Sandwich fillings can almost exceed daily salt limit for kids
COMMON sandwich combinations can contain almost all of a child’s daily salt limit, with nutritionists warning a low-salt diet in childhood is key to reducing long-term heart attack risk. Here’s what to avoid.
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COMMON lunch box sandwich combinations can contain almost all of a child’s daily salt limit, with nutritionists warning that a low-salt diet in childhood is the key to long-term prevention of heart attack and stroke.
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The findings come as Victorian health experts lobby food manufacturers to reformulate common “core” foods to include less salt — such as bread, ready-made meals, tinned foods and cheese — and help make the healthy choice the easy choice.
Analysis by Heart Foundation dietitians, launched today as part of the Unpack the Salt campaign run with VicHealth, shows that the average salt content of popular lunch choices is much higher than parents may realise.
The daily salt allowance for children aged 4-8 is 3.5g, while the upper limit is 5g — a teaspoon of salt — for 9-13 year-olds.
A buttered white bread ham and cheese sandwich can contain 3g of salt, cheese and Vegemite 2g, while a chicken loaf and cheese sandwich with mayonnaise can contain 2.8g.
Heart Foundation dietitian Sian Armstrong said given that sandwiches were an important part of a healthy diet, parents should be aware that fillings can easily blow the salt content.
“It’s quite scary how quickly you can go over your limit with a sandwich, and that’s not considering the other snacks and meals they will have,” Ms Armstrong said.
“We recommend parents look at labels to pick the one with less sodium.”
Head of the VicHealth Healthy Eating program, Jenny Reimers, said their long-term goal was for the federal government to set salt targets for food categories — and monitor them — to help shift the responsibility from the public.
“We’re adaptive with our taste for salt,” she said.
“If manufacturers reformulate their products slowly over a few years, and they have a public commitment to do that, then most people who buy their products won’t even notice.”
Mum of three Rebecca Zosel said the task of packing a healthy lunch box had two main challenges; ensuring it was something kids would eat, and trying to decipher ingredient labels to uncover hidden sugars and salt.
“The key to keeping everyone in the family eating well is being organised, otherwise it can be really easy to rely on processed and packaged foods,” she said.
Originally published as Sandwich fillings can almost exceed daily salt limit for kids