Matthew Borg (May 3) makes a good point about the dual and equal dangers of tobacco smoking and excessive food intake. However, his suggestion of health warnings on “junk” food packaging would immediately run into difficulties.

“Junk” food is usually defined as having little nutritive value, containing too much sugar and/or salt, and producing too much blood sugar.

Mr Borg might be ascribing the label “junk” to just hamburgers, but foods made from refined white flour, such as white bread and white pasta, and refined starchy foods, such as white rice, all have practically no nutritive value on their own and do nothing more than produce blood sugar – they are therefore “junk” food.

Potato chips are even worse – besides producing blood sugar, they may contain bad trans fats and other toxic substances produced by deep-frying in boiling and chemically-adulterated vegetable oil.

Mr Borg also recommends an awareness campaign against excessive food consumption. The Health Department has already been doing this on local media, recommending smaller food portions, besides regular exercise.