OBESITY AND THE SALT CONNECTION - Mensa article by Margaret Wilde

Obesity and the Salt Connection

What follows is a slightly modified version of an article I wrote for the British monthly glossy magazine of Mensa, the high IQ society, of which I am a member. It was published in the December 2004 issue. Four months later, the April 2005 issue contained a letter from Joyce Barnard, who has given permission for her name to be used here. She wrote that by following the advice I had given her a few years earlier - i.e. that to lower her high blood pressure and lose weight she simply needed to eat less sodium - she had lost 5 stones in weight (70 pounds) in a year! - All she did was stop sprinkling salt onto her meals and use LoSalt instead of ordinary salt when cooking.

Many years ago I gained a great deal of weight because of taking HRT prescribed by my GPs, mainly on the advice of an endocrinologist. - I did not realise at the time that the weight gain was because of the medication.

I became desperately ill and exhausted and had very high blood pressure for which I took Atenolol, a beta-blocker. I was so fat I could barely walk. Yet I was not overeating. My feet, hands and breasts were exquisitely painful and very red and swollen. I was unable to use my hands for many tasks. I needed a larger size in shoes. My face and neck became beetroot red and very swollen. I developed acne and eczema. I suffered from breathlessness.

Having never sprinkled salt on my food in my life, and never used it in cooking, in 1997 I became aware that there was a lot of salt in bread and cheese and breakfast cereals. Because of the connection between hypertension and salt intake I altered my eating to reduce, and eventually to exclude, all avoidable sodium. This lowered my blood pressure and I no longer needed to take Atenolol.

More spectacularly, and very unexpectedly to me, eating less salt reduced my weight by 51 pounds! - This was nothing to do with calories, fat or sugar. - The weight I lost was clearly water, which I worked out was held in my body by the salt - held in my veins, which had become massively distended and painful since I had embarked on the HRT.

I worked out that it was the oestrogen that had caused the sodium and water retention and this was confirmed when I looked in the British National Formulary for the side-effects of oestrogen. I then realised that oestrogen was a steroid, though it is not normally thought of in that category, and that the sodium and water retention came about because certain steroids and certain other prescribed drugs relax/weaken the walls of the blood vessels so that they take in excess salt and the water which accompanies it. I realised that I was a 'steroid victim'.

For many years I have been providing a free telephone helpline for people in pain in my area and for the last five years have been advising all callers to reduce their salt intake, particularly when they were obese. Their weight loss, too, has been dramatic and swift. One Mensa member whom I helped lost about a stone in a month just by eating less salt. Her dog, too, lost weight when she stopped salting his food!

I firmly believe that the massive rise in the incidence of obesity, especially child obesity, is due to the prevalence of salt in modern diets, mainly from manufactured foods, and that calorie counting and advice about reducing fat and sugar intake and increasing exercise are counter-productive.

But salt causes obesity only in vulnerable people, i.e.

People whose veins are weak because of immaturity (babies, children),

People whose veins are weak because of steroids or HRT or amitriptyline or certain other prescribed drugs, too readily prescribed, often in very high dose,

People whose natural oestrogen levels are higher than normal (e.g. pregnant women).

People whose blood vessel walls have been weakened by 'slimming' – i.e. eating insufficient food.

Inactivity does not cause obesity. Obesity causes inactivity.
In 2001 I wrote to MPs, to medical people, to journalists, to nutritionists and others, explaining that salt sensitivity is what causes obesity, and urging that the facts be made known, particularly to steroid victims. The powerful and influential people to whom I wrote have taken no action to give publicity to the life-saving message. The public is not being told the truth about weight gain and weight loss. The best, the healthiest, the safest way to lose weight is to concentrate on eating less salt (and more potassium).

An Emeritus Professor of Medicine at Oxford, Professor Sir Richard Doll, wrote back to me in August 2001 that I was right about steroids causing weight gain because of salt and water retention and that weight can be lost by eating less salt or by taking diuretics. Sadly he seems to be the only medic who knows this! - A book on salt, written by experts on hypertension and brought out in a blaze of publicity a few years ago makes no mention of steroid victims and specifically states, among other errors, that HRT does not cause a salt problem.

