CDC recently revised its recommendation on sodium intake for adults. (http://www.cdc.gov/Features/Sodium/) CNN.com also featured that as news (Dr Gupta)
Excerpts:
Current dietary guidelines recommend that adults in general should consume no more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day. However, if you are in the following population groups, you should consume no more than 1,500 mg per day.
• You are 40 years of age or older.
• You are African American.
• You have high blood pressure.
Excerpts from http://www.annecollins.com/sodium-rda-diet.htm:
The US sodium RDA of less than 2,400 mg is higher than the UK Recommended Nutritional Intake (RNI) whose upper limit for sodium is 1,600 mg.
The American Heart Association recommends that for every 1,000 Calories of food consumed, the sodium intake should be 1,000 mg and should not exceed the 3,000 mg limit.
The average intake in the United States is between 4,000 and 5,000 mg of sodium per day.
Recommended limit of sodium intake is hard to find for infants, children and adolescents.
According to diet.com (this website was chosen because it covers all age categories and it is easy to view): (also see IOM)
Article in (IOM) showing rise in blood pressure of children ages 81-17:
Yet,when CDC puts out the advisory to reduce sodium intake, nothing was mentioned about children.
Now, if the adult RDA or DRI for sodium has been reduced by about 40%, does it make sense to also reduce the children's RDA or DRI by the same amount? Especially in view that children's blood pressure levels are elevated compared to previous years?
Perhaps nobody would go that route because food is big business and packaged food industry is powerful?
Lets see what a 1-3 year old child can eat with a 600mg sodium "allowance". Or for 4-8 year olds with a 720mg sodium "allowance". Here is a sample of what children like to eat or what parents give children:
700mg - 1 Noah's egg bagel (1 bagel is 120g)
404mg - 2 oz or 64g McDonald Chic McNuggets
286mg - 1/4 Jack in the Box Big Cheeseburger (1/4 of the burger is 53g)
280mg - 1 cup cheerios
260mg - 1 slice cheese pizza (3 oz or 85g)
250mg - 1 eggo waffle
190mg - 1 Tablespoon Heinz Ketchup
187mg - 1/4 cup mac & cheese prepared with milk and margerine
180mg - 1 oz Kraft extra sharp cheddar cheese
169mg - 1 hardboiled egg of 136g
160mg - 1 slice whole grain bread
125mg - about 30mL or 2 tablespoons Prego spaghetti sauce
104mg - 3.5 oz roasted chicken breast (low sodium)
100mg - 8 oz milk
30mg - 38 pieces Lyndon Farms French Fries
22mg - 1 oz raw carrots
10mg - 8 oz orange juice
10mg - 1 oz raw broccoli
2mg - 1 orange
2mg - 1 apple
2mg - strawberries
Clearly, parents will have trouble getting toddlers to eat within 300mg of sodium every day after consuming the pediatricians recommended 24 oz of milk (for calcium and protein). And it will be impossible to tell the 4-8 year-olds to stay within 520mg of sodium every day after 16 oz of milk.
Will the packaged food industry voluntarily or actively advertise that children should have reduced sodium intake? No! All the companies will gladly show the percentage of sodium in each serving based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Now, what does DRI of sodium have anything to do with RF exposure from cell phone towers?
Actually quite a lot:
1. Safe levels for children are not established for both.
2. Effects are cumulative.
3. Excess intakes/exposures are harmful.
4. Multiple sources at once. (e.g., many meals. e.g., wi-fi at school/home, smart-meters courtesy of PacBell)
5. Long term studies not available.
Why do we instinctively know that children should not consume as much sodium as adults?
Why are we in denial that children's RF exposure limit levels should be much lower than adults?
Why do we accept results from short term studies of adult subjects as equally applicable to long term effects of children of all ages?
These are all multi-billion dollar questions!
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