AIBU to be hacked off with manufacturers tampering with our food?

[recklessgran]

Is it just me who is fed up with the changes being made to our food in the name of averting the obesity crisis?
Just opened a packet of Nice biscuits to find that they have NO sugar sprinkled on them anymore. That is the last straw!
Can't find ricicles either - apparently withdrawn due to sugar content.
I am not obese and think I am grown up and informed enough to make my own decisions about the food I eat thank you government. In fact, we eat very healthily but like the occasional treat....
Don't believe I'm the only one that feels this way - looking at you Robinsons for withdrawing normal squash - now all sugar free and full of chemical sweeteners.
Just needed a little rant as am outraged at not being allowed to decide for myself.

A Type I diabetic friend says the Spar brand of Lucozade is still without sweeteners. YANBU.

YANBU. Artificial sweeteners taste bloody awful. A nanosecond of (far too) sweet, followed by a massively bitter aftertaste. Make everything taste shittily low-rent. It pisses me off that because other people abuse sugar, I now have less and less choice of nice treat food and drink to consume in moderation.

I have JHS, and consequently very low blood sugar. I have to eat quite a high-salt diet just to function, however, I understand that high salt is not good for the vast majority, and accept that the amount in food should be reduced. But, sugar?? By all means reduce it in things it should never have been in in the first place (pasta sauce, pizza, curry etc), and it would be great to have less sweet (NOT stuffed with sweetener) alternatives, but why take it out of every supposedly sweet product? Somebody up thread mentioned choice. I can only assume that person has not looked for a full sugar, normal, drink in the supermarket recently. There is now hardly any choice at all. It's pretty totalitarian, and infantilising, quite honestly.

I'm also getting a bit concerned about medicines. Dreading the day I can no longer find sugary Calpol, as my DD gets super-hyper on the sugar-free stuff. If anybody comes over all po-faced about that, and starts talking about 'studies' they'll be next in line to come and look after her when she's cannoning off the walls at 4am all because she needed a painkiller.

I wouldn't mind, but more recent studies actually show that replacing sugar with sweeteners does not have the positive effect on health you might expect. Seems the brain thinks it is still getting sugar, and acts accordingly. Of course, the muppets in government pay no heed to this, and plough on regardless....

There seems to be a real problem in government:, bad decisions constantly on issues that don't seem like rocket science.

Just reading Haribo reviews..

Unbelievable!

I wouldn't mind, but more recent studies actually show that replacing sugar with sweeteners does not have the positive effect on health you might expect. Seems the brain thinks it is still getting sugar, and acts accordingly.

What do you mean by ‘acts accordingly’? How do you think the brain is acting after sweeteners are used?

There actually isn’t a proven link between hyperactivity and sugar, and studies are still inconclusive so it’s a bit of a leap to say that sugar sends a child hyper, therefore sweeteners are doing the same. Unless you mean something else?

I’d not going to dispute that you have concerns with hyperactivity with your child - but it is possible that it’s actually one of the side effects of medical instead of sweeteners?

Of medicine*

There are I think some studies that showed some sweeteners triggered insulin production because the body THOUGHT it was getting sugar.

I think this is where the effect on fat cells come from (I could be completely wrong not my area of expertise but vaguely recall reading something like this)

I've heard that they don't help weight loss too. Artificial sweeteners have been alleged to be linked with cancer and Parkinson's disease.
Horrible stuff. At least sugar is natural.

'I've heard that they don't help weight loss too. '

They're not a weight-loss product. Why would anyone think they assist in weight loss?

Fewer calories than sugar.

The isn't a causal link to weight loss/weight gain. Studies have shown that some people gain weight eating artificial sweeteners, but that can simply be attributed to the thinking that I'm saving x calories from this glass of coke, so I'll have a piece of cake instead.

Like the old 'I'll have a Big Mac, large fries and a diet coke' thing.

They aren't designed for weight loss - just as a substitute for sugar.

@unweavedrainbow, what heart condition is that?
How can you lose 20grams of salt every day?

I can't process artificial sweetener ending in - ol, so sorbitol, maltitol, xylitol etc. Causes it to ferment and draw water into my bowel, so explosive (and I mean explosive..... ) diarrhoea and cramps so bad they make me vomit. They are being used with greater frequency, as a healthy alternative to sugar. I'm obsessed with checking labels as I follow a Low Fodmap, low insoluble fibre diet for IBS/IBD. These polyol sweetener marketed as a healthy alternative to sugar, but aren't that healthy. Even "normal folks" find they have a laxative effect. Especially children....

@lijkk The condition is called POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome). What it means is that when I stand up my heart rate increases hugely (everyones heart rate goes up when they stand but mine goes stratospheric, sometimes over 200 bpm), my blood pressure goes through the floor and I feel really dizzy and then faint. The condition has different causes but in me it's caused by having very weak and bendy blood vessels so all my blood goes to my feet when I stand. This causes my cardiovascular system to "panic" as, in effect, I no longer have enough blood to power my brain. I am also medicated (beta blockers, low blood pressure meds) but eating a diet very very high in salt is a reliable way to keep my blood pressure up and my blood volume higher than normal. I also have to drink way more than normal , including plenty of caffeine (caffeine is a vasoconstrictor so it narrows blood vessels and keeps blood where it should be). Basically my consultant has ordered me to have a steady diet of crisps and coke!

Wish people would say TYPE TWO DIABETES not just diabetes

Are you a fellow type 1 @MintChocAddict I'm going to need some insulin from stress induced hyperglycaemia

WonderLime as Graphista says, there are studies that show the expected weight loss from switching from sugar to sweetener (and therefore lowering calories intake) often doesn't materialise. One current theory for this is that the brain thinks, from the sweet taste, that sugar has been consumed, and releases insulin accordingly. High insulin levels = weight gain. Of course, some at least of it could also be, as you say, that people just supersize the other crap they eat, on the basis they are saving calories with the sweetener.

Re the hyperactivity thing, I haven't yet managed to pin down the exact ingredient that's causing the ussud

Issue! Sorry, hit send too soon. .

...... but it reliably occurs after sugar free Calpol and never at any other time (regardless of sugar content - that never seems to affect her). So it has to be something they're putting in there that doesn't go into the original sugary version.

It may be, of course, that some genotypes are more sensitive to sugar, sweetener, other foodstuffs etc than others. We already know that drugs are metabolised differently in different people, depending on how many active copies they have of the genes governing liver enzymes. As yet, studies don't attempt to differentiate between the population on that basis, but it is to be hoped that will happen in the future. If the same happens with studies into food, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that a subset of the population could be found to be sensitive, but this is currently not being picked up by the more broad brush nature of the studies as currently conducted.