Your health: Some toddler food has too much salt, sugar, study says

Toddler food has too much salt, sugar

Many packaged meals and snacks for toddlers contain worrisome amounts of salt and sugar, potentially creating an early taste for foods that may contribute to obesity and other health risks, according to a new government study.

About seven in 10 toddler dinners studied contained too much salt, and most cereal bars, breakfast pastries and snacks for infants and toddlers contained extra sugars, according to the study by researchers at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Gannett reports.

They advise parents to read food labels carefully and select healthier choices.

The researchers analyzed package information and labels for more than 1,000 foods marketed for infants and toddlers.

The study notes that almost one in four U.S. children ages 2 to 5 are overweight or obese — and that almost 80 percent of kids ages 1 to 3 exceed the recommended maximum level of daily salt, which is 1,500 milligrams. Excess sugar and salt can contribute to obesity and elevated blood pressure even in childhood, but also later on.

“We also know that about one in nine children have blood pressure above the normal range for their age, and that sodium, excess sodium, is related to increased blood pressure,” said the CDC's Mary Cogswell, the study's lead author.

Can a gluten-free diet make you fat?

More people than ever are buying into the gluten-free trend, the Daily Mail reports.

Not necessarily because they are suffering from celiac disease, but because it is has achieved a bit of a “health halo” status.

Just the mention of “gluten-free” on a packet seems to endow some mystical health benefit to it.

There has been an explosion in gluten-free products, fueled in small part by a genuine growth in celiac disease which has increased fourfold over the past 20 years.

However, much of the drive behind the increase is due to many other things.

The publicity around a lower carbohydrate diet, celebrity influence and manufacturers' knowledge that they can charge a premium for gluten-free products — more than twice as much in many cases — has all garnered interest.

While only a small proportion (around one in 100) of us actually have celiac disease, many more are concerned that they have an intolerance to gluten which is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye.

These people may experience similar symptoms to celiac disease — such as bloating, wind and diarrhea — without actually having the intestinal damage found in celiac disease.

Gluten intolerance, in people who do not have celiac disease, is really a type of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) that seems to improve if gluten-containing products are avoided.

However, many prepackaged gluten-free products make up for their lack of gluten by including more sugar or fat to make the product more appetizing. However, they also may actually make the gluten-free products less healthy than the standard versions.

They may also contain a much lower level of fiber and minerals, which can be stripped during the production process.

The health-halo effect also means that when we think we are eating something healthy (even if it isn't) we tend to eat more of it — which may not help our waistline.