Kids’ lunches packing a salty punch

Kids’ lunches packing a salty punch

Kids’ lunchboxes are packed with salty snacks and often exceed the total recommended daily salt intake all by themselves. That’s the finding from Consumer NZ’s investigation into lunchbox snacks, published at consumer.org.nz and in the March edition of Consumer magazine. The report coincides with World Salt Awareness Week (29 February-6 March).

Excessive sodium from the salt in our diet can lead to high blood pressure, a major risk factor for stroke, and creating a taste for too much salt early in life can predispose children to various health problems later in life. Salt is often unexpectedly present in processed foods and it is all too easy to exceed healthy levels as this research shows.

Consumer gives the example of a child’s lunchbox containing a ham and cheese bread roll, a packet of Shultz Mini Pretzels, and a packet of Select Little Families Biscuits. The salt content of this menu exceeds the maximum daily limit for salt recommended for a 5-6 year-old and is even more than 90 percent of an 11-14 year-old’s daily limit.

Stroke Foundation national health promotion manager Jo Jarden said: ‘Tastes and eating habits can be formed early, so feeding your children fresh unprocessed foods is the best way to set them on a healthy path. Processed foods put more salt in our diet than we need and create a taste for it that can lead to overconsumption. If we start our children on fresh, natural food instead of overly salty processed snacks we are doing them the greatest favour.’

Consumer highlights many of the conveniently pre-packed snacks that are so handy for lunchboxes, but so full of salt. Chippies, mini-pretzels and crackers are top offenders. Foods that may be thought of as ‘fresh’ such as cheese, ham and other cooked or cured meats are also processed using salt. Spreads like Vegemite or peanut butter can also be very salty. Even sweet foods such as biscuits contain salt and add to the daily intake.

There are lower salt options available however, such as certain brands of popcorn, tuna in springwater, and unsalted peanut butter. Fresh fruit and vegetable options such as carrot sticks are another good way to avoid salt.

Last year Consumer highlighted how excessively salty diets were ‘a ticking time bomb’ for NZ children, and could even raise the blood pressures of children. (https://www.consumer.org.nz/articles/salt-awareness and http://www.stroke.org.nz/high-salt-diets-%E2%80%98-ticking-time-bomb%E2%80%99-many-nz-children)

Jo Jarden said: ‘Busy parents find it hard to read all the small print on pre-packed children’s snacks to check how much salt is in them. The food industry could certainly do more to provide low and no-salt options, especially in items targeted directly at children.’

ENDS

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