Sweet tooth: President George W. Bush tucks into chocolates

London, July 16: Men are the big consumers of chocolate as women turn to healthier snacks, according to research in Britain.

Three in five men snack on chocolate, compared with half of women, says a report by Mintel, a leading supplier of competitive product, consumer and media data.

Women replace crisps, biscuits, and chocolate with fruit, nuts and vegetables.

The trend has been influenced by government advice to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, but Britons still spend £9.2 billion a year on snacks, 5 per cent more than in 1999.

Claire Hatcher, of Mintel which surveyed 1,000 people, said: “For years we have assumed that women are the chocoholics, perhaps because they will often make a bigger deal out of eating chocolate, seeing it as a treat. But men tend to tuck in whenever.”

Chocolate comes second to fruit in the list of Britain’s favourite snack foods.

Sixty-two per cent of women eat fruit between meals, compared with 51 per cent of men, while 13 per cent of women nibble vegetables, against 8 per cent of men.

The popularity of fruit is growing, with 57 per cent of all adults claiming they eat fruit regularly, compared with 50 per cent two years ago.

Sales of unhealthy snacks have slumped in the past two years.

The number eating crisps has fallen from 40 per cent to 33 per cent and those eating biscuits are down from 45 per cent to 30 per cent.

Hatcher said: “There seems to have been an increase in awareness of healthy eating and wellbeing. There has been a tide of media coverage about the dangers of unhealthy eating and rising levels of obesity.”

London has the highest percentage of healthy snackers in Britain, says the Mintel study, with 79 per cent of the capital’s adults snacking on fresh and dried fruit, nuts and vegetables.

Scotland has 69 per cent adults snacking on health food and Wales and the South-West have 67 per cent.