Sodium content of seven categories of pre-packaged snacks frequently consumed by children and adolescents in China
Objective To examine the sodium content of seven categories of pre-packaged snacks frequently con-sumed by Chinese children and adolescents,and to provide suggestions on healthy choice of snacks in terms of reducing so-dium intake.Methods The FoodSwitch China database was used to provide sodium content information of seven food groups available for sale in food market during 2017-2020.The traffic light standard of the UK was applied to measure the sodium level of total foods and each category of foods.The amount of sodium intake per package and its percentage in recommended upper limit of daily sodium intake was measured in population aged 4-6 years,7-10 years and ≥11 years.Results A total of 35 498 pre-packaged snacks in seven categories were included in our analysis.The amounts of median sodium contents per 100 g of the seven food groups from high to low were:plant-based protein foods(1125 mg),instant processed meat and fish products(1100 mg),puffed foods(523 mg),nuts and seeds(292 mg),bakery products(222 mg),dairy and products(65 mg),and instant processed fruit and vegetable products(44 mg).The percentage of sodium content in pre-packaged snacks belonged to green level in traffic light standard was 30.2％,the percentage of amber level was 37.7％,and the percentage of red level was 32.1％.The three highest percentage of sodium contained per package in recommended upper limit of daily sodium intake for children aged above 1 1 years old were:plant-based protein foods(28.1％),instant processed meat and fish products(16.5％)and puffed foods(10.5％).Conclusion The sodium content of seven cate-gories of pre-packaged foods frequently consumed as snacks in Chinese children and adolescents is variant.Plant-based pro-tein foods,instant processed meat and fish products and puffed foods contained high level of sodium.Efforts from all stake-holders should be warranted to guide young children and their family to make healthy food choice.
SodiumPre-packaged foodSnacksChildren and adolescents
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
