I’ve written before about how certain idiots in this country – many of them supposed medical experts – have ruined everything we eat by forcing 
manufacturers to either remove or reduce the salt content. This is in spite of research which shows salt isn’t as bad for you as the Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) radical sect would have us believe.
Now, the same people have formed a new group – Action on Sugar – with the avowed intention of screwing up sweet stuff for us, too. This is based almost entirely on the fact that some people (and their parents) are too bloody stupid to be allowed out unsupervised, and who subsequently suffer from obesity and other health problems as result of drinking 6 litres of Coca Cola a day, and who eat nothing but chocolate and biscuits.
This newly-named bunch of activist idiots goes on to name a range of products and the amount of sugar contained in them. It’s worth reproducing it here to help us do a reality check:
- Starbucks caramel frappuccino with whipped cream with skimmed milk (tall): 273kcal; 11 teaspoons of sugar
- Coca Cola Original (330ml): 139kcal; 9 teaspoons of sugar
- Muller Crunch Corner Strawberry Shortcake Yogurt (135g): 212kcal; 6 teaspoons of sugar
- Yeo Valley Family Farm 0% Fat Vanilla Yogurt (150g): 120kcal; 5 teaspoons of sugar
- Kellogg’s Frosties with semi-skimmed milk (30g): 4 teaspoons of sugar
- Glaceau Vitamin Water, Defence (500ml): 4 teaspoons of sugar
- Heinz Classic Tomato Soup (300g): 171kcals; 4 teaspoons of sugar
- Ragu Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce (200g): 80kcals; 3 teaspoons of sugar
- Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Crunchy Oat Granola Cinnamon Bars (40g): 186kcal; 2 teaspoons of sugar
- Heinz Tomato Ketchup (15ml): 18kcal; 1 teaspoon of sugar
Out of that list, I would only ever eat or drink Coke (perhaps a small bottle or two on hot summer days), Ragu (once in a blue moon, though I’d choose Dolmio given the choice because it tastes better), and Heinz Ketchup (a tablespoon a couple of times a week). So, not every day, and not to excess. That’s because I’m not a prat who needs nannying. However, if I was one of those people who ate everything on that list every day, to excess, and who also fed it to my children, then I’d deserve to have them taken away from me and put into care.
The BBC story quotes a doctor (also a member of Action on Sugar):
Dr Aseem Malhotra, a cardiologist and science director of Action on Sugar, said: “Added sugar has no nutritional value whatsoever and causes no feeling of satiety.
I may be missing something here, but I think Dr Malhotra is deliberately trying to mislead. You see, herbs and spices have no nutritional value either, but they are essential in making food taste nice. Dr Malhotra might also want to take a close look at the food his or her countrymen have been eating for centuries. Salt has been in use since before recorded history; oil has been used for almost as long; and likewise with sugar. Is he/she suggesting they stop?
The bottom line is that not one of those listed processed foods will do anyone any harm at all as long as they don’t stuff themselves with it all day, every day. The problem isn’t that foods contain sugar. The problem is that some people are complete morons.
And that doesn’t appear to be a bar to entering the medical profession.