News

Kids who load up on salty meals and snacks get thirsty, and too often they turn to calorie-filled sodas. So maybe cutting back on salt is a good way to cut back on calories.

That's the idea coming from a British study published yesterday in an American Heart Association journal.

Salt is "a hidden factor in the obesity epidemic," said Graham MacGregor, a co-author of the study by researchers at St. George's University of London.

And researchers say all that salt isn't coming from a shaker: About 80 per cent comes from manufactured food.

"Most people think that sodium comes from the salt shaker. The salt shaker contributes less than 10 to 15 per cent," said Myron Weinberger, a professor of medicine at Indiana University's school of medicine.

"Fast foods, for example, are just loaded with sodium. Processed foods are all very high in sodium," said Dr. Weinberger, who wrote an editorial related to the study published in the online journal Hypertension.

Not only could less salt translate to fewer soft drinks and therefore fewer calories, but a modest reduction in salt has already been shown to lower blood pressure, which increases the risk of later-in-life heart attack and stroke, researchers say.

Also, several studies have shown a link between sugary soft drinks and obesity in children.

Reducing salt in manufactured foods can be done gradually, without the public even noticing, said Feng He, lead author of the study. She said a 10- to 20-per-cent reduction in salt isn't even detectable.

"It's important for the food industry to make a reduction," she said.

The study suggested that cutting in half the amount

of salt British children consume - a decrease of about half a teaspoon a day - would lead to an average reduction of about 18 ounces of sugar-sweetened soft drinks a week.

The study was based on diet data from Great Britain's National Diet and Nutrition Survey. Researchers looked at 1,688 British boys and girls - ages 4 to 18 - over a seven-day period starting in 1997.

They noted that the amount of salt eaten might be underestimated in the study because it didn't include salt added during cooking or at the table. The researchers also found that more than half the fluids drunk by the children were soft drinks, and more than half of those were sugar-sweetened.

Some experts note that it will take more than cutting salt to get overweight kids in shape: Healthy eating and exercise are needed as well.

"It's another piece of the puzzle," said Pamela Sayger Cava, a pediatric cardiologist at the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.

"The kids have to be active. They have to have more water, less soda. They have to eat less fast food."