I once met a mother who complained that her mother-in-law put salt in her baby's porridge. The grandmother's justification was, "How to eat if no taste!"
Recently, I read an article in The Star (Less salt, please) that feeding babies food with salt is actually dangerous for the babies and can cause kidney, brain and liver damage!!! Gasp!!
Did you know that...
a) babies' salt requirement is less than 1g a day?
b) requirement is already met through breast milk or formula? (Now, I understand why they label milk formula according to age e.g. 0-6 months, 6-12 months, 1-3 yrs old..etc)
c) baby formula shouldn't be too concentrated as it contains sodium/salt?
d) toddlers aged 1-3 yrs need only 0.8g sodium per day?
e) 1g of sodium (usually on food labels) is equivalent to 2.55g salt?
f) we should choose food with sodium content of no more than 0.1g sodium per 100g?
g) saltiness is an acquired taste? (which means, we can actually make do without it..)
But don't take my word for it, read also:
Why Adding Salt to Baby Food May be harmfulBBC News/UK/Warning after Salt Kills Baby
Baby Food Tips - Do's and Don'ts
Cow & Gate, Farley's Rusks
12 comments:
Salt is actually not needed in any foods for any age. if you eliminate it, your body won't go into shock...same with sugar, coffee, tea. All these are man made enjoyment for the taste buds...go without it for a month and although you'll feel something missing in your life, you'll feel slightly or a lot better cuz these things are things your body doesn't require
For babies, our kids, the reason why we add salt and sugar is because we think it will enhance the taste and therefore the appetite, but these are not needed...only wanted by the parents thinking it will enhance their appetite for the foods
My son didn't know the existence of salt and sugar before he was one but now he eats what we eat so.. I am guilty of it because I was worried about his (little) food intake. He ate (eats, still) like a kitten so I tried to give him more 'savoury' food. He eats more but still very little - 10 spoonfuls of his little Avent spoon if we are lucky, normally 5-6 spoonfuls. His weight and heights are at the lowest curve so Mommy and Papa are over the moon if he's willing to just open his mouth and EAT ANYTHING! Kuih, cookies, nah, EAT, as long as he eats! Fortunately, he loves his milk and fruits! So we still have some consolation..
While we shouldn't take too much, I read that.. "It is the sodium (ions) present in salt that the body requires in order to perform a variety of essential functions. Salt helps maintain the fluid in our blood cells and is used to transmit information in our nerves and muscles. It is also used in the uptake of certain nutrients from our small intestines. The body cannot make salt and so we are reliant on food to ensure that we get the required intake. "
So I guess for adults, a wee bit of salt is necessary? Doctors or dieticians out there--any advice?
I was kinda strict when my eldest girl was younger.. I didn't want her to take anything salty, sweet,ice cream, keropok, chocolate, other junk food...etc. But unless we live on an island, it's impossible to avoid all these food altogether. We're bound to meet gatherings, family get-togethers, parties, or at school when people may hand out all these less than healthy food to kids. Oh ya, let's not forget Chinese New year when there's salty, sweet, junk food galore!
So what can we do? Forbid our child to eat while he/she gazes longingly at other kids eating them?
But I do not use salt in my baby's food. I think boiling meat bones together with vege gives the food a lot of flavour already.
I also came across this when reading about our salt requirement:
* less than 1g (0.4g sodium) a day from 0-12 months,
* 2g (0.8g sodium) a day from 1-3 years,
* 3g (1.2g sodium) a day from 4-6 years,
* 5g (2g sodium) a day from 7-10 years, and
* 6g (2.4g sodium) a day from 11 years.
Re Gal, don't feel so guilty. Perhaps you can limit the salt in you, your hubby's food and therefore you cute little baby boy will have that less salt.
Hang and I been on a more conscious meal plan where salt, sugar, etc is not added...initially we felt a drag in our body but once we got used to it, we feel fitter, hopefully look thinner and r happier for what our body actually has a lot of and doesn't need.
I knew someone who boiled everything, veg, and meat and lost 40 lbs in less than a year. That person said food was tasteless but the body didn't lack it. Of course this person also drank lots of soup cuz when you boil veg and meats, the best way to eat it is in soup form. For your cute little baby boy, try soups with rice, or noodles
Wow Delighted, you mean you guys can really eliminate salt and sugar altogether?
That means not even sweet drinks? No salt at all in Western or Chinese cooking?
How do you do it? I tried it for a short while, couldn't take it!!
How about the oral rehydration salts that we usually take when we have diarhea? Coz' the pharmacist advised that this can also be taken when we are sick (due to heat) or body too heaty, sore throat ... heard from a friend whose husband is a doctor that they always standby one box of this oral rehydration salts at home. They also say that it is not necessarily to be taken during diarhea only.
My boy sometimes will ask for it too so I've also asked whether alright or not to take it beside diarhea and they say that children taking 2 - 3 packets a day is still ok. But of course, I didn't give him everyday. The last time I give him is because he has sore throat and he only drank a little.
So, I think adding a little salt (of course not too much) to what we are cooking won't harm. But anyway, it would be great if any professional can advise on this. I mean does it really harm our health to add a little salt in our cooking or is there any benefit of adding the salt beside adding taste to our cooking.
