Salty Diet Affects Childhood Obseity

A connection between childhood obesity and daily salt intake has been discovered.

Researchers in Australia tracked more than 4-thousand children and found that kids who consume the most salt are more likely to drink sugary beverages. That puts them at risk of high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes. Dr. Joseph Skelton is director of the Brenner FIT program at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. He believes most excess salt is coming from fast food, and snack foods:

"If you’re not fixing your food, you don’t know what’s going in it. So the more food you can prepare at home, even if you’re salting it for taste, your most likely going to be decreasing your child’s salt intake."

Skelton says kids should mainly drink water or skim milk. He also recommends parents focus on the positive things you can eat, instead of making it all about what you’re not supposed to have.