Sour reaction to sugar message

Press, 12 February 1986, Page 13

Sour reaction to sugar message

ROBIN CHARTERIS,

By

London correspondent

An apple a day won’t keep the doctor away and may do more harm to teeth than a bar of chocolate, according to a new message aimed at Britain’s schoolchildren by the sugar industry.

The advice has been strongly attacked by the Health Education Council and leading dentists as a deliberate attempt to mislead.

A video film being shown to 200 health educationists and advertised in more than 6000 secondary schools says that sugar is not the main cause of tooth decay. The film has been produced by the Sugar Bureau, which represents the industry in Britain. It features a consultant surgeon at Bristol University who believes that giving up sugar is an unrealistic measure in avoiding tooth decay. The surgeon, Mr Marshall Midda, says sugar is only one of a range of foods which feed bacteria.

Potato crisps, water biscuits and even apples can do as much, if not more, harm, he believes.

The British Dental Association plans to write to local health and education authorities advising them not to show the film, which it says is “grossly misleading and a deliberate attempt to minimise the dangers done to teeth by sugar.”