A person who gains weight has a higher calorie requirement. There are two reasons for this. Having to carry a greater mass around and service a more massive body uses more calories. And having a bigger surface area means greater heat loss, since heat lost is proportional to surface area. - A greater calorie requirement results in greater appetite/hunger, so, really, overweight people need to eat more than people of normal weight. If the overweight eat insufficient calories (ie if they 'diet') they may lose weight, but it is at the cost of being hungry. There has never been the slightest evidence that the practice of fewer calories in and more calories out by way of exercise reduces obesity! - It is often confidently stated that fat will be lost by doing this. - Sadly, what is more often lost is lean tissue, usually an irreversible adverse effect.

The result of the misunderstanding of the cause of obesity is the well-known fact that over 95% of dieters actually gain weight in the long term! - They cannot be expected to go hungry all the time. - Nor would staying hungry all the time benefit them. - With insufficient calories for the body's needs, the body feeds on itself. - The skin becomes thinner; the bones become less dense; there is some hair loss, etc.

Contrast this with the right way to lose weight - by eating less sodium. - Eating less sodium releases some of the excess water held in the blood stream. This lowers the blood pressure and, significantly, lowers the weight. - Weighing less results in a lower calorie requirement so very gradually less food is eaten and this becomes a virtuous circle because less food eaten results in lower sodium intake.

In societies in which no salt is eaten (what some might describe as undeveloped or uncivilised societies) there is no obesity and no hypertension.

The cavemen and women who were our ancestors lived for millennia without added salt. Our bodies evolved on a low sodium and high potassium intake. The modern diet has reversed this to high sodium and low potassium. The intake of salt has massively increased in recent years - as has the incidence of obesity.

I submit that the universal 'slimming' advice - to eat fewer calories/less fat/sugar - is a major cause of obesity. - All that is normally necessary to lose weight is to eat less salt/sodium. This is a drug-free, cost-free course of action. There are no hunger pangs and no adverse side-effects. It requires no visits to the doctor or to the gym and it WILL work.

Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! -Try it! My website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ provides more details and advice. (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Margaret Wilde

Anyone is welcome to copy this article in whole or in part, provided only that it is always attributed to me, Margaret Wilde, that the information is provided free, and that my web-site address http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ is always included.

If you wish to get in touch with me, you can email me from my website.

Many restaurant meals contain too much salt

BBC News reports that a "survey of nearly 700 popular meals served in celebrity chef and High Street restaurants found half were high in salt - equivalent to a red traffic light label on a supermarket product. From their research, Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) discovered that the 13 saltiest main meals contained more than the maximum recommended daily intake of 6g of salt."

To give Consensus Action on Salt and Health its due, it keeps on checking salt levels in various food products and in various establishments that serve meals, and it keeps on bringing out reports which draw attention to the continued high levels of salt that are potentially harmful to consumers. Professor Graham  MacGregor reminds us that "Salt puts up our blood pressure, and as a result, thousands of people die unnecessarily each year from strokes, heart attacks and heart failure. Whilst efforts have been made by foods in supermarkets to use less salt, chefs' preference for saltier foods is preventing further progress. It's clear from our survey that some chefs are not listening to their customers."

I just wish that, as well as drawing attention to high salt intake increasing blood pressure and causing premature deaths from strokes, heart attacks and heart failure, health experts would inform people that salt intake is a major factor in problems of obesity, child obesity and morbid obesity. This is especially the case for people who take or have taken prescribed steroids, HRT, antidepressants, some contraceptive medications, anti-convulsant/anti-epileptic drugs, anti-psychotics, and some other prescription drugs.

Read about how to lose weight by eating less salt and salty food.

What's the best way to prevent asthma, and by extension, prevent deaths from asthma?

Well it was reported in the Telegraph this week that doctors, by way of Dr Dinesh Saralaya, who runs a specialist clinic in Bradford, are saying that 1,000 Asthma deaths a year could be prevented if patients, even those with only mild asthma, would regularly use "their ‘preventer’ inhaler - which contains a low-dose steroid" rather than relying "solely on the ‘reliever’ inhaler when undergoing an attack. " The evidence for this claim appears to be "a poll of 333 people with severe asthma, conducted by Ipsos MORI and funded by drugs firm Novartis". Personally, I would never give much credence to research funded by companies with a financial interest in the results, and in particular to research funded by drug companies hoping to increase the sales and use of their drugs and consequently their company profits. - Would you?

