As a medical practitioner with a particular interest in the obesity epidemic it is embarrassing when the British Medical Journal publishes frivolous articles which, when reported, can mislead the public ("Lots of chocolate may keep you healthy, study claims", The Herald, August 30).
The “lots of chocolate” in this circumstance equates to 7.5g daily, or just over a teaspoonful.
Chocolate should be considered one of the most obesogenic items in our diet.
A bar of chocolate, purchased for a pound, now contains approximately half of our daily calorie requirement. This can be eaten within five minutes and produces little satiety.
In his excellent article, “Weighty question is how to solve public health emergency?” (The Herald, August 27), Ian Bell points out that health education has failed.
It will continue to fail when the public are misled over foods with marginal health benefits but enormously harmful calorific content leading to the serious problem of morbid obesity.
It is frustrating when the NHS is put under pressure by our increasingly obese population that a fairly high proportion of our patients still eat chocolate in the mistaken belief that it is actually good for them (“Heavyweight patients put extra strain on NHS”, The Herald, August 29).
Dr David Walker,
91 Adele Street,
Motherwell.
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