Chocolate, ‘Part of a Balanced Diet’?

By Mike Nizza
NYT

In a British newspaper today, a 37-year-old man claimed to have settled into an extraordinary lust for Mars chocolate bars. A 12-bar-a-day habit, which began 17 years ago, is fortified with orange juice and vitamins, Keith Sorrell claimed.

Far from some dire plea, Anne Sidnell of the British Nutrition Foundation offered a surprisingly evenhanded assessment. “He seems to get enough vitamin C and the bars could provide enough calcium and protein,” she told The Sun. “But he’s missing out on fiber, which will have an effect as he ages.”

The company offered another surprise, warning against such extreme loyalty to their product while also making clear that some was clearly warranted. “We encourage people to enjoy chocolate as part of a balanced diet,” a spokesperson said.

Chocolate? Part of a balanced diet? The assertion is vague enough to be true, of course. And Mars Inc. happens to be the chocolate company that is crusading to find ways to prove its product is healthier than widely assumed.

(Continued here.)