We can control kids not to take any salt at home. Like junk food, when kids go to school, their friends will be eating ... depend on kids ... i think some will tend to try some from their friends (like my daughter). What will you do if your kids 'learn' to eat junk food from friends? Will you totally stop them from having it? For some strict parents, kids might not tell their parents if they eat junk food in school ... I think this is some issue that might happen when kids start schooling in Primary school. Hmm ... am I running out of topic ..
Ya, we eat home most of the time and have always take low-salt, less oily food esp now that we have a little one. Plus, my son L.O.V.E.S soup! Sticking to this menu, hopefully we are healthier..
We use seasoning like salt, soy sauce, oyster sauce etc. I salute Delighted for forgoing all salt and sugar! Even though I watch my diet but I do take "unhealthy" food eg cakes (I bake quite often), fried food from time to time. I don't want to deprive myself and then plunge into unhealthy binging! Moderation is key.. Am definitely out of topic :D
Hey ppl, no worries about going out of topic.. this should be free flow..
Ss, I think a bit of salt as long as it's within the recommended intake is fine (less than 3g for kids and for us less than 6g).. Oral Rehydration Salt is to make sure we don't lose too much salt through diarrhoea or vomiting right? or our body might go into shock? laifchan, please advise...
Re Gal, I also tried forgoing all those unhealthful seasoning for awhile....my resolve wasn't strong enough and I gave in.. I read that soya sauce and oyster sauce contains something called 3 MCPD which can cause cancer in the long run..if we take too much I suppose.
How many of us can actually get by with season-free, flavour-free, healthful food?
For babies, of course, it's a MUST..
but why is it that as we grow up, we're so accustomed to all these artificial seasonings? To eat healthily for as long as we live? Or to just enjoy what we eat, drink and be merry since one day we'll kick the bucket anyway?
Dear Re Gal and Becky, No not eliminating salt altogether. As we are chinese, there is always the soy sauce in our stir fries but less than 1/2 a tsp which isn't much, but I stir fry the vegs, I usually add garlic and/or onions. If you stir fry the onions esp in a little bit of oil, it'll make the dish tastier.
As for sugar, my hubby was chit chatting with his chiropractor today and the chiropractor said that average consumption by Malaysians of sugar is 265 teaspoons....yes, you read it, PER DAY, 265 teaspoons....in cakes, cookies, teas, coffees, etc that we digest. Chiropractor also said that it isn't cholesterol that's killing us nowadays, it's sugar so if you don't want to go diabetic, then say NO to sugar..hehe.
Side note: this chiropractor eats 6 eggs a day. His mother passed away last year at 80+ and his grandma was 96. He wants to live until 100 and says eggs kept them living so long. There's something good to be said about eggs, don't you think.
I think with salt and sugar, it's cuz all these years we've gotten used to our food being tasty. When my grandparents were growing up, they would eat rice porridge with some salted vegs or 1/2 a salted egg (poor back then so couldn't have 1 egg) and my grandma lived to be 90+ when she passed away.
Shall we challenge ourselves to eliminate or reduce sugar (no cakes, no cookies, even fruits have lots of glucose and fructose so eat sparingly, or any submission to our sugar cravings) and salt?
Becky, the fact is we've grown ACCUSTOMED to it. If we do consciously eliminate it, our bodies will adjust but with lots of protest like we'll go into withdrawal (ie. alcoholics and smokers) but eventually our bodies will balance themselves out.
I'll try salt-less for a week.. anyone else game to try?
:P
sori, was out of town this week.
a small digression, managed to continue expressing and storing milk during 2D1N working trip KL-JB without baby. Quite a challenge ensuring cold-chain of milk throughout journey but survived :) Hah, trickier with overseas flight coz liquids not allowed to be hand-carried!
OK, back to the topic.
Yes, becky, severe dehydration can result in what we call hypovolemic (lack of fluid volume) shock which can be fatal if not treated.
The key components in oral rehydration salts are sodium and glucose. Salt is actually sodium chloride. To put it simply, sodium and glucose are required for absorption of fluids when dehyrated.
The proper balance of sodium and water in the body is essential for normal bodily functions.
In the case of infants, there is no need to add salt to their diet as their daily sodium requirement is adequately found in milk and the semi-solid foods you prepare. Excessive sodium from adding salt can't be handled by their immature kidneys. Commercial foods will state how much of sodium etc is in the jar.
Once their bigger say above 1 year and are beginning to take a diet more similar to adults, a bit of salt for taste should be alright if it doesn't exceed their daily requirement acc. to age.Practically speaking, its way easier if the whole family eats foods that are prepared the same way once the children are big enough to have meals together.
Then again, how much is too much?
Processed foods and fast foods are high in salt and fat, not good for aduts, let alone kids.
Its true that our taste-buds become accustomed to how tasty or salty our food is so what tastes salty to me may be bland to someone else.
In our culture, eating is so much tied to enjoyment, festivities and family togetherness. If its devoid of taste, how to live?
Again, key word is balance-mah.
Any dieticians out there with a practical guide on recommended daily salt intake if preparing meals and how much salt is in common commercial foods?
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