It would be great if our children were happy to eat healthy nutritious food all of the time, but we all know that given the choice, they would often go for the less healthy option. Take salt for example - the Food Standards Agency (FSA) recommends that children aged 5-10 years eat no more than 4g of salt a day, but many children eat far more than this. With some foods, a high salt content is easy to detect from the taste, but for others, such as ready meals and some sandwiches, a high level of salt may be less obvious.
So how can you ensure your children continue to enjoy their favourite foods whilst also ensuring that they don’t eat too much salt? This is where the What’s Inside Guide can help.
The What’s Inside Guide is a nutritional label with a difference. Now clearly displayed on the front of over 50% of food and drink packaging, it shows simple nutritional information based on Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs)*, letting you clearly see the amount of salt and other nutrients contained within a suggested portion of food.
Also the What’s Inside Guide lets you compare products to help decide which may fit better into a healthy diet.
The GDA for salt for an average child between the ages of 5-10 years is 4g per day. The salt information on the What’s Inside Guide on the packaging of your child’s food will tell you exactly how many grams are in that portion of food so you can help them make good choices and feel happy that they are eating a healthy amount of salt for their age.
Why not encourage your child to look at the labels themselves and check out the amount of salt in some food products they eat regularly and compare them with some new products to encourage variety in the diet - a great way for you to assess how much salt they are eating and to help them to understand about a balanced diet!