Thursday, January 24, 2008

Louise's motions to Full Council January 2008 (1)

These are the two motions I am submitting to council this month.

NATIONAL SALT AWARENESS WEEK 2008 BY COUNCILLOR LOUISE BALDOCK

Council notes that National Salt Awareness Week 2008 runs from 28 January to 3 February 2008 and that this year it will focus on the impact of salt on children's health.

Research has shown that reducing children's salt intake by half, results in immediate falls in blood pressure, which in turn could lead to major reductions in the risk of developing stroke, heart attacks and heart failure later in life. It is well established that the higher the blood pressure in childhood, the higher the blood pressure in adulthood. Therefore, anything that lowers blood pressure in children is likely to reduce the number of people developing high blood pressure later in life.

A high salt intake has also been linked to adverse effects such as: -

failure to reach peak bone mass predisposing to osteoporosis;
aggravation of asthma;
predisposition to stomach cancer; and
it could also influence the development of obesity.

During this awareness week Council requests that the Executive Member for Children’s Services ensures that it: -

publicises that children should eat even less salt than adults;
shows the large amounts of salt children could be consuming just through eating everyday foods (4.9g for 4-6 year olds which is 1.9g more than their recommended maximum upper limit of 3g);
highlights where the salt comes from in children's diets; and
provides practical information to parents and carers on how to reduce the level of salt their children eat.

Council also calls upon the Executive Member for Children's Services to report in due course on the efforts of Liverpool City Council to reduce the amount of salt in school meals and its efforts to promote the benefits of a limited salt intake to Liverpool's parents.

(If Standing Orders are not suspended the motion will be referred to the Executive Member for Children’s Services for consideration and response)

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