Weaning and salt: use it or not?

The WHO (World Health Organization) recommends that adults consume less than 5 grams of salt in the diet. As far as children are concerned, the doses are decidedly lower, so much so that it is not recommended to add it to food up to the ninth month of life.

The hidden salt

A food already naturally contains salt .

It can be useful to know the amount of salt contained in the foods you consume most frequently.

For example, a 50 gram slice of bread contains up to 0.4 grams; a spoonful of Parmesan 0.2 grams; five olives up to 1.1 grams.

But also beware of “ unsuspected ” products .

A portion of breakfast cereals (30 grams) also contains 0.8 grams, a simple brioche 0.4 grams.

It is clear that it is very easy to reach (and exceed) the recommended threshold for maximum salt intake.

With a varied and balanced diet, children take in the amount of sodium they need and therefore there is no need to add it.

Salt or sodium?

One gram of table salt (NaCl) contains 0.4 grams of sodium (Na).

It’s just sodium we need to watch out for!

Other names that indicate the presence of added salt are: sodium chloride, monosodium phosphate, sodium glutamate, sodium benzoate, sodium citrate.

How to consider the values ​​reported on the label

	Sodium	Sale
ALTO	superiore a 0,4-0,5 g/100 g	superiore a 1-1,2 g /100 g
HALF	da 0.12 a 0.4-0.5 g/100 g	da 0.3 a 1-1.2 g /100 g
BASSO	less than 0.12g/100g	less than 0.3 g /100 g

Educate the taste

During weaning (but actually from before, starting from the eighth week of gestation) the baby’s taste is formed and matures.

Preferences for each food are individual, but in this period of discovery of new flavours, it is important to remember that approaching a particular food – and the subsequent sensations of liking it or not – will influence personal taste while growing up.

“Salty food” should not be synonymous with “tasty food”.

Getting the child used to natural tastes right away , without excesses, will avoid tomorrow the search for that typical flavor especially of the so-called “junk foods”, such as snacks, chips and packaged snacks. These are foods that are too salty, rich in fat and nutritionally inadequate which, in the long run, can cause considerable health problems ( hypertension , renal overload, obesity…).

Advice

A greater awareness of the salt content of the foods introduced is essential, for this reason it may be useful to check the nutritional tables on the packages.

Prefer fresh fruit and vegetables, legumes, meat and fish , generally avoiding canned foods and industrially prepared products.

The flavor can be enhanced with the use of spices or with the addition of lemon and extra virgin olive oil .

The cooking methods such as en papillote or steamed allow you to better maintain the aromas of the food, without therefore having to flavor them further.

Reducing salt intake is important for our child, but also for the whole family.