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AIBU?

To be pissed off with local shop selling energy drinks with taurine to school kids and to write to MP

128 replies

FunBagFreddie · 22/10/2012 07:15

DS is at secondary school and has lunch money etc, and recently I have found empty cans of energy drinks in his bag. These drinks are not just caffeine, they contain taurine which has been banned in some countries - France, Norway, Denmark. Effects of long term use can include paranoia, heart problems and it can disrupt neurotransmitters. I really don?t think that many parents are aware of just how unhealthy these drinks potentially are. The caffeine content is way too high for youngsters too imo.

The cans specifically state that it should not be sold to children, yet shops are selling it to kids in their school uniform. You see them all drinking it round here. I also wonder whether drinking it regularly for the buzz could lead to an increased likelihood to experiment with amphetamines further down the line. I'm not some puritan, but amphetamines are nasty drugs. Nobody thinks it's ok to sell tobacco and alcohol to minors, so why the hell is this crap being sold to them?

AIBU to write to my local MP about this problem?

OP posts:

Report

NellyJob · 22/10/2012 10:29

cheap energy drinks (euroshopper) are 35pence

anklebitersmum · 22/10/2012 10:31

Is there room in your air raid shelter for two seeker ? If so, pop the kettle on.

I am a naughty parent who allowed my DS to watch "Supersize me" and gave him the lowdown on coke-a-cola and how bad it is for young children's bones (not to mention teeth). I also don't give him (now 13) money, so he can't even if he wants to.

Mean, draconian Mummy and proud

FlobbadobbaBOO · 22/10/2012 10:32

I've banned DS from drinking these things, not red bull (he doesn't like that one) but on an afternoon out with his mates they pooled their pocket money and bought some of those Monster drinks and tried to find a way to get 'drunk' off them. I think it was something they heard at school...
Anyway when he came home he was a total horror and got himself grounded for the rest of the weekend, couldn't sleep at all that night and was generally not himself. I can't prove the drink caused it but he now knows not to buy it, the ramping headache he had the next day seems to have put him off anyway.
Count me into the protest, can we set up an e- petition?

Mrsjay · 22/10/2012 10:33

YANBU DD1 used to buy them and those big tins so she was up and down like a yo yo, I stopped giving her money it played havoc with her asthma too, she did calm down with buying them she is now got her own money but will only buy them when im not there occasionally , DD2 doesn't drink them

Mrsjay · 22/10/2012 10:35

MY mum works in a shop and she said she won't sell them to children but I am not sure if that was just her shops policy or under 16s couldn't buy them

anklebitersmum · 22/10/2012 10:36

missed half of message

That said, I'm not delusional..and if there's legislation out there it should be adhered to and personally I think that we should just add these god awful concoctions to the over 18 catagory for shopkeepers ease.

Tuttutitlookslikerain · 22/10/2012 10:37

No we wouldn't be legalising tobacco and alcohol at all!. We are talking about a legal product that you want banned for under 16's because you don't want your PFB drinking it! Well I don't mind if mine do occasionally.

I have got rules in my house, if they are broken they get punished. They might get away with things once or twice but we usually find out in the end. You have to parent, you can't expect society to do it for you!

FunBagFreddie · 22/10/2012 10:37

You can get cheap energy drinks. Anyway, what has my personal preference for not consuming food additives got to do with my assertion that taurine is harmful? Why have these drinks been banned in other countries? In case you haven't noticed, many crisps now state on the packet that they are MSG free, or have no added MSG, this is because a lot of people don't want to eat it, so manufacturers have stopped using it.

If people aren?t concerned about what?s in their food, that doesn't mean that they should deride those who are. Wanting to eat the most natural food you can that is additive free isn?t exactly crank territory is it?

OP posts:

Tuttutitlookslikerain · 22/10/2012 10:38

Seeker, can I get in your air raid shelter too, please?

seeker · 22/10/2012 10:39

There is no evidence at all as far as I am aware that any foodstuff has an effect on behaviour.

My mother would get drunk on tonic water if we told her there was vodka in in it........

FunBagFreddie · 22/10/2012 10:40

What does PFB mean.

Also, how do you know that your DC aren't getting up to things you disaprove of. Obviously I can only judge by my own standards, but I can remember what me and my friends were like. Fwiw we cam from nice middle class homes and our parents would have been at some of the things we got up to.