But I have even stronger reasons to regard this report with scepticism. The newspaper report is illustrated with a photo of a child using an inhaler, so I'll consider in particular child sufferers from asthma. - Now I am not a doctor and I have no medical qualifications whatsoever, so if you are wanting a medical opinion you would be better looking elsewhere than on my blog. But like you I do have a brain and I can read. My personal opinion is that the best way to prevent asthma, and to prevent deaths from asthma, is to protect children from a high intake of salt/sodium. My opinion is based on the following research evidence:

In this Telegraph article http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2137775/Too-much-television-is-an-asthma-risk.html, about research in Rome, Italy, led by Dr Giuseppe Corbo, despite its misleading title, the crucial finding is, "The study of 20,000 six and seven-year-olds, published in the medical journal Epidemiology, confirmed a strong link with asthma and obesity, but found that salt was the biggest risk. Those with the highest intake of salt were two and a half times more likely to develop asthma." (My emphasis.) I'll bet your brain comes to the same conclusion as mine does, doesn't it? - Protecting children from a high salt diet is the simplest, safest and most effective way to reduce their risk of developing asthma and also from any necessity to take steroid meds as treatment for asthma. (I'm not a big fan of steroid meds, especially if they can be avoided.)

This article, too, supports the wisdom of a low salt intake for children. "According to a new study published by the American Dietetic Association, high-salt foods and snacks are linked to lung changes that trigger asthma symptoms.," and that researchers in Greece found, using questionnaires, "Kids who ate high-salt foods more than three times a week saw their risk of asthma symptoms go up almost five times."

Another drug-free and very important measure to protect children from developing asthma is to avoid dosing children with paracetamol/acetaminophen (aka Tylenol and Calpol). A wealth of statistical data on this webpage http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/health/evidence-mounts-linking-acetaminophen-and-asthma.html?_r=1 suggests a link between acetaminophen and childhood asthma. Also have a read of this article from the Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/3233550/Delaying-baby-vaccine-could-cut-asthma.html for another simple measure that "could halve the likelihood of a child developing asthma by the age of seven."

As well as reducing the suffering of many thousands, even of millions, of people, these simple measures could also save about £1 billion a year - nearly one per cent of the NHS entire NHS budget - that is spent on asthma. - What it would not do, of course, is boost the profits of the drug company, Novartis...

Children's meals in some pubs and fast food chains remain far too high in salt

The Independent reports on new survey findings by CASH (Consensus Action on Salt and Health). "Children's meals at some of the UK's leading pub and fast food chains contain more salt than they should eat in an entire day, a study has found." Perhaps surprisingly, "Nando's and Wetherspoons both had children's meals containing three times as much salt as a McDonald's Happy Meal of a hamburger and fries. " I recommend that parents read the whole article.

There are healthier options available, but parents are hampered if they are looking for the healthier low salt options for their children because menus lack nutritional information. - Even now! - After years of warnings about the harm that high salt intake does to children and the dangers to their long-term health when they become addicted to salt in childhood. - Even now! - Even now parts of the Food Industry are continuing to ladle vast amounts of salt into children's meals, without providing the necessary information that these levels of salt are dangerous to health. - Heightened risk of high blood pressure, increased risk of stroke, heart disease, osteoporosis, asthma and kidney disease: these are the free accompaniments to highly salted children's meals...

Are you overweight and apple-shaped? You could reduce this problem by reducing salt intake.

Are you overweight and apple-shaped? You could reduce the problem by cutting down on salt and salty food. Everyone who is overweight has a higher than normal blood volume because of excess water/fluid retention, and would benefit from eating less salt/sodium. 

(Steroid victims in particular are at risk of huge weight gain and the dangerous condition of being obese and apple-shaped, because they are so seldom informed that they need seriously to reduce their salt intake while taking the steroid meds.)

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, angina, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

Minerals associated with lowering your blood pressure include potassium, magnesium and calcium

Minerals associated with lowering your blood pressure include potassium, magnesium and calcium. Sodium is the mineral associated with raised blood pressure and so intake of salt and salty food should be lowered if you suffer from hypertension/high blood pressure. - Helpful pages include Obesity and the Salt Connection and Minerals, Weight and Fluid/Fat Retention.

A Steroid (Hydrocortisone) Victim wrote to me a few weeks ago

A Steroid (Hydrocortisone) Victim wrote to me a few weeks ago. This is what she wrote (omitting her name and location):

" In August of 2010 I had a brain tumor removed. I am doing well from a neurological standpoint, however the tumor was sitting on my pituitary gland so I developed hypothyroidism and Central Diabetes Insipidis (also known as "water diabetes"). And of course I was put on a steroid- Hydrocortisone- which is what brought me to your website.

