Low blood sodium babies crave salty food

Infant :: Low blood sodium babies crave salty food

A new study concludes that low birthweight babies born with low sodium in their blood serum will likely consume large quantities of dietary sodium later in life. Researchers also found that newborns with the most severe cases of low sodium blood serum consumed ~1700 mg more sodium per day and weighed some 30 percent more than their peers.

These data, taken together with other recent findings, make it clear that very low serum sodium in pre-term and new born infants is a consistent and significant contributing factor for long-term sodium intake, a key marker for obesity.

The results are from the study "Lowest Neonatal Serum Sodium Predicts Sodium Intake in Low-Birthweight Children," conducted by Adi Shirazki, Edith Gershon, and Micah Leshem, all of the University of Haifa, Haifa; Zalman Weintraub of the Galilee Medical Center, Nahariya; and Dan Reich of the Ha'Emek Medical Center, Afula, Israel. The study is published in the American Journal of Physiology ? Regulatory, Integrative, and Comparative Physiology. The Journal is one of 11 peer-reviewed research journals published each month by the American Physiological Society (APS) (www.The-APS.org).