Your child's health or science teacher may have assigned him a project on sodium, which is also known as salt. There are several ways that your child can complete and present a project on sodium to his classmates. He could focus on nutritional facts, sodium in popular food items or ways to avoid eating too much salt.
Salt and High Blood Pressure
Your child can explain to her class that too much sodium can raise blood pressure. Blood pressure is the measurement of how hard your heart has to work to pump blood through your body. Your child could ask her school nurse to demonstrate how to use a blood pressure cuff as part of her project. Have her write a report and draw a diagram detailing how high blood pressure can affect various areas of the body, including the heart and kidneys.
DASH Diet
Another idea for a project pertaining to sodium is an explanation of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet. The DASH diet provides no more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day and is healthy for most people to follow. Those who have high blood pressure can use a modified form of the diet that provides 1,500 mg of sodium daily. He can create a chart detailing which foods to eat, including fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy products. The chart could show which foods to avoid, such as processed foods and table salt.
Processed Foods
Your child can complete a project on learning to read food labels and coming to her own conclusions regarding the amount of sodium many processed foods have. She may be surprised at how much salt is in products that are used every day, such as cereals, breads, pasta sauces, rice mixes and canned soups. Ask her to compare different brands of these foods, including those marked "low sodium." Have her bring in some food labels to show the other children how to find the percentage of the recommended daily allowance of sodium is present in these foods.
Healthy Recipes
Check with the teacher to be sure that you do not prepare a food to which another child in the class is allergic and encourage your child to make a low-sodium recipe to share with the class. He can compare the amount of sodium in his prepared recipe with the amount in a comparable packaged product. For example, help him make a dip for low-salt crackers or a homemade chicken soup with very little added salt. Have him explain the nutritional differences between his recipe and a packaged dip or soup. The children can also taste both types to see if they can detect the taste of the added salt. Have your child make copies of the recipe to hand out to the teacher and the other students.
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