Thursday 10 October 2013

Chocolate to the rescue!

It is about time the poor old NHS received some good news. That news has potentially arrived today from a rather unlikely source. It emerges that the price of chocolate is to rise by up to a third in the run up to Christmas. If this is the beginning of a new trend in chocolate prices, this could mean the start of a new era in moderation. Our national appetite for chocolate is mind blowing and it is arguably one of the few consumables more widely available than that other great British staple, alcohol. As a superb driver of obesity, chocolate has been a big player in the rising tide of type 2 diabetes. the 1.4 million UK citizens with type 2 diabetes in 1996 now stands at 4 million and is expected to reach 5 million by 2025. The reason why diabetes is such a big issue for the NHS is that it is known to contribute to stroke and cardiovascular disease. At a time when the NHS is really struggling with the numbers coming through the doors, anything which can alleviate that strain can only be good news. Of course, chocolate is just one manifestation of a high sugar consumable so there remain plenty of low cost options for people to indulge in. As has been seen with cigarette smoking though, continual price increases only ever have a limited effect on the people who choose to smoke. The key here of course is choice. We can do all sorts of things to try and deter people from engaging in things known to be detrimental to their health but we can't stop them. Price is a handy tool though provided it is handled in a universal fashion which is fair to all. I will explain. Alcohol is a classic example of a free for all economy. The range of booze promotions at the large supermarkets is staggering. They do this because they have been allowed to do so by a succession of governments who can't see further than the creation of a few jobs irrespective of the repercussions. The repercussions of this policy have been dire. Thousands of pubs have closed as a result, many of which served pivotal roles within rural commnities as social hubs. Pubs can't dream of offering booze at supermarket prices so many have sadly gone by the wayside. One unfortunate spin off from this disequilibrium is that people have gradually been putting away more and more booze in the confines of their own homes. Habits are notoriously easy to start but fiendishly difficult to break. The wide availability of consumables high in sugar has normalised our attitudes to sugar. The result is rising numbers with serious illness and an even bigger impact on an NHS which is financially unsutainable now. Surely the time has come to introduce minimum pricing on those items known to impact negatively on health? The prices don't need to be Dickensian - just moderate and sensible. We can go on as we are and see the emergence of a private health care system or do something about it and keep the NHS which we all pertain to value to highly. To have no chocolate is drastic. To have less is just common sense and if the price helps to achieve this, so much the better.

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