Study Finds 75 Percent Of Toddler Food Has Too Much Salt
Perhaps this settles the discussion over whether or not to make your own baby food at home: researchers have found that out of more than 1,000 prepackaged foods for babies and toddlers, 75 percent of them had more than 210 milligrams of sodium per serving.
That's 14 percent of the daily recommended allowance, CBS reports.
The biggest concern among researchers, who presented their study at a meeting of the American Heart Association, was that kids who eat more salt when they're young will develop a lifelong preference for salty foods. Already, the average American eats more than twice the amount of recommended sodium a day (3,600 milligrams, instead of the recommended 1,500). Other studies have discovered that overconsumption of salt has contributed to 2.3 million deaths worldwide in 2010.
"The effect is probably cumulative over time where the longer you have that increased sodium level coming in, the more likely you'll end up with hypertension as an adult," Dr. Suzanne Kaseta, a pediatrics professor told CBS. So mashed bananas, avocados, oatmeal, and puréed pears it is?