Salt and Sugar: Two Enemies of Healthy Blood Pressure in Children

Abstract

The prevalence of essential arterial hypertension in children and adolescents has grown considerably in the last few decades, making this disease a major clinical problem in the pediatric age. The pathogenesis of arterial hypertension is multifactorial, with one of the components being represented by incorrect eating habits. In particular, excessive salt and sugar intake can contribute to the onset of hypertension in children, particularly in subjects with excess weight. Babies have an innate predisposition for sweet taste, while that for salty taste manifests after a few weeks. The recent modification of dietary styles and the current very wide availability of salt and sugar has led to an exponential increase in the consumption of these two nutrients. The dietary intake of salt and sugar in children is in fact much higher than that recommended by health agencies. The purpose of this review is to explore the mechanisms via which an excessive dietary intake of salt and sugar can contribute to the onset of arterial hypertension in children and to show the most important clinical studies that demonstrate the association between these two nutrients and arterial hypertension in pediatric age. Correct eating habits are essential for the prevention and nondrug treatment of essential hypertension in children and adolescents.

The Sweet and Salty Dietary Face of Hypertension and Cardiovascular Disease in Lebanon

“…The hallmark of the nutrition transition is a shift away from the traditional Lebanese dietary pattern, a variant of the Mediterranean diet, toward a more westernized dietary pattern, characterized by increased intakes of energy-dense processed foods that are high in fat, salt, and added sugar. High intakes of salt and added or free sugar have been linked to the etiology of HTN in different cross-sectional and longitudinal studies (Stolarz-Skrzypek, 2011;Genovesi et al, 2021), hence potentially contributing to the increasing burden of CVDs.…”

Nutrient profiles of commercially produced complementary foods available in Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines

“…As the consumption of CPCF in South-East Asia is rising, older IYC might be increasingly exposed to unhealthy products that contribute to their daily sugar and sodium intakes and may displace the consumption of more nutritious whole foods. High sugar intake is linked with the development of dental caries (28) , weight gain and increased risk of non-communicable diseases (29) , and high salt intake in early life is correlated with high blood pressure in childhood (30) . Moreover, infants are born with a preference for sweet and salty tastes (15) , and exposure to these tastes early in life can establish long-lasting taste preferences and unhealthy dietary patterns (15,31) .…”

Obesity and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors: From Childhood to Adulthood

“…Most of the added sugar are glucose, fructose, and sucrose (in the intestine sucrose is broken down into glucose and fructose, which are absorbed as such). Glucose excess is directly associated with hyperinsulinemia, while fructose excess increases uric acid levels and very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) levels leading to hyperuricemia and liver steatosis [18]. Moreover, it has been shown, that simultaneous consumption of sugar and salt by obese patients is a greater risk factor for developing high blood pressure than consuming each of them separately [19].…”