CRAIG Ross, who has been dropped as a Conservative MSP candidate over comments about users of food banks being fat and liable to diabetes, is ignorant of how diet works.

Poor people are likely to obtain cheap foods which are high in carbohydrates, sugars, saturated fats, salt and chemical additives. These are mass-produced to be attractive, easy to keep and serve. Foods that are high in protein, fibre, vitamins and trace elements tend to be more expensive and hard to bring to the table. Thus the poor become short of vital parts of their diet. But the body urges them to keeping eating in a vain attempt to make good the deficiencies. They have to persist in eating the empty calories, which become deposited as adipose tissue. This is a part of the combination of factors that leads to bad health.

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Experiments with omnivorous animals in wild conditions show they instinctively adjust their diets to include all the complex of parts. All children in Scotland must be allowed

to follow this natural path to a wholesome balanced diet by being provided with the whole range of foods necessary.

Iain WD Forde
Scotlandwell