“It’s advisable to limit their daily salt intake to a maximum of one teaspoon. For younger children, it should be reduced to a quarter teaspoon.” Says Dr Selvan R a renowned paediatrician.
Dr Sundar Sankaran, Program Director at Aster Institute of Renal Transplantation, Bengaluru, says that too much salt could lead to high blood pressure later in life.
“From age 2 onwards, salt comes into our diet and if we see the consumption from our experience, Indians consume at least three times the recommended safe intake,” he adds.
Dr Selvan says that if parents regularly consume meals with high salt content or salty snacks and processed foods, it establishes a norm of elevated salt consumption within the family.
Stressing that the real culprits behind the excess salt in our diet are processed and fast foods, Dr Sankaran adds that these convenient meals are loaded with salt to enhance their taste.
Meanwhile it can be noted that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has also advised countries to develop their own nutrition profile models based on WHO models.