Children may be seen enjoying a meal of their favorite chicken nuggets, mac and cheese or crackers, but experts warn that these foods contain high levels of sodium, fat and calories and they can be a health risk.
Sodium, in the right amounts, is still needed in children's diet because it is responsible for regulating blood volume and pressure and is necessary for muscle and nerve function.
However, a report from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that 90% of school-aged children in the U.S. take too much sodium from their daily diet.
The report from the agency also revealed that one out of six children from age of eight to seventeen already has recorded high blood pressure.
"I think that parents aren't intentionally giving their children salt, they just don't realize how much salt is in the foods," Dr. Dyan Hes, pediatrician and medical director in New York City's Gramercy Pediatrics, said according to a report from Fox News.
Most of the foods that contain high amounts of sodium that parents fail to notice are those that are prepackaged and processed.
The CDC report stated that 43% of sodium that kids consume comes from food types such as bread rolls, cured meats and cheeseburgers.
School lunch guidelines may have done its part by cutting sodium content in lunch meals and planning to cut the content even more to 50% by 2022, but somehow an unhealthy amount of sodium still makes its way to school meals.
Sarah de Ferranti, a pediatric cardiologist, wrote for Medpage Today advice to parents stating that they should be involved in providing a healthy diet for their children.
According to her report, parents should encourage healthy eating, since they can be a big influence in their children's eating habits and food choices. It was also advised that parents should teach kids a thing or two about reading nutrition labels.
Another tip is to encourage cooking easy home recipes as much as possible instead of choosing to dine out. Parents should also motivate children to participate in making healthy food choices.