I started the hydrocortisone August 26, 2010 and took it until May 5, 2011, so a little over 8 months. And in that time period I gained a total of 153 lbs. I have always been overweight, and then it was like adding the equivalent of an adult to my weight...in a very short time. All of my Dr.s (I had a total of 3- endocrinologist, neurologist, primary physician) all told me the weight would come off once I was off the steroid, and none suggested reducing sodium/salt intake. But the weight did not come off at all. Finally in July, my endocrinologist did suggest reducing my salt intake and also seeing a medical weight loss clinic. From July 22nd to August 25th I lost 10 lbs. But then the Dr. at the clinic cut my calories back and put me on a low calorie diet (1400 to 1600 calories a day) because "I clearly had an increased appetite" (this is the opinion of most drs that I see, due to my size. They usually form this opinion without having asked me what I eat. I do not eat any more than my healthy, 160 lb mother.) I gained the 10 lbs I had lost back, and was becoming so very frustrated with myself, my weight, and with Doctors.

I was so happy when I found your website today. It all made so much sense and it was so nice to read your story and know that someone has gone through what I am going through. Taking an hour to read your website has given me so much more hope than talking to any doctor over the last few months. I am going to try the sodium reduction again, now that I know it can work and I have the confidence that my problem is indeed not my caloric or fat intake, but my salt intake. I am only 21 years old and feel like I am missing out on so much, I use to be so active and outgoing before my surgery, but now I have no ability to do things people my age do or I am embarrassed by my size, but you have given me new hope at a chance to get my old self back.

Thank you for sharing your story and putting so much work into researching and finding the answer."

Study finds both high and low levels of salt consumption are linked to higher risk of heart attack, stroke and congestive heart failure

Consumption of too much, and too little, salt may be linked to a higher risk of heart-related hospitalisations and deaths, according to a new study.
Read article at foodnavigator-usa.com

But the researchers seem to me to be confusing association with causation. - When consumers know themselves to be sensitive to salt/sodium and/or know themselves to have high blood pressure, for example, they are likely to reduce their salt intake as a sensible precautionary measure. - Thus their low salt intake is not the cause of their increased risk of cardiovascular events, but the intentional consequence of knowing themselves to be vulnerable to adverse consequences if they were to eat more salt. I myself would certainly have died years ago, had I not reduced, and gradually eliminated, my consumption of any food containing added salt, thereby reducing both my extremely high blood pressure back to 'normal', and my obesity due to fluid retention. See my Mensa article about this.

If your medication causes sodium retention you will gain weight and may become obese

There are many medications that cause sodium retention/fluid retention/water retention/weight gain/obesity/edema/swelling. Here are some of them: steroids and HRT, most antidepressants, antipsychotics, anti-epileptics, anticonvulsants, and more.

If you have become overweight/obese because of drug-induced sodium retention, you need to reduce your salt intake in order to lose weight. If you do not reduce your salt intake you will continue to gain weight, regardless of how many or how few calories you eat.

Study links high salt intake by elderly people with increased risk of dementia

A Canadian study links high salt intake by elderly people with increased risk of dementia, as the Daily Mail reports. So salt can impair brain power and memory, as well as increasing blood pressure, risk of stroke, heart attack, heart disease, diabetes, depression, arthritis, asthma, kidney damage, liver damage, most cancers, osteoporosis, increased risk of fractures and many other degenerative health conditions.

The good news is that if you have had your health damaged by eating too much salt, you can immediately, dramatically and safely improve every aspect of your health and every organ of your body by seriously cutting down on salt and salty food. - And if you are overweight or obese you will also lose weight when you reduce your salt intake. - Go on! - Try cutting down on salt and salty food! - You will feel sooo much better...(o:

Reducing salt intake is a global health priority say epidemiologists

The UN must make reducing salt intake a global health priority, say researchers, as reported here by BBC News. "Writing in the British Medical Journal they say a 15% cut in consumption could save 8.5 million lives around the world over the next decade. The report says practical steps to reduce consumption should be drawn up without delay. If voluntary measures do not work, the food industry should be compelled to cut salt levels, it says." (my emphasis)

Well you know, that's actually cheery, as I see it. - The message of these epidemiologists is clear, stark and honest; they're not temporising. They're not pretending that the food industry are doing any meaningful voluntary reducing of salt levels. - And if you look at that BMJ article itself I think you will be even more impressed by the unequivocal tone of their call to action.

