Does the consumption of salt and food rich in sodium influence in the blood pressure of the infants?

This article verifies the consumption of salt and food rich in sodium and the blood pressure of schoolchildren of a private and a public school in the city of Barra do Ribeiro, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. It is a cross-sectional study with standardized methods of anthropometric and blood pressure measures. Parents and tutors answered a questionnaire about socio-economic conditions, family risk factors regarding hypertension and feeding habits of the student (frequency questionnaire). 81 students were evaluated, from those 42 (51.90%) medium age were 8.3 +/- 3.2 years. 45 (55.60%) studied in the private school and 36 (44.40%) in the public school. Findings show two children with systolic hypertension, both from the public school (p = 0.194), yet this may be found by chance. Similar fact may have occurred with the four cases of diastolic hypertension; being three of them from the private school. But there was not significant difference between the groups (p = 0.625). The medium consumption of salt found in this population was of 7.66g (3098.81 mg or 133.86 mEq), which is above the recommended in the present literature. Canned food was related to be rich in sodium and to be associated with high levels of systolic blood pressure. In conclusion, as higher the salt consumption, higher the systolic blood pressure.