Flora Proactive - is it okay for children to eat?

[Rebi]

Does anyone know if it is okay to give Flora Proactive and the like to children? My dh and I use it and I had run out of ordinary spread yesterday and just wondered was it safe to use on children / babies?

[Mo2]

Don't know, but if you call the company who make it on 01293 648000 and ask for the Consumer Careline they'll be able to tell you....

[LucieB]

I spread it on toast for my ds, so do let me know if you find anything out, Rebi.

[runragged]

Gosh, wouldn't have occurred to me to question it, dd and ds have everything that we do - well not beer!

[LucieB]

I looked at the carton and it does say on it that Flora Pro-activ is not nutritionally recommended for pregnant women or children under three. I am not sure whether that means its bad for them or whether it simply means that this group needs nutrients not contained in Flora Pro-Activ....

[boyandgirl]

Why not beer, runragged? ds loves it!

[Lil]

Here's an enlightening task...Rebi look at the large number of ingredients on your flora tub..then look at the ingrediants of butter. The latter is just milk. Why bother with the highly contrived laboratory made stuff for children????

[Tetley]

I heard an interview with Clarisa Dickson Wright (from TWo Fat Ladies - for all in the UK). I can't quite remember the exact details, but it was something like a god family friend of heres was very closey linked with a company that invented margarine, and he told her never to eat the stuff - just stick to butter!!

i.e. what i'm trying to say is that I agree with Lil.

[Tetley]

Ever feel like you should preview something before you post! That should read:
a good family friend of hers was very closely linked with the company that invented margarine, and he told her never to eat the stuff - just stick to butter.

[oliveoil]

Butter is too hard when it comes out of the fridge and makes holes in my bread.

[Boe]

Sure the warning just means that youngsters and pregnant women should use full fat products as they should not be cutting down.

I have also heard that it is actually healthier to butter as has less chemicals in and is not as processed. My grandmother worked for Van den Berg Jergens who make one of the spreads and she would only touch butter!!

Butter tastes much scrummier too!

[zebra]

You all piqued my curiousity so I went to try find the ingredients list... Failure. But did come up with comments about Salt levels undermining supposed Coronary benefits and Unsubstantiated Claims wrt Flora Pro-Active.

[Lil]

Olive oil, you have to leave the butter out of the fridge (hence the need for butter dishes!). Granted, in the height of summer the butter doesn't last as long, but its worth it!

[oliveoil]

I'm an Olivio girl myself

[Lil]

Zebra the article on functional foods was v. interesting. I don't want a food that reduces cholesterol but means I consume dubious amounts of unatural chemicals! Why don't they just leave our food alone??

[Rebi]

Thanks everyone for your comments/opinions. The reason we use ProActive is that it was recommended to my husband by his GP as his cholestrol is on the high side of normal and GP says he has seen impressive results.

The reason for my question was purely that we ran out of butter and was making toast for my 6 month old and wondered was it okay. I normally wouldn't use it. Lil, I am aware of the ingredients in butter!

I rang the customer careline today - thank you Mo2 - they do not recommend it (the girl thought due to the full fat recommendation for children) but she did not 'think' there was any harmful ingredients for children.

Thanks again everyone - after all your comments and ringing careline I have decided I will NOT use it!

PS I would use butter for myself too, out of choice, but my lack of waistline prevents it!!!

[Mo2]

An interesting debate this one-
A lot of the ingredients in functional food are actually naturally - derived (ingredients from plants/ seeds etc) rather than being 'unnatural chemicals'. In food labelling terms everything has to have a technical description, so even 'salt' has an 'E' number...

Coronary heart disease is one of (if not THE) UK's greatest cause of death. A diet high in saturated bad is a major contributing cause.

The reason butter is so hard is that it is very high in saturated fat. This is not such a problem for children who can more rapidly metabolise it, and indeed need a certain percentage of fat for growth. The fat also carries essential A & D vitamins. However not so good in later life, when your arteries can begin to get 'furred up' - restricting the passage of blood to your heart.

