Salt, or sodium, has been in the media spotlight for some time now and with good cause. The average American consumes about 3,436 mg of sodium a day! To prevent high blood pressure, the USDA guidelines recommend that healthy individuals consume no more than 2,300 mg of sodium each day; that number goes down to 1,500 mg if you already have high blood pressure, are African American or are over the age of 50.  

Over time, our taste buds can adjust to a low-sodium diet, but a better idea is to not develop a salt preference at all. Setting healthful salt habits may need to start earlier than you think. New research shows that feeding young babies solid, sodium-laden foods such as crackers, cereals and bread may set them up for a lifelong preference for salt.

In a recent study, researchers at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia gave 61 healthy, two-month-old infants a mild solution of salt water. Since the babies had no change in facial preference (as they would if they had tasted something yummy and sweet, or yucky and sour), the researchers concluded that the infants were indifferent to the taste of salt.

When the babies were six months old, the researchers reassessed their preference for salt by giving them three bottles, one with plain water and the other two with increasing concentrations of salt. Researchers recorded how much fluid the infants drank from each bottle during a one-minute period as a way to determine how much they enjoyed each of the three concentrations. Additionally, at this six month mark, the parents were asked to report all the food their child eats regularly.

It turns out that 26 of the 61 babies had been fed starchy foods such as crackers, soft bread or cereal, which are often high in salt. In turn, those babies were found to have consumed 55% more salt in the bottle experiment when compared with babies who had not yet been exposed to these kinds of foods.

Bottom Line: We often don't think of foods like bread having a lot of sodium because they don't taste salty, but they are made with both sodium chloride (salt) and sometimes sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) or other sodium-based ingredients. Always choose grain products with the lowest sodium content, and never salt a child's meal. If your child has less exposure to salty foods from the start, she may be less likely to choose salty foods as she ages.

Source: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

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