To want to be able to buy drinks without sweetener in them?

[LittleMissGerardButlerfan]

I have noticed that lots of drinks now have it in, even the ones which aren't low sugar.

I hate the aftertaste of them, and they give me terrible wind

I don't drink tea or coffee so drink squash, but even they seem to be getting harder to find without it. I like high juice but the low sugar ones are getting more and more and it's sometimes hard to find a normal one. A lot of squashes like Robinsons have it in all their squashes.

And fizzy drinks like fanta and sprite have it, the low sugar and the normal ones now!

So AIBU to want to buy drinks with sugar in instead? Yes I know you shouldn't have too much, and try to not drink too much but I would like to have a drink of it sometimes.

My not so darling husband says that sweetener has been proved to be fine and doesn't affect people so I basically must be making it up

Not all hi-juice is sweetener free - seemingly more and more are becoming "sugar free" with sweeteners. DH only drinks hi-juice and he hates sweeteners and the number of times we've picked up a bottle to get home and find we've bought the wrong one by mistake. None of us like drinks with sweeteners in yet, I find affordable squash for the kids is all the sweetener based stuff.. if I could just persuade them to drink more water then I wouldn't mind buying the more expensive "proper sugar" brands!

Why do they think we want sweeteners instead of a natural product? Hasn't aspartame been proven to be cancer inducing? Doesn't sweeteners cause problems with hunger? Why are we in a world where artificial products are considered better than a natural product?

R white s has sweeteners.
Sweeteners have been heavily used for over 20 years because thrunning cost a fraction of super. They taste horrible.

Waitrose and M&S are the only plain Lemonade that i I have cone across without sweetners.

As someone who is allergic to Aspartame YADNBU.

I recall Fanta changing the recipe and adding aspartame a few years ago. I thought it tasted a bit odd but didn't think much of it until half an hour later when the violent stomach cramps started

I have to be so careful. I can't even have a slush puppy without checking that whatever mix they use is aspartame free, and most chewing gum is out. Buying lemonade is also difficult as for some reason most has it added.

I bought a soda stream and make my own fizzy drinks now as I can use their lemonade which is aspartame free. Weirdly their ginger beer isn't, but their diet ginger beer is aspartame free!

I was given some tablets by my GP last year and the familiar 'aspartame cramps' came on not long after taking it. I had a few days of pain and finally thought to check the tablets and yes, the coating was a sugar free concoction which contained aspartame! Ended up changing to a different brand and all problems were solved but that one amazed me because I never thought to check prescribed medicines for it and neither did my GP who was equally shocked.

I buy high juice squash for the children which they have very dilute. Dh drinks shitty sweetner loaded squash and they want what he has so they get high juice. I only drink water and the occasional coke. I hate sweetners. They taste awful. YANBU!

YANBU.

I loathe the taste of sweeteners - they leave a disgusting aftertaste in your mouth, long after the drink is finished - a sickly, unpleasant taste that kills your palate and ruins any other drink or food.

We had a glass of Pimm's with ILs on the weekend, and DH had bought some cloudy lemonade to mix with it, and the taste ruined the whole drink.

Thank goodness for Fever Tree tonics - it's the only tonic that doesn't seem to have sweeteners in it. Even the basic "full fat" Schweppes one does - why? Why should a tonic water be sweet? A tonic water should be pleasantly bitter - that's the whole bloody point of it. Grrrr.

I'd love to be able to have a wider range of soft drinks, especially in the summer if we are out and about, but now I just stick to either water or fruit juice/fizzy water combo.

Oh, god, this bugs me so much. I hate the taste, hate it. I think Ben Shaw's Dandelion and Burdock doesn't have it and I think Sainsbury's own brand tonic water doesn't have it. I get so pissed off that the taste of a G&T can be ruined by this stuff.

Just checked the Vimto and it has sucralose and acesulfame K (which sounds suspiciously like another name for aspartame to me)

I started avoiding aspartame during my first pregnancy, and realised how hard it was. I seem to remember by my last pregnancy I could only drink full fat coke or water. I now try and avoid sweeteners in food, and hate the way so many brands have gone down the "no added sugar" route. I'm another who would rather feed myself and my DC more sugar than more artificial sweeteners - especially aspartame.

Sainsburys is the only supermarket brand I know of without aspartame in their squash so I make a longer trip once a month or so to stock up.

