Balance The Sugar For Our Kids

This morning's report on BBC Breakfast about the added sugar in snacks targeted for childrens' lunch boxes really got my attention.

Interestingly enough, the discussion did not appear on the Breakfast website ... which begs one question.

Why?

What could be more relevant to the health of the nation than the garbage we are feeding our kids? (Ok, that's more than one Don!)

Two people were being interviewed ... one suggesting that it was an outrage that manufacturers persisted in coming up with products containing added sugar. The other interviewee represented the interests of retailers and food manufacturers and actually had the gall to say that the selected items were being taken out of context and that generally products of this nature had a more healthy balance of less sugar.

He also tried telling us that the two reasons food manufacturers did this was for "taste" and "technology". Uhh ... what technology please? Oh, the technology of addiction. Or can't we say that?

What surprised me was that this particular gentleman appeared to genuinely feel that products with less sugar could be referred to as "healthy" and that the industries he represented were actually operating in the best interests of parents and children alike.

Which tells me two things: either he has been totally brainwashed like the rest of the British public and thinks that Frosted Flakes and juice concentrates with added sugar and preservatives are part of a "balanced diet" because levels of these toxic substances have been reduced.

Or ... he knows exactly what he's doing and is not only tolerated, but highly remunerated for so eloquently distorting the truth.

Hmmm ... I wonder, do you think?

As long as food manufacturers are allowed to peddle artificial "foods" under the guise of a "healthy, balanced diet" the population will continue to get fatter and sicker. This of course will benefit those peddling drugs to control the behaviour of kids eating this rubbish ... as well as all those people standing in line to cash in on the growing problem of childhood obesity (including the tax man).

And well-intentioned mothers will continue to think that nothing is rotten in the State of Denmark.

The words "healthy, balanced diet" are rapidly becoming the most misused words in the modern lexicon.

People, please ... the lessor of two known evils does not constitute a healthy choice. Or are we now saying that a little added sugar never hurt anyone because the scientific evidence is inconclusive?

How convenient.

Stop whining Don and pass the chocolate-coated, frosted sugar bombs. Tasted great. Less calories. Why thank you Hobbes!