A marie biscuit is a marie biscuit. Not true, if you go by a recent study by Consumer Voice magazine, supported by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs. To help consumers compare products and shop diligently, the ministry has been financing various voluntary consumer organisations to undertake comparative tests of products and services.

Some years ago, there was hardly any choice for a marie biscuit. And a biscuit was just a biscuit, not analysed for its calorie content by the health-conscious. Now everything has changed. If you walk into a store and ask for a pack of marie, you would have at least half a dozen choices.

When Consumer Voice decided to test marie biscuits on parameters ranging from taste to appearance, it had seven brands to examine (Britannia Marie Gold, McVities Marie, Parle Marie, Sunfeast Marie Light, Priya Gold Marie Lite, Divss Brown Marie and Patanjali Marie).

If you are a regular buyer of marie biscuits, here are some things you may want to look at. Buy a marie biscuit for its dietary fibre content rather than its taste. The report points out that “biscuits containing dietary fibre may be helpful in curing constipation and other ailments caused by consumption of fast food. Moderate consumption of dietary fibre helps in maintaining bowel health, lowers cholesterol levels and controls blood sugar”.

It’s on this parameter that you may be in for a surprise. Patanjali may be your pick for yoga or even toothpastes and other ayurvedic assortments sold through the many Patanjali outlets dotting the country, thanks to Baba Ramdev. But marie biscuits from Patanjali?

It might look like an unlikely choice, especially for the city slickers, but the Consumer Voice report lists Divss, Patanjali and Priya Gold (in that order) as the three marie biscuit brands with the highest percentage of dietary fibre.

For the cost-conscious too, Patanjali manages to emerge a winner by costing ₹8.33 per 100 grams when the industry average is ₹10.

However, if you are the kind of customer who gets taken in by the appearance, aroma, taste, texture, and aftertaste, Patanjali does not figure high here. Probably one reason could be that it has the lowest sugar content among the seven brands evaluated and the second-lowest fat content after McVities.

Vitamin C is a weekly dosage of consumer empowerment.

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