The creep of artificial sweeteners into more and more products is another reason why we eat less and less processed food. I know we can't avoid aspartame entirely, but I do want to reduce our exposure as much as possible. I've not seen any convincing evidence it is bad for us, but I would rather avoid it.

I agree. My son really doesn't like the taste of sweetener, he can tell if a drink has it in. Mostly he drinks water, fruit juice or tea, but it would be nice to have fizzy drinks for a treat sometimes.

Either 7UP or Sprite has started putting aspartame in their product.

I can't stand the stuff!

J20 has sweetener in now as well? Nooooo!

san pellegrino do some lovely fizzy drinks that do not have aspartame and are actually not that sweet - so far have only seen them in the co-op outside of Italy, in lemon and orange.

Ooh yes burberry I love San pellegrino :)

Our sainsburys sell them but they aren't cheap and are never on offer.

Morrison own brand squash and soft drinks are aspartame free, they use sucrolose. I just drink water or tea myself and the odd wine obviously.The kids just get water.

When I went on a WW diet a while ago, I swapped full fat coke for Pepsi Max whenever I fancied a fizzy drink - which at the time was about a can a day! Not good and I've cut it down almost completely now. I kept up the swap even after the diet was finished.

Within 6 months, I was feeling tired and grotty all the time so went to see the doctor who took a blood test. My white blood cell count was through the floor and my red blood cells were all misshapen!

I admit it could have been anything that caused it but neither the doctor or the consultant could find a cause, the diet had been slow and controlled and mostly about portion size rather than foods and the swap to sweeteners was the only big change I'd made.

6 more months off the sweeteners and my blood are back to normal and the weight has stayed off.

I avoid diet drinks and sweeteners whenever I can now.

Morrisons own brand diluting juice has no aspartame in it, It has acesulfame and sucralose though.

I buy Rocks and Blossom Cotage cordials. They have sugar not sweetener in them

Just a suggestion here, and my DP thinks I'm so weird for doing this but:

Make up a large pot of fruit tea - any flavour you like, even mix the bags (I love the cherry and apple together), allow to brew, cool, then refrigerate. No sweeteners or sugar in sight! Serve with or without ice.

I know it sounds a faff, but honestly, once you get into the routine (I make a batch each night for the next day) tis fine.

HTH

I gave up Pepsi Max because of aspartame and drink full sugar coca cola instead, however I did try to limit caffeine but all the sparkling waters have sweeteners in!

Yanbu, i struggle to buy pop, squash as anything other than lemonade & cola are only available as sugar free or with added sweetners

I know it's all good for your teeth but the aftertaste is foul and god knows what we are shovelling into our bodies. Atleast sugar is natural, whereas these sweetners are all artificial, apart from truvia which is rank

YANBU

My niece has Phenylketonuria and amongst many other things, can't have fruit juices or drinks with aspartame which makes choosing a drink for her a nightmare - lots of reading through every label. Luckily her mum (my sister) has it down to a fine art and just goes straight for what she knows she can have but I'm terrified of looking after her on my own in case I accidentally give her the wrong thing. There is just no need for it in most drinks, especially fruit juices as fruit sugars are sweet enough

Sainsburys and M&S mixers don't have sweeteners - I like tonic water, bitter lemon or ginger ale on their own as a more adult soft drink. All my other favourites (Orangina, Ribena, Rocks and San Pellegrino) have all been mentioned.

The reason behind sweeteners creeping into all these soft drinks is because they cost less than sugar. So companies are reducing the amount of sugar, substituting with sweetener and increasing their margin. Not fair on us who are left with little choice!

I thought Robinson Barley waters were free of sweetener, is that no longer the case?
Hi juices - depends on the flavour, some have sweeteners, some don't, also depends on the brand.
Flavoured waters! FFS.

I hate sweeteners in soft drinks.

It's another reason for me to be grateful for living in Australia though - I've discovered that Coles' own brand squashes are not only artificial sweetener free but have all natural colours as well. Good for them!

If enough people make enough noise about it, and refuse to buy them (like with the "Frankenfoods" situation) you can change it. Sadly there are too many sceptics who disbelieve that sweeteners have any ill-effects on anyone, regardless of how many people are testament to the fact that they do.

(I avoid sucralose too, actually - up to 40% of it can be absorbed by the gut and there is, IMO, insufficient information about what chlorinated sugar molecules do in the body, as it was originally thought that it wasn't absorbed at all).