ish Mediterranean diet

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

I chuckled to read,

" Mars bars spoils the fat or frying equip-

ment. ... Other interesting foods that the

& #64257;sh and chip shops have been asked to

fry include chocolate (21%)and sweets

(16%)in general,Snickers (4%),Creme

eggs (4%),and pizza (4%).Three shops

each said they had been asked for deep-

fried ice cream and deep-fried Maltesers.

Deep-fried Toffee Crisps,bananas,

pineapple rings,and Rolos had also

been requested.

We conclude that Scotland 's deep-

fried Mars bar is not just an urban myth.

Encouragingly,we did also & #64257;nd some

evidence of the penetrance of the

Mediterranean diet into Scotland,albeit

in the form of deep-fried pizza. "

Lancet 364 December 18/25, 2004, 2180

S on,Mark Petticrew

Deep and crisp and eaten:

Scotland 's deep-fried Mars bar

Jay Leno,host of NBC 's Tonight Show ,

was asked what he thought about

ish cuisine. " ish cuisine?I

don 't think there 's any such thing ...

when you buy a Mars bar ...they dump

them in hot oil. " 1 The existence of the

deep-fried Mars bar was & #64257;rst reported

in the ish Daily Record2 in 1995

( & #64257;gure)and it continues to be cited as

typifying Scotland 's diet.We both

work and live in Scotland,but had

never seen one for sale.Frequently

quoted assumptions about food avail-

ability,cost,and quality might not be

valid and yet affect health policy

making.3 Given the public-health

importance of the dietary environ-

ment4 we wanted to validate the asso-

ciation between Scotland and the

deep-fried Mars bar.

We did a telephone survey in June,

2004,of random selection of the 627

& #64257;sh and chip shops in Scotland to

ascertain the delicacy 's availability,

cost,and consumption.The response

rate was 62%(303 of 488 telephoned):

66 (22%,95%CI 17 ·2 –26 ·4)shops

sold deep-fried Mars bars,235 (78%,

72 ·9 –82 ·3)did not,51 (17%,108 –66)

had sold them in the past,and for two

the person we spoke to did not know.

72%of shops had been selling them for

3 years or less.

Mean weekly sales were 23 bars,but

ten shops reported selling 50 –200 per

week.The mean price was UK £0 ·60

(range £0 ·30 to £1 ·50).76%of Mars

bars were sold to children,15%to

teenagers,and 9%to others or a combi-

nation of these three groups.16%of

shops said they were more likely to sell

them during school term.

The most frequent comment made to

us about the snack was that deep-frying

Mars bars spoils the fat or frying equip-

ment.15 shops reported health con-

cerns.Other interesting foods that the

& #64257;sh and chip shops have been asked to

fry include chocolate (21%)and sweets

(16%)in general,Snickers (4%),Creme

eggs (4%),and pizza (4%).Three shops

each said they had been asked for deep-

fried ice cream and deep-fried Maltesers.

Deep-fried Toffee Crisps,bananas,

pineapple rings,and Rolos had also

been requested.

We conclude that Scotland 's deep-

fried Mars bar is not just an urban myth.

Encouragingly,we did also & #64257;nd some

evidence of the penetrance of the

Mediterranean diet into Scotland,albeit

in the form of deep-fried pizza.

1 Burns M.Jay Leno 's Chicago.http://www.aarp-

magazine.org/travel/Articles/a2003-07-30-

leno.html (accessed Oct 21,2004).

2 Dow B.Mars supper,please.Daily Record ,Aug

24,1995.

3 Cummins S,Macintyre S.Food deserts —

evidence and assumption in health policy

making.BMJ 2002;325:436 –38.

4 Ebbeling CB,Pawlak DB,Ludwig DS.Childhood

obesity:public-health crisis,common sense

cure.Lancet 2002;360:473 –82.

Cheers, Alan Pater