FATTY FOOD

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Bumper chocolate bars should be banned and confectionery firms made to sign a strict new nutrition code. Professor Malcolm Law is one of an increasing number of nutritionists and medical experts who believe that tough measures are needed to tackle a growing epidemic of obesity and continuing problems in effectively reducing coronary heart disease in Britain. Their concerns focus on the links between these diseases and the growing availability of cheaply priced, king-sized, high-fat chocolate bars, jumbo-sized crisps packets and super-sized bottles of sugary soft drinks.

They believe that consumers are more likely to buy the Mars Big One, which is a third larger than a standard bar but only 15p more expensive. Similarly, the KitKat Chunky costs 40p and weighs 55g, and is only 5p more than the smaller, traditional KitKat bar. At a Royal Society of Medicine conference on the links between diet and heart disease, Professor Law argued that these offers make it much more likely that people will eat potentially dangerous levels of sugar, saturated fat and salt.

Professor Law, an epidemiologist at Barts and the London Medical School, called on these firms to sign up to a new code of conduct on selling healthy food. It would include promises to cut the size of their portions by 20% and to stop selling "over-sized" sweets. That would have a "large impact" on public health, he claimed. Consumers could still treat themselves without being tempted to eat too much, he added. His remarks, which were supported by food policy experts, followed increasing alarm from ministers and medical bodies about the rapid growth in diet-related diseases in Britain.

Nutritionists claim that some manufacturers deliberately lure children and low-income families into buying fatty, sugary and high-salt foods by heavily promoting cheaply priced, king-sized products. They pointed to a series of recent marketing campaigns, such as McDonald's "two for two" offer selling two hamburgers and chips for £2, or Coke selling 2-litre bottles for £1.20 when the 1.25-litre Coke bottle costs 99p. So it's really just another ruse to rip people off by making them pay-more-for-less.

Plans for a tax on fatty foods such as cakes and biscuits are being considered by government advisers. The Prime Minister's Strategy Unit is considering extending VAT on some food and having a national sports drive to fight obesity and a document urges a fatty food tax as a "signal to society" because the number of obese British people has risen sharply in 20 years. A Downing Street spokesman said the government had no plans for such a tax.

He said, "It is no secret that the government is looking at the problem of obesity. But no proposals of this kind have been put to the prime minister." The spokesman said that there was agreement both in and out of government that it would not be a workable system. However, he confirmed the story came from a minor discussion document by their strategy unit.

The strategy unit's paper, titled Personal Responsibility and Changing Behaviour, points out that NHS spending on obesity-related disease has risen. "The main drivers, poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle, are largely outside the direct influence of the NHS," it says. It suggests a number of policies such as a national sports drive along the lines of the successful Active Australia strategy, and lifestyle lessons in schools. A new tax or the extension of VAT is proposed for some dairy products, fast food and sweets. "This would be a signal to producers as well as consumers and serve more broadly as a signal to society that nutritional content in food is important," says the document.

In 2003 doctors at the British Medical Association (BMA) debated a proposal to impose the full 17.5% VAT rate on a wider range of high-fat foods such as biscuits, cakes and processed meals. The 17.5% rate is already charged on some foods including fizzy drinks, crisps and take-away burgers. The British Medical Journal recently claimed a 'fat tax' could help prevent 1,000 premature deaths from heart disease every year in the UK.

Martin Paterson, of the Food and Drink Federation, said a fat tax would hit lower income families who already spend a higher proportion of their income on food and drink. He said, "Consumers will rightly feel patronised by "top-down" messages based on the idea that they can't think for themselves and need to be taxed into weight-loss. The idea that any particular food is bad for you is out of date and simplistic. A balanced diet can include snacks and treats, moderation is the key."

It's a shame that people who eat sensibly and take regular exercise will be subsidising lard-arses everytime they fancy a bar of chocolate.

It has long been thought obesity is a major cause of coronary artery disease. Now, scientists say that while it poses a risk when combined with problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure, just being fat may not be a danger. So, being fat may not be as bad for your heart as it was feared. Worrying about it might be though. (Source: Daily Mirror, Jun/06)

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