How can we improve Scotland’s national diet?

Topic of the week: The sugar tax in question

I AGREE with much of what Vicky Allan writes (Can a sugar tax help save us from obesity?, State of the nation, April 9).

One further suggestion concerns portion size. Many people in Scotland and the rest of the UK overeat. Every cafe or restaurant I have eaten in has served me a meal which would easily feed two people. I have asked for a half portion, which is all a normal person requires, and although some establishments provide this “service”, most don’t. A request for something as simple as a toastie arrives on a big plate accompanied by salad, sauerkraut, crisps, chips, etc. Perhaps the additional food helps justify high restaurant prices or perhaps gluttony has become so entrenched that a light meal will no longer fill the stomachs of the greedy people we seem to have become.

Allan makes the oft-repeated point that children should be encouraged to buy fruit rather than sweets with their lunch money but a pupil going into any supermarket will be met with hard, indigestible pears and apples, bitter strawberries, unripe bananas and kiwi fruit. I don’t blame them for not buying them. Supermarkets should sell fruit that is genuinely ripe. Fruit should be soft and juicy, and perhaps if supermarkets return to selling it like this, it will find a ready market among school pupils.

Lovina Roe Perth WHY doesn’t the Scottish Government apply the same rules on alcohol “special offers” to high sugar and high fat items? A few years ago, a ban was placed on promotions on alcohol that encouraged customers to buy excessive amounts in order to get a discounted price (such as three bottles of wine for £10 or three cases of lager for £18).

This ban benefited the consumer who wasn’t encouraged to over-purchase items, which invariably leads to the consumption of said items, and the price of wine or beer ended up being reduced by the supermarkets.

When the three-for-£10 wine deal ended the wine was charged at £3.33 per bottle so actually saving customers money, and the beer ended up around £6.66 for one case.

If you look at the carbonated drinks or confectionery aisles in supermarkets, similar deals and offers are constantly being promoted: it seems ridiculous that one Mars bar can cost 70p but four cost only £1, one bottle of coke is £1.75 but you can buy get two for £2.

If the single price of one Mars bar was reduced to the real value of 25p (given they are sold at that price), the temptation to over-indulge in highfat, high-sugar items would be removed, and again the consumer would benefit as manufacturers and shops would reduce prices in the same way that alcohol prices went down. This change, I feel, would encourage consumers to make better choices and if it was applied to all foodstuffs such as takeaways, it is likely that changes in eating habits would follow.

Chris McGrath Dundee