Doctors say limiting salt in our diets is a good thing. That goes for our children's diets as well.
Too much salt can cause a lot of health issues, including high blood pressure, along with kidney and heart problems, even in little ones.
Now a study in this week's Journal of Pediatrics, finds that salt may play a greater role in what kinds of drinks kids want -- especially sugar-sweetened beverages, like sodas.
Researchers looked at more than 42,000 Australian children, between the ages of 2 to 16 and found 62 percent of those youngsters reported drinking sugar sweetened beverages.
They also found a link between salt consumption and sweet drinks, noting that children who ate more salt, drank more sweetened liquids.
They noted for every one gram of salt consumed a day, a child also consumed 17 grams more of sweetened beverages than those children who did not eat a lot of salt.
The study also showed that children who drank more than one serving of a sugar sweetened beverage each day were 26 percent more likely to be overweight or obese.
Scientists concluded that if kids stop eating a lot of salt, they may reduce how many sugar-sweetened beverages they drink, cutting down on their daily calorie intake.
Too much salt can cause a lot of health issues, including high blood pressure, along with kidney and heart problems, even in little ones.
Now a study in this week's Journal of Pediatrics, finds that salt may play a greater role in what kinds of drinks kids want -- especially sugar-sweetened beverages, like sodas.
Researchers looked at more than 42,000 Australian children, between the ages of 2 to 16 and found 62 percent of those youngsters reported drinking sugar sweetened beverages.
They also found a link between salt consumption and sweet drinks, noting that children who ate more salt, drank more sweetened liquids.
They noted for every one gram of salt consumed a day, a child also consumed 17 grams more of sweetened beverages than those children who did not eat a lot of salt.
The study also showed that children who drank more than one serving of a sugar sweetened beverage each day were 26 percent more likely to be overweight or obese.
Scientists concluded that if kids stop eating a lot of salt, they may reduce how many sugar-sweetened beverages they drink, cutting down on their daily calorie intake.
