Chocolate biscuits defended

Press, 24 September 1988, Page 6

Chocolate biscuits defended

PA Dunedin Chocolate biscuits, like most other food, are only “extremely dangerous to health” if eaten in excess, a Dunedin nutritionist said yesterday. The professor of nutrition at the University of Otago, Dr Jim Mann, was responding to comments made by a Canterbury Hospital Board member, Professor Don Beaven. Professor Beaven claimed a tax should be imposed on chocolate biscuits, as well as beer and cigarettes, to provide more funding for health services. Chocolate biscuits were, he said, “of no benefit to anybody, but extremely dangerous to health.” Professor Mann said no food eaten in “vast” amounts was healthy, and chocolate biscuits were no exception. However, he did not see them as a particularly dangerous food, and said if a tax was imposed on them, there would be good reasons for imposing taxes on other foods such as pies. The biscuits did contain saturated fats, which was not particularly good for people,’ and - sugar, which was not good for teeth, but even so they would not be dangerous if eaten in moderation. “All the same, they are not of any great benefit, apart from the fact that I quite like them,” Professor Mann said.