When can you salt your baby's food. Salty foods are prohibited. Spices and baby food

They ate a pood of salt together: this is what they say about couples who have gone through many trials together. No one will deny that being a parent is also not an easy test - mom and dad are waiting and sleepless nights, and diseases, and little troubles mixed with gray strands. And any violation of the health of the child ruins a lot nerve cells at relatives. MedAboutMe understands how that very pood of salt can affect the children's body, and for how many years WHO recommends eating it.

Along with sugar, salt is included in harmful factors: it has a detrimental effect on health, it causes hypertension, heart attacks, and even “salt deposits”. White death is to blame for everything! Is it true?

With salt, as with all nutrients, the dose principle applies: medicine in small quantities, poison in large quantities. Researchers say: if adults in Russia start eating half as much salt, then almost 50,000 people will not die in our country every year. That's how many people die because of cardiovascular disease, provoked, alas, by salting.

After all, it was not for nothing that we learned about salt only about 500 years before our era. Before this period, food was completely unsalted, and even after the start of the development of salt mines, evaporation from sea ​​water salt still for a long time was a luxury. The high cost of salt was so high that we still remember the sign: scatter it - to a quarrel. Of course, if a monthly salary suddenly appears on the floor, it is not easy to avoid reproaches and scandals.

But if you completely refuse salt not only from the salt shaker, but also avoid foods rich in added or natural sodium, then life expectancy can be reduced. Without sodium, muscles, blood vessels, and the nervous system will stop working normally in our body. This basic element must be present in the human diet.

How did people manage without salt, such an important trace element, before the start of its widespread development, and then industrial production? Sodium is an element present in many foods. Especially rich in it are tomatoes, milk and its derivatives, meat, sea ​​fish. And the very method of processing food in ovens helped: ash also contains sodium, and when baking or frying, it is difficult to do without ash particles getting into food. And this amount of sodium was quite enough for health.

Not so long ago, salt intake norms for adults, according to WHO recommendations, were twice as high as they are today. And even children's food was advised to add a little salt. However, this is not the case today. Why?

WHO researchers say: 20 years ago we were much more physically active than today. And muscle contractions require more sodium in the body, so for athletes and those who are engaged in hard work, recommendations for salt intake can not be changed. But the rest of the population will have to stop indulging in salty things for the sake of their own health and life.

"Pinch of Salt" is the name given to the project that started to reduce salt consumption in Mongolia. Prior to the start of the project, salt was used in quantities that were three times the norm: the Mongols ate 15 grams per day per adult. In addition to outreach to women who cook at home, food producers were also involved in the project.

Surprisingly, the reduction in the amount of salt, for example, in bread by 12% was not noticed by any consumer. Sales from the company involved in the project did not fall, and soon their competitors switched to a healthier recipe.

In Argentina, a project to reduce salt consumption is under the slogan "Less salt - better life». Government program focuses on product manufacturers, forcing them to change. And in houses it is recommended to avoid the constant presence of the salt shaker on the tables: if you have to stand up for salt and reach for the shelf of the kitchen cabinet, then there are high chances that they will either not remember it or not go.

Projects of various states with the support of WHO are not focused on achieving local goals. All this is part Global plan action to combat noncommunicable diseases, and reducing salt intake is one of 9 steps to reduce the leading causes of premature death from heart disease and stroke.

Expert comment

If by 2025 we reach the goal of reducing global salt consumption by 30%, millions of people could be saved from death due to heart disease, strokes and related pathologies. Salt is present in almost all foodstuffs eaten or as a result of their content. high level salt in most processed foods, or from the addition of salt during home cooking.

In order to achieve the goal in the next 7 years, it is necessary to start acting today, and not only with the food of adults, but also with the proper nutrition of children.

From grandmothers you can hear common advice to young parents: does the baby eat poorly? Well, you need to make food tastier, add sugar, butter, salt. It is not difficult to think about adding various “goodies”: you only have to try baby cereals and mashed potatoes once to understand that natural product- absolutely fresh. Will the child like it? Isn't this the reason for children's whims at the table?

Experts say: not at all. Adding salt, sugar or oil in excess of the prescribed norms will only hurt. And there are a number of reasons for this.

