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DIFFERENT
REQUIREMENTS
It is important that children,
adolescents, pregnant women (in the last two trimesters) and breast feeding mothers
consume 600 ml of milk a day to supply the extra calcium needed for growth. As a result,
the salt content of their diet may be higher than that of others following a low salt diet
but can still be lower than average.
BABIES
Is best to start your child on a salt
reduced eating pattern. Breast milk has a much lower sodium content than cow’s milk
and is much more suited to baby’s needs. When introducing solids, be careful not to
add any salt to the baby’s food and generally avoid feeding baby heavily sugared or
heavily salted foods.
ADOLESCENTS
Adolescents, especially, have very high-energy demands as they are growing so rapidly and seem to be hungry most of the time.
It is important to meet these energy requirements with extra foods which are not highly
sugared or highly salted and do not contain a large percentage of fat. Make sure there is
a good supply of fresh fruit, dried fruit, vegetables, nuts and salt free biscuits to
satisfy their hunger.
FRUITS
AND VEGETABLES
Fruit and most vegetables contain insignificant amount of sodium and are abundant sources of potassium, fibre and vitamins.
Increasing the potassium content of the diet is thought to have a beneficial effect on
blood pressure, so it is recommended that consumption of fruit and vegetables be
increased.
It is true that some vegetables like spinach contain significant amounts of sodium. However, they also have a very high content
of potassium and their sodium content is much lower than most processed foods. It’s
wise to have at least three serves of vegetables and three serves of fruit daily. Remember
the best snacks and desserts are fresh fruit.
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