And I'm impressed by the fact that they see the UN as the agency to address on this matter of the urgent need to reduce salt intake. Normally you'd assume that in a matter like this the World Health Organisation would be the agency approached. - Maybe these researchers have as low opinion of the WHO as I have, particularly when you cast your mind back to the scandalous shenanigans over the Swine Flu. See HERE, HERE, and HERE if you need reminders that health advisers we should be able to trust are far too often in the pockets of the pharmaceuticals industry. Bribery is the name of that game - or the euphemistic 'conflict of interest.'

As you must realise, I have for years been advising readers of my posts to eat less salt and salty food, and my advice is as clear and uncompromising and honest as the message of these researchers, so I welcome this report. And remember, when Morton Satin, a vice president at the industry body, the Salt Institute, rejects the report out of hand and says, "The salt reduction agenda has become an urban myth - far more based upon populist ideology than objective science," his words are dictated by his position as a spokesman/apologist for the Salt Industry.

Latest Salt Warning: Salty Sausages

Latest Salt Warning: Salty Sausages. - CASH (Consensus Action on Salt and Health) researches the levels of salt in processed foods, and this report today in the Daily Mail focuses on the levels of salt in different brands of sausages. While no one, I suspect, would look to sausages to provide a healthy low salt meal, there is a surprisingly large variation in the salt levels of different brands, and the Daily Mail report carries a helpful chart which is far easier to read than the on-pack labels. Musk's Newmarket Sausages look very well worth avoiding if you want to keep your salt intake down!

Many people are sensitive to salt, and most of them do not know that they are. People who are sensitive to salt get troubled by fluid retention and usually have high blood pressure. These health problems and many more, including obesity, can be easily and safely reduced by cutting down on salt and salty food. You can check out which foods are high in salt and which are not, by visiting my Sodium in Foods webpage. - Lose weight and improve your health by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - You'll feel so much better!

You may think you don't eat much salt, but have you ever really looked at the nutrition info on the convenience foods you buy?

I think if you check the label information about salt/sodium in your food cupboards and in your fridge you may be shocked at how much salt you are actually eating, even though you very rarely sprinkle salt onto your food yourself. - The food manufacturers usually add a lot more salt to food than you yourself would add. If you were making up a breakfast cereal from scratch yourself, it would probably not even occur to you to add salt to the bowl of cereal, but most breakfast cereal manufacturers add a lot of salt to it. - It's a very cheap ingredient for one thing. I'm sure you can think of other reasons too.

Most health advisers these days recommend that adults should eat no more than 6g a day of salt. That's 2.4g of sodium a day, because to convert sodium content to salt content you need to multiply by 2.5. And for children, because of their smaller size, the recommendation per day is less, in proportion to their size. Salt is especially harmful for babies. Babies should not be given food that contains any added salt at all.

It's very easy to eat too much salt because so many modern foods contain high concentrations of it, for example most bread is high in salt; so is bacon, and cheese, and cornflakes, and processed meats. I invite you to visit my webpage that tells you more about which foods are high in salt and which are low in salt.

Did you know that for people who are sensitive to salt, salt intake can cause weight gain? - You may be sensitive to salt and not know it. Most people who are sensitive to salt do not know that they are. Cutting down on salt and salty food can be a very easy, very fast, completely safe way to lose weight. - What's not to like? - Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - You have nothing to lose but your excess pounds!

Would your illness be alleviated/made less severe, or its progress retarded, by lowering your salt intake?

Would your illness/suffering/symptoms be relieved by lowering your salt intake? - The answer is YES if you are in one of these groups that are vulnerable to salt. - Check it out!

There are suggestions about ways to reduce salt intake on this Sodium in Foods page. I urge you to give it a try: there are so many health benefits from cutting down on salt - including reducing fluid retention/excess weight/obesity.

I am very tired and in very great pain.

It is a bit of an embarrassment for me to write that I am very tired and in very great pain because I so often write that cutting down on salt/sodium reduces tiredness and reduces pain. Maybe you think, reading this, that I should practise what I preach, and you are right. I should practise what I preach - and I do.

