“Chicken and Pasta Wheel Pickups” toddler dinner dishes out sodium equivalent to two orders of medium fries at McDonald’s

Two of Canada’s Networks of Centres of Excellence – the Canadian Stroke
Network and the Advanced Foods & Materials Network – today awarded the third annual national “Salt Lick Award” to Gerber Graduates Lil’ Entrées. This choice was made because the “Chicken & Pasta Wheel Pickups” dinner serves up the sodium equivalent to two orders of medium McDonald’s Fries.

The Gerber Graduates meal, which the packaging says is “appropriate for children 1 year or older” and “specially made for toddlers,” contains 550 mg of sodium, or more than half a toddler’s adequate daily intake of 1,000 mg. Meanwhile, according to the McDonald’s Canada website, a medium order of French Fries contains 270 mg of sodium.

This year, the Salt Lick Award focuses on food for young children in order to highlight the inappropriately high levels of sodium added to meals targeted at toddlers. The Canadian Stroke Network and Advanced Foods and Materials Network conducted a product scan of popular baby
and toddler foods, resulting in selection of the Graduates meal for the Salt Lick Award. There is good news however: some popular brands in the marketplace have no added sodium. Dr. Kevin Willis, who leads efforts by the Canadian Stroke Network to raise awareness of the dangers of excessive sodium intake, says “there is a concern that eating too much sodium in childhood can lead to a preference for salty foods and, consequently, an increased risk of disease
as an adult.”

Dr. Rickey Yada, Scientific Director of the Advanced Foods and Materials Network, mirrors this sentiment: “Canadians need to follow the ‘everything in moderation’ concept to develop a healthy and sustainable diet. Products high in salt will make such an exercise very difficult and will contribute to the toll many chronic diseases are taking on our health-care system, and our lives.”

Ironically, in response to calls for reductions in sodium in Canada’s food supply, industry officials have argued that cuts are difficult because Canadians have a taste for salty foods — something which is obviously programmed early in life, in part, by the food industry itself.

“One-year-olds do not demand salt in their food,” says Dr. Charlene Elliott, who is Associate Professor of Communications at the University of Calgary and Principal Investigator of a CIHR funded grant focused on the marketing of children’s food. Elliott says that food companies are “totally playing into adult conceptions of a meal” and, unfortunately, “there is a presumed halo effect around baby and toddler foods because people expect these foods to be held to higher
standards.”

Other Toddler meals high in sodium include:

• Gerber Graduates for Toddlers Lil’ Entrées “Macaroni and Cheese with peas and carrots”: 520 mg of sodium per serving
• Parent’s Choice (Wal-Mart brand) My Little Meals™ “Shells & Cheese with Frankfurters”: 520 mg of sodium per serving
• Gerber Graduates for Toddlers Lil’ Entrées “Cheese Ravioli in Tomato Sauce with carrots, peas and corn”: 480 mg of sodium per serving
• Heinz Toddler “Vegetables, Beef & Pasta Casserole”: 470 mg of sodium per jar
• Heinz Toddler “Beef Stroganoff”: 420 mg of sodium per jar

The Canadian Stroke Network and Advanced Foods and Materials Network are calling for increased awareness of the impact of high-sodium foods on health and the need to reduce sodium content. Health Canada’s Sodium Working Group, which was appointed in 2007, is developing a sodium-reduction strategy for Canadians, which will include education, voluntary reductions of sodium in processed foods and more research. The Working Group has yet to make its report.

A high-sodium diet increases blood pressure. High blood pressure is a major risk factor for stroke, heart disease, kidney disease and dementia. High sodium consumption has also been linked to osteoporosis, asthma, stomach cancer and obesity. The “Salt Lick” award coincides with World Salt Awareness Week – an effort by more than 20 countries to highlight excessive amounts of sodium in the food supply.