Talk:Kendal mint cake

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An entry from Kendal mint cake appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on 15 May 2007.

[edit] Popularity mainly in the UK

Someone has put a {{Fact}} tag next to the statement that KMC is popular among climbers and mountaineers. For anyone who lives in the UK, this statement is obvious: nearly all climbers, hillwalkers and mountaineers from the UK have heard of KMC, and most of them use it. Elsewhere however, e.g. the United States, KMC is not widely known. Outdoor enthusiasts in the US are more likely to use PowerBars or Clif Bars, which are rarely seen in Europe. (PowerBars and Clif Bars are not a direct substitute for KMC, as they do not have a high sugar content, and their energy is released more slowly. In my humble opinion they are a supplement to a normal active diet, and not an instant energy boost for exhausted mountaineers/backpackers/cyclists. However, they do seem to be the status quo in the US). I would suggest removing the {{Fact}} tag and replacing it with "...popular among climbers and mountaineers, especially those from the United Kingdom". Mtford 14:57, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

BE BOLD and do it! --RedHillian 22:31, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

Done. However, I wanted to raise the topic here before removing the {{Fact}} tag, because someone presumably put it there for a reason (most probably because he/she had not heard of KMC, and therefore disputed its "popularity", hence my explanation). Mtford 23:37, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Micromintcakes?

Are Junior Mints a variety of mint cake? They contain peppermint oil, sugar, and...wait, isn't glucose also sugar? They're chocolate coated as well. Asat (talk) 05:43, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Potential risks

Citation please, otherwise it's original research. 86.148.152.166 (talk) 16:51, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Kendal mint cake, in its capacity as a very high energy food for the amount eaten, has the potential to be life-threatening if over-consumed in the wrong conditions. If a person is suffering from hypothermia (most likely among mountaineers, for whom the product is famously marketed) and too much Kendal mint cake is given, blood glucose levels will at first peak sharply, providing some relief to the symptoms of hypothermia, but homeostatic regulation will then cause an equally sharp dip afterwards. For a person with hypothermia, the blood glucose level requirement is somewhat higher than normal (in order to maintain various processes such as shivering to keep the body warm), and this sudden dip can place the body into a state of hypothermic shock or hypoglycaemic coma.

Whilst the same reaction could be bought about with overconsumption of any sugar, Kendal mint cake, with its high glucose (as opposed to sucrose/fructose) content and density, coupled with the fact it is more likely to be eaten in relatively adverse weather conditions, is the prime candidate for causing these problems.