UK fighting losing obesity battle due to sugar fixation, warns Herts addiction expert

An expert in food addiction has warned the country is fighting a losing battle against obesity due to the attitude of major food producers. 

“Unless food producers show some responsibility for what they are putting in our bodies then this obesity epidemic is going to get worse,” warned Dr Enid Taylor, ND.

She made the comments after claims by Gavin Darby, CEO of Premier Foods, who make the Mr Kipling range of cakes that the onus was on the public to exercise portion control to prevent obesity levels climbing.

Mr Darby made the comments on BBC Breakfast last week during a feature on the company’s 200 plus metre cake production line in Barnsley, when asked about his thoughts on obesity.

“Only last month the World Health Organisation has estimated that almost three-quarters of men and two-thirds of women in the UK will be overweight in the next 15 years, but we are pretty-much at the mercy of the major food producers who are poisoning us with sugar, which is more addictive than cocaine,” said Dr Taylor. 

 “Eating sugary cakes at the end of a meal at least buffers the sugars a little behind the other foods in the meal,” she said.  “However, eating a sugary cake on its own as a hand-held snack, delivers a belt of sucrose straight into the blood stream which gives a surge of insulin which usually overshoots the amount required and which then sends the blood sugar plummeting after about 20 minutes.

“So you then feel hungry again and eat another, and then another and the pattern continues.”

Dr Taylor, a founder of the Taymount Clinic for Digestive Health, said the attitude of the Mr Darby epitomised how difficult the fight against obesity is.

“These companies are focused on profits doing all they can to make sure we buy more and more of their foods, which are so bad for us,” she said.

“Only by getting the message out there and educating people about how harmful sugar is and how it is contributing to diabetes, heart attack, stroke and other conditions, can we have any chance,” she said.

“The battle to ensure we make healthy choices is an increasingly difficult one, but one that isn’t lost,” she added. “Food education is the best way forward at the moment as the producers seem to pay such scant regard to what they are doing to us. With knowledge can come informed choices and the message is simple –sugar is deadly.”

About Enid Taylor N.D.

Enid Taylor is a Doctor of Naturopathy and a Psychologist with a particular expertise in food addiction.

Enid's first degree was in Psychology and then she went on to gain her doctorate in Naturopathy, specialising in digestive conditions, bowel care and digestive health through food choices. 

She has been studying diet and weight control since the early 1980s and now sees the emphasis of her work shifting from simple weight control issues to more insidious problems linked to poor diet such as diabetes, depression, mental health issues and the link between diet and Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and even cancer.  

She is a Founder of the Taymount Clinic which is known internationally as a specialist centre for the production of tested, certified, high quality gut bacteria and effective, efficient implant techniques.

Researching intestinal bacteria since 2006, the Taymount Clinic is now a recognised world leader in applying Faecal Microbiota Transplant or FMT treatment procedures to create a “normal” bacterial environment in patients with a broad range of conditions.

Acorn House, 140 Station Road, Wythall, Birmingham, B47 6AE.  01564 822861 / 07505 133302

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