Page 28 - MHF-FeedingMinds-final.indd

Salt 19
amounts of sweet foods can be included at all meals
and one snack, for example:
●● breakfast – a breakfast cereal with added sugar
or jam or honey on toast
●● midday and evening meals – a second course or
pudding that contains sugar
●● one snack per day that contains sugar, such as
biscuits, cake or bread/crackers/scone with jam
or honey or another sweet spread.
Dental decay is caused by constant exposure to acid
that is either contained in food and drink or
produced by bacteria in the plaque on teeth as the
bacteria break down the sugar present in food and
drink. Acid is present in all drinks and fruit juices
except water and milk.
When there is sufficient time between these acid
attacks, saliva neutralizes any acid and the tooth
enamel recovers its structure. Research has shown
that by limiting sugar and sugar-containing foods
to four times per day or less the risk of dental caries these recommendations, but if they learn only to
is reduced (Moynihan and Petersen 2004).
Sugars added to food come in a variety of forms
and include: honey, sucrose, glucose, glucose syrup,
maltose, dextrose, fructose, hydrolysed starch,
corn or maize syrup, molasses, raw/brown
sugar, treacle, golden syrup, Demerara and
concentrated fruit juice.
Confectionery and chocolate are best eaten in
small quantities at the end of a meal rather than in
between meals.
All children should be registered with a dentist
and have regular checkups.
Brushing teeth
Caries (decay) and gum disease can be avoided by
twice daily brushing with a fluoride toothpaste (see
Chapter 1.1) as it reduces the plaque coating teeth
that contains the bacteria that convert sugar into
acid.
A regime of brushing teeth last thing at night
and one other time in the day should be encouraged,
assisted and supervised by an adult until a child is at
least 7 years old. Under-fives should be encouraged
not to swallow the toothpaste but to spit it out and
not to rinse the teeth with water after brushing.
Sugar-containing medicines
Children who require frequent and multiple
medications are particularly at risk of dental decay
if sweetened medicines are used. If a sugar-free
alternative is not available, the medicine should be
given at mealtimes if possible.
Salt
Salt is added to preserve some foods and to enhance
flavour in others. Unfortunately, it is a very cheap
flavour enhancer and has been used to excess in the
food industry. The recommendations for
restricting salt and sodium intake are list in Table
1.1.3 (page 8) but these recommendations are not
evidence based and are very difficult to achieve.
Furthermore, it is very difficult for families to
estimate the intake of salt equivalent as some fresh
foods naturally contain some sodium. Children
will certainly not get ill or be harmed if they exceed
like salt-flavoured foods and develop a preference
for them they may continue to eat mostly
salt-flavoured foods as adults and are then at risk of
raised blood pressure.
In practice, limiting salt intake to a reasonable
intake in children means:
●● including nutritious foods preserved with salt,
such as bread, cheese, Marmite, ham, bacon and
salamis as they also contain important nutrients
●● not adding salt to food at the table
●● using herbs and spices rather than extra salt to
flavour food in cooking
●● choosing tinned foods without added salt over
those tinned with salt
●● limiting the amount of processed foods offered
as these usually have a higher salt content than
home-cooked foods
●● offering salty snack foods such as crisps and
other packet snacks only occasionally.