Salt gets a bad rap sometimes. On the plus side, salt helps maintain the proper balance of fluids in our bodies and it supports muscle and nerve function. Too much of it, however, can cause high blood pressure and other serious health problems.
While it’s true that children aren’t generally affected by health problems associated with eating too much salt, developing good eating habits at a young age will help them avoid these problems in the future.
Canadians, on average, consume 3400 mg/day of salt, the equivalent of two teaspoons of salt a day. Sprinkling salt on food or adding it to dishes while cooking is not where most of our salt comes from though. According to healthycanadians.ca, almost 80% of the sodium we eat comes from processed and packaged foods such as baked goods, pasta dishes, stews, processed meats, soups and cheese. However, sometimes just a simple shift in purchasing habits—less packaged food and more fruits and vegetables, for example—will result in an immediate decrease in salt consumption.
In 2012, Health Canada introduced new guidelines for salt consumption for all age groups. Their recommendations for adults is a maximum of 2200 mg/day. Recommendations from other organizations vary, but most agree that Canadians need to reduce their salt intake.