What are the consequences of a seriously terrible diet in a toddler?

[PeckaRolloverAgain]

Some of you may remember this thread about my sisters boyfriend's son.

Just wanted a bit more advice really.

They have been out today and she was horrified that for his lunch he gave him a plate of chip shop chips and then shook salt all over them.

What are the consequences of adding salt to an already salty diet in a 2 year old?

His typical diet consists solely of these foods.

Macdonalds, burger king, KFC, chippy chips, Greggs sausage rolls, sausages, white toast with butter, turkey pops (!). He drinks juice from a bottle and has a bottle of milk at bedtime.

We are looking for some sort of concrete evidence to give the Dad a shake to realise just how bad this diet is.

Thanks

I remember the original thread and was so sad to see that things have not improved.

I would encourgae your sis to put pressure on the dad "It's the only way he will eat them" is not an acceptable response. But I also understand how charged this whole situation must be for everyone.

It is nice of you to take so much time and thought on this boy. All I can really do is wish you all the very best.

Would your sister be prepared at least to start offering the little boy e.g. cartons of fresh fruit juice, and pieces of fruit - grapes are always very popular with toddlers?

And perhaps breadsticks dipped in humous - humous is a little bit salty, so he might like the taste, but it would be better than chip shop chips with added salt.

I think the consequences may well be .. poor health, poor growth, poor intellectual development (at least not to the maximum potential for the child), limiting life span

I think all your sister can do is start to introduce good eating habits

vitamins and fortified drinks and cereals

as he gets older and goes to school and sees what other children are eating i'm sure he'll want to try other things too.

has she tried doing some cooking with him? e.g. fish fingers with cauliflower/broccoli cheese (he helps mixing the cheese sauce and pouring over etc...)
or chicken balls (blend chicken breast and white bread, form into round discs and shallow fry) with baked beans etc...
these are quite "junk food like" but totally good for them and def a step in the right direction.
Innocent Smoothies in cartons - yes, expensive but he might see them as funny and a treat?

WIth reference to the hard evidence all I can give you is an anecdote told to me by my brother who is a paediatrician.

He has encountered more than one case whereby children who have had a diet so lacking in fibre of any sort (wholewheat and / or fruit and veg) and who have mainly csumed junk food that their systems were unable to pass the food through and they were vomiting faeces. The problem was compounded by a lack of exercise which the dad needs to be aware of too as his son gets older.

Salt puts and enormous amount of pressure on the kidneys but I'm sure the FSA link below answers all your questions re. salt.

Poor little man. You and your sis are doing the right thing here. I hope you manage to make a difference.

Thankyou to everyone who has contributed on this thread, I have shown it to my sister who is now more determined to try and do something about it - its very dodgy ground though, she feels unable to openly have a go at him about it!

This is just heartrending. Good on you for trying to do something about it Pecka, that little boy may just live a bit longer because of your efforts. I really, really hope this is taken to heart and acted upon by his parents before it's too late.