• Children act up at the table because of the multitude various factors. The most main reason refusal at the first sample of complementary foods - children's conservatism. carefully try new tastes and get used to them, and this defense mechanism laid down by nature. In order for a child to start eating a vegetable, it is sometimes necessary to offer it 10-15 times, day after day, despite refusals.
• Various additions of sugar and oil lead to a high load on digestive system, metabolism, which gives rise to the development of diseases. Early childhood obesity, as well as diabetes, today have ceased to be rare diagnoses. The addition of salt leads primarily to pathologies urinary system, the kidneys work with overload. The second consequence of salting children's food is hypertension, and today it has also moved from the diseases of the elderly to the category of "young" diseases, and it is being recorded more often in children.
• Moreover: all supplements for babies are completely useless. AT early age up to a year, the taste buds of the tongue, recognizing tastes, are not developed, and children do not distinguish, salty food or fresh. That's why physiological change the taste of breast milk towards more salty does not cause breast failure.
• But if you start introducing “flavoring additives” into the baby’s menu earlier than expected, the taste buds will begin to develop more quickly. And the child will need to salt or sweeten food in significantly large quantities what is necessary and possible for health. Early introduction of salt and sugar results in a higher need for them.

The statement about the growing need for "taste" was confirmed by Australian scientists. They observed children from 2 to 16 for several years and found that those children who received food from school before school increased amount salt, adored sweets for the period of puberty. More than their peers, they were attracted to sweets, chocolates, cakes and soda. The risk of obesity in children increased by almost a third, even if in general everyone in the family adhered to healthy eating and did not have a genetic tendency to be overweight and metabolic diseases.

So, how much salt does a small child need?

Children under one year old need 0.2 g of salt per day. However, we must remember that this is not only the salt that is added to porridge or mashed potatoes. AT breast milk for every 100 ml contains 0.17 g of sodium, so the baby receives the necessary microelement during the day with milk or its substitute: mixtures also contain sodium.

• If the child eats dietary or therapeutic mixtures, it is necessary to strictly control their number and in no case transfer the baby to specialized breast milk substitutes on their own: most of these mixtures are enriched with additional amounts of sodium and chlorine, which is necessary for illnesses, but will harm a healthy baby.
• When introducing complementary foods, it must be remembered that in vegetables, and in cereals, and in meat purees, and in fermented milk products also has sodium. Already buying ready meals you need to pay attention to the composition: if salt is added to it, it is better to refuse such a brand until an older age.
• A baby older than a year needs no more than 1-1.5 grams of salt per day, but this amount again enters the body with food, especially if the child receives something from an adult diet. Therefore, it is not worth adding food.
• For children over 3 years of age, WHO recommends that salt be introduced little by little, based on an average requirement of about 1 gram per 10 kg of child's weight. Moreover, this amount must be divided by 2: children get enough sodium and from natural sources, and from processed products - bread, pasta, semi-finished products.

The norm for an adult is no more than 5 grams of salt per day, including all sauces, sausages, canned food, pastries and convenience foods. And this - main part prevention of heart disease, stroke and early death. With children it is still stricter. To be healthy and not have addictions to salty foods, sweets, do not go to doctors about high blood pressure or sick kidneys even before school, it is necessary to strictly control the amount of salt in the diet of children over 3 years old, and before 3, WHO recommends completely refusing to add it to food. It is better to undersalt food than to “salt” a child.

In the process of preparing food for complementary foods for babies, the question arises whether the child can salt and whether it can be added to vegetable purees, soups, and so on. It may surprise you, but babies are absolutely indifferent to the salty taste. The receptors that are responsible for its recognition are still underdeveloped in children, so they have no need for salt. Therefore, the absence of it in food will not spoil the dish for the baby. A child up to a year can have quite a bit of salt, daily rate should not exceed 0.3 grams. Exactly as many are able to "process" the kidneys of the baby. Breast milk contains enough sodium, so you can absolutely not worry about the lack of this trace element. And if the baby is on artificial feeding Also, you don't have to worry. Adapted high-quality mixtures contain the required amount of it. Therefore, children under one year simply do not need additional salt, it can be completely abandoned.

Having figured out whether a child can salt up to a year, it is worth paying Special attention on the products you buy for your baby.

Be sure to read the labels and look at the ingredients. Even in baby food, it can sometimes be contained, which is undesirable at an early age.

Hard cheese, biscuits, bread and many other foods contain a certain amount of salt. Therefore, their use by the child should be supervised. They can be offered, but limited.

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Spice sets and bouillon cubes contain a lot of salt. For cooking, a child should not use them categorically.

