Low-Fat Chocolate Bar is not an answer to Obesity

There are currently a lot of articles such as this Daily Mail report about a high-tech, low-fat chocolate bar which, it is claimed, could help with the 'obesity crisis'. This low-fat bar, in which most of the fat is replaced by water, without, apparently altering the taste, is described as a "healthy" chocolate bar.

Well I've 3 observations to make:

1. Pigs will fly before these chocolate bars make the slightest difference to the incidence or severity of obesity.

2. There is no evidence at all to support the theory that fat intake is a cause of obesity.

3. 'Low-fat' does not equate with 'healthy'.

To lose excess weight you need to reduce your sodium intake, not your fat intake.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Fat retention and fat excretion: the importance of getting enough calcium.

Associated health conditions

Wunder Lower Calorie Chocolate Bar

The Wunder lower calorie chocolate bar reported here in the Telegraph is not necessary to help you to lose weight, because chocolate is not fattening anyway. - See Daily Mail report about the 100 year old grandmother who has been eating 30 bars of chocolate a week for a decade and has not become fat and believes that eating chocolate benefits her health.

It is not calories that cause weight gain; it is salt and salty food that cause weight gain - but only in people who are vulnerable to salt.

There are no calories in salt - but if you cut down on salt you will easily lose weight. If you cut down on calories you will not lose weight.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver damage and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Children and Obesity

FAT RETENTION

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

And see Sodium in foods

Fancy being a volunteer to eat chocolate for a heart health study in Aberdeen?

Volunteers wanted for chocolate study - See this BBC News webpage for further details.

"Forty volunteers aged between 18 and 70 will be asked to eat a cocoa-rich dark chocolate specially made for the study, standard chocolate, or white chocolate.

Urine and blood samples will then be taken to assess the impact the compounds have on blood function."

Eating chocolate could help your with your mental arithmetic.

Read here in the Telegraph about how chocolate could be a help to students revising for exams. The researchers believe it's because chocolate contains flavanols, part of a group of chemicals called polyphenols, and that they work by increasing the flow of blood into the brain.

Well I've long considered that chocolate is very good for people, and contrary to what we are usually told by 'experts', chocolate is not fattening. - And that's because it usually contains either no salt at all or very little salt. - Read on!

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

And see Sodium in foods

A misguided medic, Dr David Walker, claims that tax on chocolate will reduce obesity. - He's wrong.

Chocolate should be taxed to control obesity epidemic, doctors are told
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Dr Walker, a family GP who is also a trained food scientist and nutritionist, said: "Obesity is a mushrooming problem. We are heading the same way as the United States.

"There is an explosion of obesity and the related medical conditions, like type two diabetes. I see chocolate as a major player in this, and I think a tax on products containing chocolate could make a real difference."

The GP, from Airdrie, Lanarkshire presented the plan to delegates at the BMA's annual conference of Scottish Local Medical Committees in Glasgow."

Well despite Dr Walker's qualifications he's wrong in thinking that chocolate is a major cause of obesity. - It isn't even a minor cause of obesity! There's never been any evidence to support the assumption that obesity is caused by eating too many calories or too much fat; the assumption has never even been put to the test. It is not the case that eating less chocolate will reduce obesity.

A tax on table salt (sodium chloride) - now THAT might reduce salt consumption, and if it did, then THAT WOULD REDUCE OBESITY.

Obesity is easily and safely reduced by cutting down on salt and salty food. This is because obesity is caused by fluid retention and maintained by salt intake. Reducing salt reduces the fluid retention and some of the excess water the body is carrying gets excreted in the urine.

Here is the truth:

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

And see Sodium in foods and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

See advice for pregnant mothers

Children and Obesity

Associated health conditions

and FAT RETENTION

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Encouraging overweight children to exercise has no impact on weight loss and they should be encouraged instead to eat more healthily.

Exercise 'does not make obese children slim'
Telegraph article.

Well of course my blog and my website and my Mensa article have been giving this information for years. - Unfortunately, although the article rightly advises that it is better to concentrate on getting children eating healthily rather than giving them exercises to do, it is advising cutting down on eating fat and on eating chocolate. - Cutting down on fat and chocolate will not reduce obesity in children at all.

