Why bringing cake into the workplace could be ‘as bad as passive smoking’

Did you bring any leftover Roscon de Reyes cake into the office this year after January 6?

Then you could be guilty of encouraging a habit as bad as passive smoking, according to experts. 

Professor Susan Jebb, chairwoman of the Food Standards Agency, said while it is a choice to eat sweet treats – as it was a choice to enter ‘smoky pubs’ – people can help each other by providing a ‘supportive environment’.

She told The Times: “We all like to think we’re rational, intelligent, educated people who make informed choices the whole time, and we undervalue the impact of the environment.

“If nobody brought cakes into the office, I would not eat cakes during the day, but because people do bring cakes in, I eat them. Now, OK, I have made a choice, but people were making a choice to go into a smoky pub.

“With smoking, after a very long time we have got to a place where we understand that individuals have to make some effort but that we can make their efforts more successful by having a supportive environment.

“We still don’t feel like that about food.”

Professor Jebb insisted on restrictions on junk food adverts. 

“The businesses with the most money have the biggest influence on people’s behaviour.”

A 2019 study found over 40% of Spanish children aged six to nine were over the recommended weight.

Last year, the Spanish government announced plans to ban influencers from advertising junk food to children.

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