CDC official: Federal nutrition guidelines reduce children’s sodium intake

WASHINGTON — America is unhealthy — with more than one-third of adults obese and millions of children following closely behind in their parents' footsteps. Breaking down the barriers of an overwhelming assortment of prepackaged foods and salt-laden restaurant meals, however, begins with a plan of action. We sat down with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to learn about the government’s latest plans to raise a new generation of healthy lifestyle choices and habits.

CDC Senior Scientist Molly E. Cogswell and her research team combed through 1,000 commercially labeled food products and recorded the nutrition content from the back of each item, and found both infant and toddler snacks were high in sodium. Their study, published in the journal Pediatrics, was the first study in decades to examine what parents and caretakers are feeding their children every day.

“What’s interesting in infants back in the 1970s is that the National Academy of Sciences recommended that infant products could have no more than 2.5 percent of sodium,” Cogswell, the study’s lead author, explained to Medical Daily. “The manufacturers pretty much followed those recommendations and as we saw in our infant products, they were pretty much across the board low in sodium. It’s the toddler products that are more of a concern.”

More than seven in 10 toddler meals, she explained, were high in sodium, such as toddler macaroni and cheese. What's more, infant and toddler snacks “contain as much salt as adult potato chips, so you’re training the child’s palate to like these sorts of foods,” she added.

The researchers found 72 percent of toddler dinners had high levels of sodium, while 32 percent of toddler dinners and most snacks had added sugar. Cogswell reflects back to a time when her mother served bologna and white bread, but after reading a book on nutrition her childhood meals began to change. She adapted to the low sodium meals and grew up to embrace healthier choices and make a career out of helping others do the same.