Poor early growth and high salt intake in Indian infants

Abstract

The influence of feeding patterns on the growth of infants and how salt is included in the diet are unknown in the area of West Bengal, India. A cross-sectional study was carried on 517 infants (median age 6.5 months). Negative Z-scores were observed for all anthropometric parameters. About 72.7% of infants aged 0–6 months received exclusive breastfeeding. In the 6–12-month-old group (n = 235), 91.5% had salt added to foods. In a regression model adjusted for age, a low salt diet resulted a significant factor in increasing weight-for-length and BMI for age z-scores, with increments equal to 0.637 SD (p = 0.037) and 0.650 SD (p = 0.036), respectively.

In West Bengal infants showing poor growth, breastfeeding was associated with better anthropometric indexes, but early in life salt is added to their diet. Early life low weight coupled with high salt intake may be a risk factor for arterial hypertension in Indian children.

Keywords:

• Infant
• growth
• nutrition
• hypertension
• salt
• India

Acknowledgments

This research was carried on without specific funding. The authors acknowledge all the Indian and International volunteers working at the Institute for Indian Mother and Child, Kolkata, India, in collaboration with "Project for People" (Milan, Italy), who contributed to the collection of data.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the manuscript.