Late in 1997, when I first began to discover the benefits of eating less salty food, I was, literally, so tired I could scarcely even summon the energy to blink! I am not exaggerating. And I was in so much pain that to walk even one step was like torture, and lying down in bed was so fraught with pain it was like lying on a bed of nails. I would certainly have died before the end of 1997 if I had not started to cut down on my salt intake, even though I already ate very little salt.

If you are reading this while you are very tired and/or in constant or intractable pain, I urge you to consider reducing your intake of salt and salty food. Try it! - Go on! - It is a truism that what can't be cured must be endured, but by cutting down on salt you really will feel better than you do now. There are many, many health benefits that result from eating less salt. I invite you to visit my website and find out more about how to reduce your salt intake, and about other natural, drug-free ways of improving your health and well-being.

Is your beer belly really a SALT belly?

So you drink quite a bit of beer and you've also got a fat gut and you guess that it's a 'beer belly'? You may well be right. - But here is some information you may not know about, that I've cut and pasted from this webpage:

Sodium retention can lead to a further problem called ascites, an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the abdomen, which partly accounts for the protruding abdomen of steroid victims. The good news is that when salt/sodium intake is lowered, the ascites will be reduced along with the fluid retention in the blood vessels. Cutting down on alcohol also reduces the fluid in the abdomen.

You may well conclude from that, and I would agree with you if you did so conclude, that it is really more the fault of sodium retention/salt sensitivity/fluid retention that you are the possessor of that 'beer belly', even though you are probably not a steroid victim. - Whether you cut down on salt or cut down on alcohol, cutting down on either will reduce that fat abdomen, and I suspect that intentionally cutting down on salt will have a more noticeable effect than intentionally cutting down on alcohol, because when you reduce salt intake, one of the benefits is that your thirst is reduced, and so without much effort you may find yourself drinking less beer. - Two birds with one stone! - Well done!

Lose weight by eating less salt! -Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

Symptoms of salt sensitivity include:

Symptoms of salt sensitivity include high blood pressure, being overweight/obese, red face, especially after a salty meal, excessive thirst after a salty meal, distended veins, distended abdomen, swollen, aching feet, breathing problems, tiredness, feeling bloated, and many more.

The simple, safe, natural, drug-free way to reduce all of these symptoms is to cut down on salt/sodium and salty food. The lower you can get your intake of added salt the better for your health and comfort. In the main this means avoiding processed, readymade meals as these are usually highly salted. You need to buy fresh food and cook it yourself without adding salt or at any rate adding very little salt. You can find lots of information about foods with high and low salt/sodium content on this webpage, along with further suggestions as to how to lower your salt intake. Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection.

Look at the salt content! - That 'healthy' bowl of soup may be more salt-laden than a load of crisps!

Look at the salt content! -This Daily Mail article has given a helpful reminder this week about salt levels in a selection of supermarket convenience foods. High salt content is especially unhealthy for children. Remember; if it's high in salt it is NOT a healthy choice.

British study finds that breastfed babies have higher IQs than bottlefed

The Telegraph reports study finding that breastfed babies are more intelligent than bottlefed: "there were two schools of thought on how breastfeeding had an effect: that long-chain fatty acids in breast milk helped the brain develop; and that the act of breastfeeding improved the mother-child bond."

I would ascribe much of the benefit babies get from being breastfed to the fact that breast milk is low in sodium, lower in sodium than formula milk. And breast milk is, of course, the food that has evolved over millions of years as that best suited to human babies, especially newborns. Children, and babies in particular, are harmed by too high intake of sodium/salt. See Children and Salt Intake.

New Warning about children's unhealthily high salt intake

The Telegraph carries a new warning report about children's unhealthy eating, especially with regard to their high salt intake. "High levels of salt in fast food, ready-made pasta, cereals and other meal-time treats aimed at children mean many face a ticking health time bomb, say experts." High salt intake is more dangerous for children because of their smaller size and the comparative immaturity of their organs. Their salt intake should be much lower than that of adults, yet for many children their salt intake is higher than the recommended maximum daily salt intake for adults.

The report covers other undesirable aspects of children's diets too, including the high sugar intake and the low nutritional content of much of the food they eat. Children's high salt intake and generally poor nutrition can significantly contribute to chronic and degenerative diseases such as obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

My main concern about children's health concerns their high salt intake and its connection to child obesity. You can read my thoughts about it here. And here is my page about salt/sodium in foods.