Manufacturers, give my dentist a break

Have you looked at the sugar content of most wheat and gluten free products lately? Some of these products are so sweet that they make my teeth ache. What is it with manufacturers of minority group foods?

Why do they think that just because we have an allergy to wheat or gluten we'll be so desperate to eat cakes and cookies that we don't mind eating enough sugar to make Willy Wonka's chocolate factory look like a health spa.

And what about the fat thing. The levels of saturated fats in a lot of these products make my hair stand on end. I can feel my arteries threatening to clog up just looking at the nutrition info on the packet. It appears to be perfectly okay to manufacture low fat foods for the people that have no problem eating whatever they like, which in itself is a problem, because the biggest consumers of low fat and fat free foods could often do with losing more than a little blubber.

But people that have a wheat and gluten allergy obviously don't need to worry about sugar and fat levels in the foods that are made for them, do they. Do they my a*se. We're as health conscious as the rest of you biscuit buyers, probably more so because of our food allergy.

To be honest, I rarely buy biscuits or cookies, and certainly never cakes as I don't really like them anyway. But the odd cookie mid-morning can get me over the wobbly feeling that sometimes comes on between breakfast and lunch.

A lot of the products are also usually choc full of chemicals, preservatives, additives. What happened to natural products? Oh, extended shelf life happened, that's what.

And the price, I recently looked at a packet of wheat & gluten free biscuits and there were just 11 small biscuits for £1.88. Or how about another packet with 9 biscuits for £2.09? You must be bonkers to pay these prices.

But there are some manufacturers who do make an effort to manufacture healthier snacks and these should be applauded, and supported. They tend to be the smaller niche companies, and not the cynical big boys (you know who you are) that only produce allergy friendly ranges because it's big money out there waiting to be reaped.

Of course, you could always make a stand against the overpriced sugar, fat and chemical laden products and go for the healthier versions or eat more fruit...