And if you give your baby food from a common table, be sure to make sure it is safe and ask how it was prepared.

Salt for children under one year old

After 9 months, use is already possible, but absolutely not necessary. It would be better to wait until a year or even longer.

From the age of one to three years, children should receive no more than 2 grams of salt per day with food.

Excess salt leads to health problems in the child. Kidneys suffer, increases arterial pressure and so on.

All this can be warned in advance, and not shrug after problems have already been encountered.

Salt
Salt Properties

• Does not cause allergies (because it is part of all body cells).
• Helps maintain water balance in the body, does not allow dehydration.
• Improves the taste of food.

• Retains fluid in the body.
• Increases the burden on the kidneys.

When to introduce salt into a child's diet?
We are used to thinking that salt is very important component any diet, so if it is not in the child's diet, parents begin to worry.
However, it should be noted that in the diet of newborns and children up to the first year of life, the daily salt intake is 0.3 g (after a year - 0.5 g), which he receives from mother's milk or milk formulas. If, in addition to this, you want to enrich the baby’s diet with salt, then his kidneys and pancreas simply cannot cope with such a colossal load.
Also, one of the reasons for the debate on the topic of salt in baby food is the fear of parents that they are depriving their beloved child, depriving him of the habitual for us taste sensations when applying this product. In fact, there is no problem here: the receptors that perceive salt are not developed in a child from birth, so he does not understand whether his food is salty or not, and, accordingly, does not feel a shortage. But when you introduce a child to the taste of salt, these receptors will begin to develop and require salt in food in various volumes. In this regard, most pediatricians strongly recommend giving up salt until the child is at least a year old.
After that, parents need to adhere to the following dosage: no more than 0.25-0.35 g of salt (actually at the tip of a knife) per day, then can be increased to 0.5-1 g (up to 3 years) and gradually brought to adult dose 4-5 g of salt per day.

What kind of salt should be given to a child?
Buy regular table salt. If you live in central Russia, which is considered an iodine-deficient region, purchase iodized salt (keep in mind that its shelf life is only 3-4 months).
There is also hyposodium salt, in which the sodium content, compared to table salt, is much lower. It is usually prescribed for hypertension, obesity and kidney disease. To determine the type of salt that your child really needs, consult your doctor.
Attention! Sea salt in the diet of children under one year is not used.

Useful tips for parents

• It is undesirable to salt products "by eye" - this can lead to excessive consumption. table salt. For example, 1 tsp. contains 10 g of salt (which is 2 times higher than the adult daily allowance).
• Try to minimize your child's use following products containing salt: ketchup, mayonnaise, canned salted foods, salted fish, sausages, etc.
• Be careful with the fashionable salt-free diet: it is prescribed only in medicinal purposes and carried out under the strict supervision of a pediatrician.

Sugar
sugar properties

• It is an easily digestible source of energy.
• Accelerates many vital processes in the body.
• Promotes brain activity.
• It is an excellent preservative that stops the development of many harmful bacteria.

• It enhances the processes of putrefaction and fermentation in the intestines (which causes bloating), as a result of which the products of incomplete protein breakdown are absorbed into the bloodstream and cause allergies.
• It is one of the main causes of obesity, diabetes and changes in the central nervous system.
• Excessive use leads to the destruction of tooth enamel.
• Causes errors in proper nutrition: sweetened food gives the illusion of satiety, from which the child begins to eat less.
• Causes addiction: the child experiences an emotional upsurge from the received glucose, but when the blood sugar level drops, reaching the norm, the baby begins to lack a sense of joy, he begins to ask, and then demand sweet food.

When to introduce sugar into a child's diet?
A child under 1 year old needs only 4 g of sugar per day (this is a little less than 1 tsp), respectively, if the baby does not have allergies, you can add sugar in the indicated amount to sour fruit drinks. However, many pediatricians argue that up to a year a child can not be introduced to the taste of sugar.
A child from 1.5 to 3 years old needs 6 g of sugar per day, and from 3 to 6 years old - 7 g.

Rules for introducing sweets into the child's diet:

• From 1 year - sweet pastries and jam.
• From 1.5 years - marshmallow, marshmallow, marmalade.
• From 2-3 years old - caramel, toffee.
• From 3 years - ice cream (cream or milk).
• From 3-4 years old - chocolate (20 g or one candy per day), cakes and pastries (with whipped cream or fruit filling).
• From 3-5 years old - honey.
• From 5 years old - chocolate candies with stuffing.

