Forum: Lessen salt in cooked food, for children’s sake

Parents do strive to provide the best possible environment for their children to grow up healthy. Ensuring a balanced diet for the children is one such aspect. However, children of those who eat out almost daily due to the rise of busy lifestyles can end up with high salt intakes.

Do we think about the children when we lament the high salt consumption in Singapore?    What you have ordered, despite the high salt level, you eat, and your accompanying children eat with you. Excessive salt or sodium intake is harmful to young children due to their small body size.  Studies have shown that high salt intake during childhood can bring on health issues later in life including high blood pressure.

Can something be done to protect the children? Perhaps health officers can test prepared foods for their salt content and dish out demerit points, much like what the Singapore Food Agency is doing for food hygiene.  

This may seem like a major undertaking. However, I think the effort put in is worth it, considering the adverse outcomes we face now and in the future because of the simple problem of taking too much salt.

Lim Teck Koon