" Health Star " Ratings !

For many decades Australian Mums have given their kids a glass of  Milo in the expectation that it is a healthy drink.   Milo is made by respected food company Nestle and each pack carries a coveted four and half Health Star rating.

Sadly, Nestle has agreed to remove that accolade because of the presence of that dreaded product associated with the obesity epidemic - sugar !   Milo is composed of chocolate, malt based milk powder - and about half the content is sugar.

There is no doubt that Milo meets the approved guidelines for that 4.5 star rating if it is prepared according to the guidelines on the tin.  That calls for three tea spoons of the mix to be added to 200 ml of skim milk.  In many cases this is ignored and the drink is made with full cream milk and many kids enjoy it straight from the can or sprinkled on ice cream.   Under such circumstances, it does not meet the required health guidelines for that 4.5 health star.

This throws the spotlight on the entire health warning system, which was devised three and a half years ago to allow shoppers to measure the health aspect of products before they popped them into their shopping trolleys.  It is important that this star system have credulity and the Federal government is carrying out a five year review and there is concern that shoppers may abandon it if manufacturers manipulate it to their advantage.

The vast majority of star rated products meet the required standard but most would fail if subjected to uses that fall outside their guidelines.  Perhaps Milo is a case in point.  A family that does not have skim milk in their refrigerator and prepared this drink using full cream milk would still be supplying their kids with a far healthier treat than if the alternative was a can of soda.

If Nestle were to bow to the critics and label their product according to its health rating if misused it would need to carry just one and half stars - and consequently it would be rejected by those who buy solely on  health grounds.  There is a danger of becoming pedantic if all possible eventualities are taken into account when evaluating health ratings.

The two things that the medical profession urges us to avoid in excess are sugar and salt.  Sugar adds to obesity and too much salt is damaging to the kidneys.  We all know people who add several teaspoons of sugar to each cup of tea or coffee, and shake salt on whatever food is placed before them.  They claim that both add to the taste, and it is a habit that is hard to break.

Before we destroy the health star rating or make it meaningless, just think through that Milo example. Three teaspoons of Milo may amount to half that volume of sugar added to a glass of full cream milk. Compare the sugar content to that of a likely alternative, a can of one of the many sodas which are heavily discounted by their manufacturers.

The aim of science was sugar moderation, not its total elimination.  When fanatics get control of control measures, they usually do more harm than good !