Hidden Salt Can Get You [6th March 2008]

[6th March 2008]

This is a report written by Cheryl Stevens, intern to Lord Taylor, on the CASH Salt and Children reception.

The CASH Salt and Children reception was on the 30th of January in the House of Commons Terrace Marquee. Mary Creagh MP hosted the event. The purpose was to generate awareness about the intake of salt in children’s diets.

Upon entering the event, I met Dr. and Mrs. Bird. They are the founders of Stirrin’Stuff (www.stirrinstuff.org) which travels to schools and events to teach students how to have and maintain a healthy lifestyle. They are interested in decreasing salt intake from foods. We also spoke about the WLF and she believes it is wonderful. Since she works with students, Mrs. Bird told me she wants to know more about the foundation and keep in touch.

The next guest I met was Lord Cameron. He is a farmer that has yet to encounter problems with salt in his business. He informed me that there is more salt in a corn flakes than in saltwater! Immediately after I spoke with Baroness Masham. She works in and supports the areas of health and disability. We spoke about the healthcare system today. We were in agreement that many nurses fail to care properly for their patients. There is no longer that level of satisfaction amongst caretakers. We also spoke about the various amounts of hidden salt in foods. We agreed that it is very difficult to establish a health intake of salt these days, especially for children, students, and working mothers.

Soon after speaking with the peers, the speeches began. Mary Creagh MP briefly introduced the event. The first to speak was Dawn Primarolo MP, the Minister of State for Public Health. She stated that by 2010, they wanted to decrease the salt intake per day to 6 grams. She also gave the shocking fact that 60,000 people in the United Kingdom have high blood pressure. That is a much larger number than I had previously expected! She was very concerned about the increase in obesity of children. Ms. Primarolo wants to see smaller portions for foods and decreased levels of saturated fat.

Next to speak was Professor Graham MacGregor, the Chairman of Consensus Action on Salt and Health. He told a story of the discovery in a four year old car accident victim. Apparently the child had already shown signs of vascular disease. Professor MacGregor also noted that soft drinks are consumed more often with salty foods because the salt dehydrates people.

Dr. Ian Reynolds, Chair of the Food Standards Agency, then approached the podium. He suggested the UK concentrates on adult intake first because then they could be more focussed on children. He is also a big advocate of the traffic light labelling on food products. Dr. Reynolds hopes this trend may soon spread nationally.

The last speaker was Cathy Court from Netmums (www.netmums.com). Netmums is a parenting website that helps connect mothers and even fathers with everything ranging from schools, activities in your area, meal ideas and other important advice. Her website gave a survey about salt intake. Results proved that 47% of parents believe 1g of salt is the same as 1g of sodium. Ms. Court explained that there is a lot of ‘hidden salt’ in foods. She also expressed the fact that baked beans with lightly buttered toast has the same amount of salt as half of a pepperoni pizza.

After the speeches I met Mark Hooley, Projects and Marketing Officer of the Blood Pressure Association. He told me all about how they go around from venue to venue checking the blood pressure of participants. He also told me that they were in Westminster last year as well and hopes to be again next year.

If I were to change anything about this reception, it would be a healthier food selection for guests. The organisers made a point to say that the food was not high in salt. However some of the items still tasted quite salty, such as the roast beef on bread and the rice dish. If the salt was really at a healthy level, then I must say I am beyond impressed.

This reception was beneficial because it made me think about my health and eating habits. I hope to cut down on my salt intake before it affects me too much in the future. Since the reception, I have checked the salt in everything I have bought. It is tough to maintain a healthy level but this reception proved to me that it is of the utmost importance in the long run.