For the love of fat
While considering ideas for an article to send to the New Scientist this afternoon, I stumbled upon a new invention.
Reported in The Telegraph and co, it’s a new low-fat chocolate bar. The technical details of this chocolate I will reserve for the New Scientist. However, reading the commentary on this invention did give me reason for pause. Overwhelmingly, these publications seems to be hailing the invention as a positive move towards curbing obesity in our society. But is it really healthy?
Granted, I’m no chocolate lover so I don’t have the problem of chocolate cravings. I do, however, have an exceptionally gluttonous sweet tooth so I can appreciate how those after dinner desserts add pounds per mouthful. The thought though, of a chocolate which is essentially chocolate flavoured water and God knows what else concerned me. Not only because of the idea of putting something artificial into my mouth but also the hidden psychological effects.
They say that it will smell, taste and feel like the real deal but at the end of the day, it’s not. If this product contains 60 percent water, there is only 40 percent chocolate. This theoretically means that it only contains 40 percent of the calories compared to a normal bar. A good thing by any means of measurement but I imagine it would cause havoc with quite a few dieting plans. (Consider trying to make a cake with 40 percent chocolate, 60 percent flour, 35 percent fat and three eggs, half yolk please…)
At the same time, it also contains only 40 percent of the nutrients. Well, if chocolate has all the antioxidants and health properties that it’s reported to have, is this still a good thing? Fruit and vegetables with only 40 percent nutrition probably wouldn’t have quite the same effect. What’s more, it may be just chocolate at this stage, but what if they started producing 40 percent bread? Or 40 percent cheese? Oh wait, they already do something like that. Thankfully it tastes quite awful so we can be reminded of what real food tastes like.
Health issues aside, as a glorified dieting product, it may help some people shed a few pounds but it certainly doesn’t treat the cause. After all, how many of us have picked up a low-fat product and then thought ‘well this is only x calories so I suppose I could have another’? Sinful treats with lower calories will certainly do nothing to teach people about a balanced diet and surely that’s what we should really be aiming for when promoting a healthy and active society?
I’ll take my extra serving of full-fat banoffee pie with running an extra mile any day.
