A Scottish family doctor will today call for a tax on chocolate at a medical conference north of the border. Without getting distracted by the cultural anomaly of a Scot asking to pay more, isn't this a gimmicky suggestion instead of answers to three far more fundamental questions? 
One is that many people have no idea of the nutritional value of food and there is a dearth of knowledge about what constitutes a balanced diet. One of my patients once proudly told me about all the fruit she ate, but that was in between her main meals and on top of rich puddings! There's been talk of more 'food technology' in schools to educate kids - but how many of the new school builds have allowed for this.....? And isn't it the parents who supply the fizzipops and crisps that they eat for breakfast as they walk to school?
Two is that we don't realise how many calories there are in the portions we have - and this is where he does have a point about chocolate, but check out pizza and wine and pies too - are we going to tax all of these [more?]. Surely it's about size of portion as there has been an American drift in the sizes of portions that we eat and a concurrent reduction in the distances we walk. Maybe there is too much public transport?
And thirdly, there has to be an incentive to eat less. It used to partly be the shame at being obese, being thought of as being greedy. Can we regain a sense of shame in a society that embraces relativism? What other incentives are there?
The Scottish doctor's suggestion is really a plea for help; chocolate tax isn't the answer but we have to come up with others.
