we feel that education is probably even more effective than taxation.

Doctors in Scotland have cast their votes against an idea which would have led to chocolate being taxed in the same way that alcohol and cigarettes are taxed all over the United Kingdom. The proposal was mooted as an initiative to tackle the problem of obesity. Dr David Walker who had originally led the campaign for the tax said that chocolate had increasingly become a staple part of the Scottish diet and was no longer a treat to have on special occasions and as a result much too much of it was being eaten by the average Scottish person.

Doctor Walker’s motion was only defeated by two votes at the British Medical Association conference held in Clydebank. He said he was disappointed but happy that his ideas had provoked a significant amount of debate and would make people more aware of the issues surrounding diet and obesity.

Doctor Walker commented that one bag of chocolate sweets could contain about 60 percent of the daily calorie intake recommended for women and could be eaten as a quick snack between meals.  He said that by taxing chocolate products the perception that they were a special treat would be reinforced and people would not eat them normally in the course of their daily lives. Also by taxing chocolate the consumption would be greatly reduced due to the financial constraints that adults and especially children have.

At Ukmedix News we feel that education is probably even more effective than taxation. If every single packet or bar of chocolate was labelled clearly with the calorie content in big letters people would be far more wary about eating a lot of it. In fact to go a step further if every single food item in supermarkets was clearly labelled with its calorie content in big clear numbers people would stay away from unhealthy and fattening food.  We also think that everyone in the United Kingdom needs to be educated into the amount of calories that they can eat every day without putting on weight.

People who understand nutrition and diet are far more likely to be slim and healthy than those who don’t.