Children and Salt Consumption

American children get way too much salt, a new report finds. And the top salt eaters are the most likely to have high blood pressure. Another report released this week found that cancer is the top cause of death for U.S. Hispanics. It replaces heart disease in the No. 1 spot. Two advocacy groups predicted this week that more than half of adults in 39 states will be obese by 2030. That's higher than U.S. government estimates. Consumer Reports magazine published measurements of arsenic in 223 rice products this week. The consumer group behind the magazine urged the U.S. government to set limits on arsenic in rice.

Stay well.

Saltiest Diet Boosts Kids' Blood Pressure

American children eat too much salt, and those who eat the most have higher blood pressure, a new study finds. The study came from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers looked at data on 6,200 children who took part in recent national health surveys. The children were ages 8 through 18. Children were asked twice over several days to list all foods they had eaten the day before. Researchers estimated how much sodium they ate. Salt is the biggest source of sodium in food. On average, children ate 3,300 milligrams daily. That's 1,000 milligrams above the recommended amount. Overall, 15% of children had either prehypertension or high blood pressure. Prehypertension is blood pressure that is above normal but not as high as in high blood pressure. Children who ate the most salt were twice as likely to have one of these conditions as children who ate the least. Rates were triple for overweight and obese children eating the most salt. The journal Pediatrics published the study online September 17. The Associated Press wrote about it. Another study in the journal found that children's doctors don't always check blood pressure. They measured it at one-third of all visits and two-thirds of checkups.