Useful tips for parents

• You can not sweeten complementary foods: this can lead to the formation of bad eating habits. Pediatricians recommend starting the first complementary foods with vegetable puree rather than with more sweet fruit.
• AT children food doctors recommend adding not ordinary sugar (sucrose), but natural fruit sugar(fructose). natural springs glucose and fructose - vegetables and fruits.
• Do not give sweets to children for breakfast: sweet cocoa or tea is enough for them in the morning. Pamper your baby with dessert during an afternoon snack, but at the same time control portions of sweets.
• The following unhealthy sweet foods are banned: sugary carbonated drinks, chewing gums, goods near the cash register of supermarkets, sweet bars-chocolate substitutes.

I wondered why children can’t have salt and sugar? I was scouring the internet...and this is the article I came across.

Salt and sugar in the diet of a child up to a year.

We are all well aware that taste preferences and eating habits are formed in early childhood, along with the introduction of the first complementary foods into the baby's diet. Until this moment, the child does not know the taste of either the sugar we love so much, or the salt that is “indispensable” in everyday life. These substances appear in dishes intended for a newborn, from our voluntary consent and with our active participation. But how can a porridge be tasty if you don’t add a little sugar to it? Or is it possible to cook a nutritious baby chicken bouillon without adding salt? These well-established parental stereotypes, once imposed on us by our parents themselves, are the basis for the formation of incorrect and even dangerous taste preferences now our own children.

Numerous Scientific research on child nutrition, found that children under the age of one year there is no need to introduce any of the listed substances into the diet. Moreover, at the legislative level, manufacturers of baby food are required to exclude the presence of these substances in their products. And many responsible companies have done just that for a long time! In their food products for children, we will not find the usual salt and sugar, as a result of which the purchased product to us, adults, seems to taste either insipid, tasteless, or simply tasteless. However, this is the real, true taste of the ingredients that form the basis of one or another name of nutrition for children. In no case should an unsweetened, slightly appetizing porridge from a box of a well-known manufacturer be sweetened to make it tastier. Canned meat from a jar does not need additional salt "to reveal the taste" - this is the natural taste of this product!

Sugar in the diet of children up to a year.

“Sugar” is the familiar name for the substance sucrose, which has a cloyingly sweet taste, is easily soluble in water, has a fairly low cost, and therefore is distributed almost everywhere. We use the same sugar ourselves, and we are trying to introduce it into the diet of our newborns. At the same time, the motivation of most parents is as follows - the child is growing, he needs glucose; food from sugar only becomes tastier; Let the baby eat sweets rather than completely refuse food. There are a lot of arguments in favor of the use of sugar. But each of them can (and even should!) be easily refuted.

1. Sugar as a source of glucose.

Theoretically, this is the true truth - sugar is really broken down in the body to this substance, speeds up many vital processes and promotes brain activity. However, the same sugar, not completely spent by the body, is deposited in fat depots, becoming one of the main causes of obesity. The same sugar leads to the destruction of tooth enamel, to the beginning of an irreversible process of decay. And these are just a few of the arguments against the use of sugar in baby food!

Glucose, undoubtedly, is very necessary for the child's body both for growth and for normal development. But in nature there are quite a lot of substances containing glucose either in pure form, or in the form chemical compounds. It:

Fructose;

Lactose;

Brown (unrefined) sugar;

Maltose (glucose polymer);

Dextrose and a number of other substances that are both excellent sources of glucose, and at the same time do not carry with them as much harm as regular refined sugar.

But children's doctors are of the opinion that even these substances should never be abused! Both fructose and glucose are present in all currently known vegetables and fruits, and in their natural, natural form - this is it. best source glucose for our children.

2. The child will refuse to eat unsweetened food.

And now let's see what happens if you still sweeten the dish intended for the child.

First, you fool his appetite. Sweet food gives false feeling saturation, having eaten just a little, the baby will voluntarily refuse to eat - this entails the first errors in nutrition and chronic absence appetite.

Secondly, sugar is an excellent preservative that stops the development of many bacteria. Once in the child's body, it will begin to destroy harmful substances causing bloating and fermentation. Here is a tip for those who are still convinced of the benefits of sugar for newborns - add it to an already cooked dish, and not during cooking. This will help to avoid numerous digestive problems in the child.

