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Australia is the fattest country in the world; it's a depressing fact and a sad legacy that we are leaving for our children. While we should certainly be ashamed for letting ourselves get so out of shape, we have to realise that it is never too late to give the younger generation the right information so that they can lead healthier, happier lives.

So what can we all do to turn it around? And who or what is to blame for the biggest health crisis in Australian history?

Everyone is quick to point the finger when problems arise. In this case sugar has been labelled as the devil's food. Lollypops, sour cola bottles, chocolate, soft drinks, icy poles, ice cream, and milk shakes are all packed with sugar, sugar and more sugar. These are things that all kids crave; they are all extremely addictive and are surely the things to blame for are children's bulging waistlines. But is sugar really the only problem? A recent study published in the Journal of Human Hypertension says that it's not, and actually points the fingers out another culprit, salt.

First and foremost our body needs salt to function properly. Salt helps trap much needed fluid in to our cells. It is used to extract nutrients from the small intestines and even transmits information in our nerves and cells. But the amount needed to perform these functions is in fact very minimal. An intake of around 3g a day is recommended for adults while children need around 1 to 1.5g a day. As most of the salt we require is extracted naturally from the food we eat problems only arise when we add more during the cooking process and then even more at the table. The study found that for every gram of salt eaten over the recommended daily amount resulted in an increase in blood pressure, even in children. "This is an important finding which confirms that eating more salt increases blood pressure in childhood and also adds extra weight to the current public health campaign to reduce salt in our diet," says epidemiologist Malcolm Law of the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine.

This is sad news especially when The Australian National Children's Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (AWASH) conducted in 2007 reported that Australian children are eating around 6g of salt a day, which is more than twice the recommended amount. Eating this much not only increases blood pressure and puts our children at risk of heart disease, but it can also have a negative effect on their weight. This is because consuming too much salt

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