australian children aged 2–3 years have been estimated to be approximately 1500 mg/day (3.8 g salt/day) [7,8], which exceeds the daily Upper Level (UL) of Intake of 1000 mg/day by 50% for 1–3 years old [9]. It is important to begin lower salt eating patterns in early childhood
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