And thirdly. Sugar is a kind of "narcotic" substance, it causes addiction. Briefly, the essence can be stated as follows. Sugar gives the body glucose, the child begins to experience an incredible rise, he receives energy and endorphins. When the blood sugar level returns to normal, the baby will miss this feeling of joy and emotional upsurge. In this way, gradually he himself will begin to ask, even demand, to provide him with sweet food. That's all, before you is a typical sweet tooth, who will soon begin to have problems with his teeth, and will appear diabetes, and irreversible changes in the central nervous system will occur!

So, there is only one conclusion - children of the first year of life are not familiar with the taste of sugar, and you need to protect them in every possible way from this acquaintance!

Salt in the diet of newborns.

Salt is certainly a very important component of any diet. Moreover, salt takes part in many vital important processes. But, if we dig deeper, we are not talking about the table salt that traditionally stands on the shelves of our stores, but about the most complex in its composition chemical substance. Here are just a few of its components - sodium chloride (common salt), copper, zinc, manganese, and so on. And most importantly, this most valuable substance is found in almost every product!

But specific figures - in the diet of newborns and children of the first year of life, the daily salt intake is 0.3 g (after a year this figure can be increased to 0.5 g). And the baby completely receives this amount of salt from his usual food - mother's milk or milk formulas. Any first complementary foods are not exactly undesirable, but simply you can’t add additional salt! The kidneys and pancreas of a newborn cannot cope with such a colossal load!

The conclusion is this - if you really love your child and take care of him, refuse to use salt at least until the baby reaches the first year!

When planning to prepare complementary foods for a child, many mothers are wondering if children can have salt? Can it be added to baby cereals, mashed potatoes, soups, etc. Dietary trusted salt contains an important mineral for the human body - sodium, which is necessary for correct exchange substances and is integral part many organs, bones and blood in our body. Therefore, salt is needed for both adults and growing children. children's body. In addition, salt improves taste qualities dishes.

However children up to 6 months add cooking salt in food, such as formula or water categorically impossible! At the very beginning of your life breastfed baby gets everything required amount of this substance with mother's milk or an adapted formula. Too much salt can cause serious harm fragile body crumbs.

After the introduction of complementary foods, for a period of approximately from 6 months to 1 year to give the child salt separately also not worth it, since foods containing salt are quite enough in his diet - these are cereals, vegetables, fruits, meat. With the right and balanced diet my age norm salt (0.3 g) the child undoubtedly receives. And its excess will negatively affect the work of the urinary and of cardio-vascular system baby.

As for the ordinary cooking edible salt , which is usually seasoned with food, then introduce her need a child not before a year . Before reaching one year old the child's kidneys are not yet sufficiently formed and they are simply not able to filter a large number of this substance. Too much of it can also negatively affect nervous system child, leading to symptoms of hyperexcitability. Salt contains sodium chloride, which has the ability to retain moisture in the body, so in the future, hypertension and obesity may occur, and there is also a high probability of problems in the pancreas and deterioration of the joints.

Many manufacturers of baby food add table salt to mashed potatoes and cereals intended for children from six months, without considering whether children can have salt in such quantities and whether it will be beneficial. But it is better for mothers to carefully read the information on the packages and give up these products for a while in order to delay the child's addiction to salty foods. Such addiction can, among other things, provoke the rejection of unleavened vegetable purees for complementary foods from zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower, which are necessary for the proper functioning of the digestive and excretory systems baby.

Parents should also pay attention to the fact that dried bread, bagels, bread crusts, cookies and cheese so beloved by children also contain a significant amount of table salt, so the amount of these unhealthy delicacies eaten by the child should be kept under control.

From year to three years the daily intake of salt for babies is up to 2 g. It is not recommended to exceed this dose in order to avoid all kinds of health problems, as in childhood, and in adulthood. And therefore, when preparing children's dishes for a child older than a year, it is better to use a special saline solution. 25 g of ordinary table salt should be dissolved in 100 ml of water, bring the resulting mixture to a boil, then strain through cheesecloth, add another 100 ml and boil again. It is necessary to add the resulting saline solution at the rate of 1/2 teaspoon per 200 g baby food(cereals, vegetables, meat, soup). Thus, the taste of products can be slightly varied, and the use of salt will be safe for a small organism.

children over 3 years old can strongly do not limit in use salt, however, you need to remember - salt in large quantities is harmful to both an adult and a child.