A study looking at ways to cut childhood obesity and hypertension found that by cutting dietary salt, they could cut down on the amount of sugared soft drinks consumed by children.

The study was released in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association and was conducted by researchers at St. George’s University of London, England.

Here’s the link to the article.

The researchers looked at 2000 people between the ages of 4 and 18 who participated in a 1998 dietary survey. They found that children who had low salt diets consumed less liquid. They correlated a decrease of 1 gram of salt with a decrease of 100 mL of fluid intake. The authors further offered that by cutting average salt intake in half, children would consume 2 fewer sweetened soft drinks per week (amounts to 250 kcal less per week).

This is an important look at how simple changes in lifestyle have major long term health effects. This change in food preparation and choices has a long term health effect on development of hypertension and obesity.