To reduce childhood obesity it is necessary to reduce not their fat intake, but their SALT intake.

Read about children and obesity here: - Children and Obesity and read my Mensa article here: - Obesity and the Salt Connection

Easter eggs could be fatal to your dog. Chocolate intended for humans is risky for your pet because the theobromine in it is poisonous to dogs.

Why Easter eggs could be fatal for your dog
Extract from the Telegraph:

"The PDSA, Britain's leading veterinary charity, analysed the theobromine content of chocolates - the chemical component poisonous to dogs - and found that luxurious brands of plain chocolate were the most lethal.

A 30g bar of dark chocolate can contain more than 700mg of theobromine, enough to kill a small dog such as a cocker spaniel.

White chocolate contains the least amount of theobromine - about 0.27mg per 30g bar - but the PDSA warns that any chocolate intended for humans can be a risk for pets.

Elaine Pendlebury, its senior veterinary surgeon, said: "I have lost count of the number of chocolate poisoning cases I have seen during my years as a vet. There really is no place in a pet's diet for chocolate."

Toxicity symptoms include vomiting, hyperactivity, salivation and increased heart rate. In severe cases it can cause fits."

Cadbury Schweppes faces unlimited fines after pleading guilty to charges in connection to last summer's 'salmonella in chocolate' scare

Cadbury faces unlimited salmonella fines - Telegraph

Extract:

"Chocolate and confectionery giant Cadbury Schweppes faces unlimited fines after pleading guilty to charges in connection to last summer's salmonella scare.

Around a million bars of Cadbury's chocolate were recalled from supermarket shelves last June after the company discovered that a leaking tap had contaminated batches of chocolate in one of its factories with a strain of salmonella.

The group confirmed today that it will be pleading guilty to the three charges brought by Birmingham City Council.

Following a nine-month inquiry, Birmingham City Council announced in April that Cadbury would be prosecuted for putting "unsafe" chocolate in the shops and failing to "immediately inform" the authorities.

Cadbury also faces a third offence of failing to "identify hazards" from chocolate bars contaminated with salmonella and of failing to identify "corrective actions."

Each of the three offences carries an unlimited fine.

The Health Protection Agency said Cadbury's chocolate was the most likely cause of the outbreak that affected more than 30 people."


Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Cadbury hope to develop a low-calorie chocolate. - But of course it won't make you any slimmer. - That's the Calorie Myth...)o:

Cadbury plans low-calorie chocolate - Telegraph

Extract:

"Chocolate lovers who want to watch their waistline could be in for a treat.

Cadbury Schweppes is working on a low-fat, reduced-sugar Dairy Milk, which it hopes to launch as part of a push into the low-calorie confectionery market.

In addition, Britain's biggest sweet maker is this week launching Maynards Wine Gums Light, with half the sugar and 30 per cent fewer calories than in a standard packet. Low-calorie Bassett's Allsorts will follow this year.

The company hopes that these will be only a precursor of what will become the "Holy Grail" of sweet makers: a low-calorie chocolate bar that tastes no different to a normal slab of milk chocolate.

Tony Bilsborough, from Cadbury, said yesterday: "We have scientists in laboratories working on it. It is the Holy Grail of all chocolate manufacturers."

The market for low-calorie chocolate has grown across Europe as young women, in particular, try to reduce their calorie intake, but are not prepared to cut back on snacks.

The recommended calorie intake for a woman is 2,000 calories a day."

BUT reducing calorie intake does not reduce obesity and is usually harmful. See Biggest ever study shows that diets do not work

Obesity is NOT caused by overeating. It is caused by fluid retention, frequently because of taking prescribed medications, especially steroids such as prednisolone, prednisone and HRT, and anti-depressants such as amitriptyline. These medications cause sodium and water retention. Obesity can be easily reduced by seriously reducing your salt/sodium intake and eating plenty of fruit and fresh vegetables. Avoid convenience meals/processed food because these are usually very high in salt. Try to cook from scratch with fresh ingredients. - It is important not to restrict calories. - 'Slimming' or 'dieting' is unnecessary, ineffective and often extremely harmful.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ and
people vulnerable to salt
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)