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Tuttutitlookslikerain · 22/10/2012 10:42

I agree Seeker. My sister still thinks Smarties make DNephew hyper despite them having natural colouring now. She forgets he has been hyper since he could move and she has never done anything to control him!

FunBagFreddie · 22/10/2012 10:44

Also, it's not just about DS, I'm pissed off about the fact that you see loads of the kids drinking these. I don't know if their parents know or approve or not, but I don't think it's good for young people to drink this stuff.

OP posts:

Tuttutitlookslikerain · 22/10/2012 10:46

You find out because you drive past them one day, or it slips out in conversation, or a picture pops up on Facebook, a friend tells you they saw your DC in town etc! Did your parents never find out you were up to things you shouldn't have been? I know mine did!

FWIW I come from a nice middle class home too, as do my DC, not that that counts for fuck all!

FunBagFreddie · 22/10/2012 10:46

They didn't find out about everything!

OP posts:

ovenchips · 22/10/2012 10:48

I am dead confused now. I actually supplement my DD with this. She has autism, tested as deficient in many things and has an appallingly limited diet.

The reading I have done suggests it is a beneficial supplement and is known for its calming effect (including dampening down excitotoxicity from glutamate). Has also been shown to reduce epileptic seizures.

I cannot reconcile this with an apparent stimulant effect in an energy drink. Has the issue arisen after people consumed a hell of a lot of drinks in short time, do you know?

Off to google.

PedanticPanda · 22/10/2012 10:49

There is no evidence at all as far as I am aware that any foodstuff has an effect on behaviour.

seeker you should have met my son before and after having gluten cut out of his diet. Before he wouldn't look anyone in the eye, would rip his own skin from his fingers and face, hit his head repeatedly off walls, physically attack teachers and other children and would go into meltdown at the simplest changes in routine. Now he's a completely different boy.

FunBagFreddie · 22/10/2012 10:49

Also, what about parents that don't give a shit about what their children are doing? Those young people don't have parents to set rules and boundaries an to monitor their diet and food choices. Imo that's exactly why things need to be legally regulated.

OP posts:

FunBagFreddie · 22/10/2012 10:52

ovenchips, I'm definitely not saying that you should do that. I was just saying that it's my personal choice to not buy stuff with MSG in it. For all I know it might be perfectly fine, but I'm just not comfortable with eating foods that contain additives.

OP posts:

FlobbadobbaBOO · 22/10/2012 10:55

Tuttu I don't think anyone is suggesting that society needs to parent anyone's children, just that suitable legislation is put in place to stop children buying unsuitable things. I'm not a PFBer at all, but as mentioned upthread children will try it on, doing things that they are told is unsuitable or that they are too young for. it's almost a part of growing up.
Like I said, I don't personally know if DS's behaviour was affected by the drink, could be a coincidence and he got punished for it. He won't even try to touch them again because 5 weeks on he still remembers the headache and has linked it to the drink himself.

Tuttutitlookslikerain · 22/10/2012 10:56

It is not up to you to tell other parents how to feed their children FFS! I will feed my children how I see fucking fit! My children are my carers, my husband is in the Forces so sometimes they are up in the night to help me turn, because I can't turn in bed, and then they have to go to school! Next year DS1 is going to Uni, DH will be deployed. DS2 will be in the first year if A levels and my sole carer for 4 months. If he wants an energy drink to get through the day, who are you to tell him that he fucking can't?

God you have really pissed me off now!

ovenchips · 22/10/2012 10:57

I thought that was point of thread? That they contain taurine.

I am not a fan of energy drinks or MSG but I'm minded to think the taurine in them (taken in non-silly quantities) might actually be beneficial!

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FunBagFreddie · 22/10/2012 10:58

Sorry, I didn't mean to piss you off. I just sincerely have my reservations about these drinks.

OP posts:

FunBagFreddie · 22/10/2012 10:59

Fwiw I thought that shops didn't sell them to minors, which is why I was even more shocked when I found out kids were buying them.

OP posts:

mutny · 22/10/2012 11:03

and have on more occassions than I can count physically taken it off children I believed to be under that age.

Omg, really? What gives you the right yo take something off someone YOU think may be under an imagined age limit.

Regardless of what I think of the drinks that is just plain wrong. Its theft. What authority do you have?

I really hope that's a lie.

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