Spreads are usually made from vegetable oils which are high in polyunsaturated (e.g. Sunflower)or monounsaturated (e.g. Olive oil) fats. These are broadly better for you. They haven't been shown to contribute to the development of coronary heart disease, like butter, and they may have significant beneficial effects.

I always find it interesting that people who are staunchly anti-margarine and anti- added chemicals have often already switched from lard or hard cooking fats to oil, and probably popped a whole load of Folic Acid when pregnant...

Have to say, I wouldn't be looking to the Two Fat Ladies for my dietary advice
(Actually sadly, isn't there just ONE Fat Lady now - didn't one die??)

[zebra]

I thought (read this on Scientific American website) that saturated fat slightly raise blood cholesterol levels, but "trans" fats or hydrogenated oils were downright evil, raising blood cholesterol levels enormously. So most important strategy would be cut out all hydrogenated fats, first. Then the Flora Pro-Active can do its 14% improvement (according to the NoSalt website I linked to below). Just that I don't know how margerine can be margerine without hydrogenated oils in it! That's why I was so curious about ingredients in Flora Pro-Active.

I am sure I read that a high sugar diet contributes a lot towards heart disease, too.

[Mo2]

Zebra - you're right, a few years ago there was a lot of stuff about trans fatty acids ('trans' )found in the hydrogenated oils in margarine, and at that point I remember Flora changing all their products so they no longer included hydrogenated fats - therefore no trans either. Most packs will say this under the ingredients list - contains no hydrogenated fats (or something similar). Like Oliveoil, I'm an Olivio girl and I know that's trans & hydrogenated fat free - and 25% less fat than butter (60% vs 80%). I think it was the old 'hard' margarines which were really bad anyway. Does anyone remember Krona - we used to buy it by the dozen at college 'cos it was like cheap butter - later found out it was really bad!

[Lil]

Mo2, what you've explained is interesting but maybe the anti-chemical/margarine stance isn't completely logical in terms of the saturated vs unsaturated argument. But I don't think food is all about 'fat' bad, 'low fat' good. Surely there is something to be said for eating foods that have had as little processing stages as possible. So butter for example would be better in that it hasn't been sloshed around various chemical vats and inserted with whatever they add to make it reduce cholestrol. Processed instant foods may be low fat but I really belive this is a red herring, a con actually, they have so many preservatives in as to make their dietary significance dubious, no matter how little fat is in it.

I am also anti-diet food by the way , you know the food where fat has been removed, or sweetner chemicals have been added instead of sugar. If you eat a roughly balanced diet I am sure your body would be happier rather than having to deal with all these complex chemicals!

can someone tell me how you can reduce fat in lots of these alternative products..I mean its yet another stage of processing isn't it where fats are just replaced by something else (like starch!)

Any nutritionalists out there please help me in my scientific ignorance!!

[zebra]

Ah, but you see, not all fats are created equal! It comes down to blood chemistry, which is why (I understand) sugar has an impact, too. I found the Scientific American article I was looking for, says a lot about different types of fats, which are good, which are a little bad, and which are very very bad for the Circulatory System.

[Cesca1977]

Hi,
I have researched this too, as my two 2 year old children had some weekly at their grandparents. Please read as it is quite troubling:
www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/behind_the_label/269112/behind_the_label_flora_proactiv.html

[chelseasawyer87565]

My doctor told me NOT to use Proactiv while I was pregnant because of all the chemicals. Unfortunately, in month 2 of my pregnancy, I started to get really bad acne breakouts on my face. I asked two seperate doctors, and they both recommended I use Citrus Clear products instead of Proactiv, because they are natural and they actually DO WORK. I use the Control Line from Citrus Clear - and it is quite strong and it does work! And it does not have all the chemicals that Proactiv has. Good luck!

[FeckinCrutches]

Oh my god the oldest ZOMBIE thread yet! 13 years old!

[AndNowItsSeven]

Butter is better than margarine, why would you want to eat plastic?

[FeckinCrutches]

Please look at the date! A spammer has been on.