To wish they would stop putting sweeteners in fizzy drinks!

[CarrieLouise25]

Ok, so it's not a big deal. But sometimes I really fancy a fizzy drink. But they all seem to have sweeteners in.

I understand everyone needs choices. There should be a sugar option and a sweetener option IMO which is what it used to be. But it seems all the normal sugar options have sweeteners in too.

I react really badly to chemical sweeteners. Severe migraines and vomiting. Even if I didn't though I don't like the taste.

I miss Lilt. Fanta. Tango. Cream Soda. Shandy.

At the cinema the choice was diet pepsi, pepsi max, diet tango and sprite zero. Not one sugar choice.

I get the demand for sweeteners but leave the sugar versions alone!!!

Sainsburys still do a sweetener free lemonade - it's not the bog standard one though, it's called classic lemonade.
Waitrose own brand is also sweetener free.

Thanks for the sainsbury tip! I just looked up the classic lemonade and found it.

Cheaper than 7up too

Just briefly looking at reviews, there are a lot of complaints about the taste of the lemonades with sweeteners in, so we're definitely not alone!

BarbaraofSeville I don't like water because when I was pregnant I had horrendous sickness and had great difficulty keeping down any fluids with water being the absolute worst.

Innocent bubbles for me, has the added benefit that it has a lot less sugar than San Pellegrino or Rubicon. Also love Belvoir elderflower - fizzy or the cordial.

I agree that sweeteners are vile.

However, despite having a very sweet tooth, I just don't drink sweet fizzy stuff apart from maybe belvoir elderflower or juice. It's all pretty awful for you I think am happy to scoff chocolate and cake all day though

I don't understand people who say they 'don't like water'. It doesn't taste of anything so there is nothing to dislike 

I have to disagree there. Water definitely has a taste. I had a medical condition that temporarily removed my taste and it was totally weird drinking water when it didn't taste. It was lovely to get my taste back and be able to taste water again.

I don't dislike water, but the fact that it has no taste doesn't make me love it. I never come into the house and think "Ooh, I fancy a glass of water", but I would think "I would love a cup of tea"

Water definitely has a taste. Some are 'waxy' & some are 'muddy' etc. I detest Evian.

I try not to comment on the taste of water though as people always go...

Bloody R Whites lemonade is one of those where both standard and diet have sweetener. Grrr.

Yanbu

From nature.com:

Artificial sweeteners induce glucose intolerance by altering the gut microbiota

I can't say I'll be surprised if artificial sweeteners turn out to be very bad news all round.

Perhaps a rethink of people's eating habits rather than having cheap sweeteners foisted on us

^ This, SlinkyVagabond, fizzy pop should be thought of as an occasional treat not the prime source of liquid consumption. That^ is the problem we have - people are drinking far too much fizzy pop, end of. Both diet and normal should provide only a minor component of a healthy balanced diet.

I agree with what you say about chocolate consumption too. The same probably applies to crisps. When I was a child crisps, chocolate and fizzy drinks were strictly rationed - generally once a week after swimming and very small portions - we had panda pop bottles refilled from a big bottle and not to the top either, so probably about half a cans worth, although this was probably from a cost, rather than a health point of view, but still, it would be interesting to see data for average consumption of crisps, pop and chocolate over the past few decades. People are consuming daily now, what a family would have in a week in the 1970s/1980s.

Sugar is a chemical, you know. It is irritating when people bang on about "chemicals" without having any idea what the word means.

If you wrote out all the dangers of sugar - metabolic syndrome, diabetes, tooth decay, growth of certain bacteria - it would sound horrific. But people don't. They think it's "natural" and therefore good for you. Well, arsenic and belladonna are "natural", fancy them in your bottle of Coke?

Like a lot things in life ambivalent sugar is only a problem in excess.

Ambivalent I think most people are very aware of how bad sugar is for you.
Personally I aim for moderation. But sweeteners are something else - I think they taste foul, I therefore see no value whatsoever in consuming them.

My people!! I had bowel problems for years before I realised it was sweeteners.

Yogurts are the same, although I can recommend the Longley Farm ones at morrisons.

Ambi, we are not talking about guzzling loads of sugary drink

We are talking about a Friday night G&T, and it tastes worse with sweeteners.

fact.

Lots of sugar is bad for you, God, don't we all KNOW that. I don't think we are talking about quantity, we are talking about quality.

Better to have one glass of nice sugary coke, every once in a blue moon, than daily litres of sweetened nastiness

YANBU, there should be a choice.

Including keeping the hybrid, as it is a balance between taste and calories that the majority of the population can tolerate (if people couldn't, they wouldn't sell them).

However, soft drinks companies are under huge pressure to reduce sugar in their drinks, because of the health problems. Whilst some people do have health problems from consuming sweeteners, the majority of people can consume them without problems. There will always be foods some people cannot consume due to allergies, coeliac disease, lactose intolerance etc. But we wouldn't e.g. only sell lactose free milk, as most people can tolerate regular milk and prefer the taste.

Scientific evidence has proven many dangers of sugar including diabetes, obesity, dental problems, liver disease and even cancer. Currently the evidence available on sweeteners suggests that they may have some health risks, including weight gain (due to their effect on appetite) the health risks are fewer than for sugar.

I don't know anyone who thinks sugar is natural, and also that natural equals "good". why are you assuming we are dumb?

We are talking about taste, and whether it taste good.

Sugar does not cause cancer or diabetes, that is a myth. Eating more calories than you burn up causes obesity which can lead to diabetes.

YANBU. They have ruined Sprite, it used to be my cinema treat, but now I just stick with Diet Coke - which strangely I enjoy and can't detect the bitterness in.
Although, on holiday in France this year I noticed that their Diet Coke tasted vile - I am now scared that the vileness will spread to our fair shores and then I'll have no fizzy drink to enjoy!

Can't they just put less sugar in things? We'd all get used to everything being less sweet.

Artificial sweeteners taste awful - they taste bitter rather than sweet to me.

I used to drink J2O when I went out but it's now vile. I contacted the manufacturer and asked whether they intended to have a sugar and a sugar free version and was told no, their customers preferred sugar free. I now either drink water, 7Up or soda/sparkling water and lime.

Nothing like giving people a choice is there?!

I am currently buying Tesco High Juice cordials because the normal ones have just sugar. I dislike aspartame, I wish however that there were alternatives with xylitol, which I rather have instead of sugar.

If you have a world food section in your supermarket, some of the West Indian and Asian fizzy drinks don't contain sweeteners. We go for those on the occasions we fancy it.