Sunday, 27 October 2013

Do we want "healthy" Kit Kats?

The latest announcement is that both Nestle and Mondelez have committed to the government’s “Responsibility Deal”, agreeing to re-formulate chocolate bar recipes and reduce the level of saturated fat in them to provide a more healthy chocolate.

Kit Kat is one of the first products to be revamped and I think that we will all wait with baited breath to see what it actually tastes like!

Obesity is a serious issue; we all know that. And it is right that the government should be looking to develop policies that could help to address this very real problem. But, do we want our standard main branded chocolate products to be re-created and marketed, dare I suggest it, as “healthy”? Let's face it, they will never be a truly healthy product and that is almost the point of them.

We all seem to be suffering as a result of those that over-eat the wrong things and spend too much time on their backsides! Surely, as it has been for generations, it’s a question of balance and that is what the government should be paying more attention to addressing?

People are obese because they eat too much of the wrong foods and don’t exercise enough. That is surely the essence of it?

We all like to have a treat and chocolate is just that. It’s a sweet treat. Not a daily food substance that our bodies can survive on. If chocolate becomes “healthy”, first of all, is it still a treat and secondly, is that going to make those that need to, eat less of it? I doubt it.


We’ll watch the developments with interest and I look forward (I think) to tasting and comparing the “new” Kit Kat when it arrives. But I honestly don’t think that re-formulating long standing chocolate bars is going to create a healthy nation. For that, we need to change the mindset and habits of a huge number of people that need to understand the difference between food groups, develop some self discipline and become a little more active.

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