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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think Jamie Oliver shouldn't be so smug about getting artificial sweeteners in ribena

241 replies

jnfrrss · 01/05/2018 22:25

www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/may/01/sugar-fat-junk-obsesity-uk-hugh-jamie-parliament-health-committee

He's calling it beautiful that the sugar tax that he campaigned and persuaded the government to implement "a beautiful thing" as ribeana has half the sugar now. But it's still just as sweet as it's been replaced with artifical sweeteners so don't see how its improving anything, could be making it woorse.

OP posts:
andalittlebitofpixiedust · 01/05/2018 23:10

here

TuTru · 01/05/2018 23:13

The guy is ruining my life.
I can’t afford for my kids to have school dinners anymore thanks to him and now, one of my last remaining pleasures (ribena) is ruined. I don’t drink wine or smoke but I love a ribena and get a nice vitamin C hit at the same time.
Now it’s gonna taste like shite and contain chemicals pretending to be sugar!
Bloody jerk.

TuTru · 01/05/2018 23:14

On his high horse

Beamur · 01/05/2018 23:14

I loathe sweeteners and try not to buy them. It's getting harder with squash to buy it without artificial sweeteners. I would rather have sugar! Schools teach it's a good thing to have these drinks as a way to be 'healthy'. Due to Govt advice.

Shadow666 · 01/05/2018 23:19

There is absolutely no evidence that aspartame causes cancer. Several studies have shown that it doesn't.

I don't get the JO hate here. Fuck him for trying to get kids to eat less sugar. What a twat.

It annoyed me at first that IKEA got rid of soda as a visit to IKEA was one of the rare times I drank it, but I got used to it now. You don't need soda and squash.

Seeingadistance · 01/05/2018 23:31

I very occasionally have a sugary or fizzy drink, and when I do I would like it to taste pleasant! I cannot stand the taste of artificial sweeteners, and it is becoming almost impossible to find anything without them.

browneyes77 · 01/05/2018 23:31

Urgh, I can’t stand Jamie Oliver.
Liked him when he first started out, you know cheeky chappy, said pukka a lot, some decent recipes, made cooking look easy etc

Now he just comes across as a jumped up, smug twat who pokes his nose into everything.

I live on Ribena (have to steer clear of fizzy pop now because it makes my bladder go into meltdown) and I can’t say I’ve noticed any difference in the taste. The sugar free one tastes vile though!

gillybeanz · 01/05/2018 23:32

That's Ribena gone then Sad, you can only get aspartame and phenylaniline contained soft drinks now.
Don't kid yourselves it's better for you though.
I can remember seeing reports from the WHO from as early as the late 70's, I wish I'd paid more attention but didn't they try to ban it.

Singlebutmarried · 01/05/2018 23:37

Apparently he can’t taste the difference between coke and Coke Zero

Way to go CHEF.

those tastebuds should work right?

RhurbabAndCustard · 01/05/2018 23:37

Are these sweeteners why my DS has developed chronic constipation do you think? It was the only diet change 3 weeks prior to the start of the pain.....?

scaryteacher · 01/05/2018 23:38

Shadow What am I supposed to have with my elderflower cordial then, if not lemonade? Perhaps I should stick to Prosecco with it? That'll really reduce my sugar intake.

JO is taking away choice. I don't like the taste of aspartame, so looked for full sugar squash that I could dilute. I have a ds, and there have been some studies linking aspartame to reduced fertility, another thing I wanted to avoid.

I will now buy Belvoir and other cordials that have sugar in as I don't want aspartame. The sugar tax doesn't deter me in the least, and we will end up like the Norwegians who cross the border to Sweden to huge sweet shops, where they can buy sweets not taxed to the hilt.

DeadButDelicious · 01/05/2018 23:38

I will never forgive him for what he's done to ribena. Smug git that he is.

Lalliella · 02/05/2018 00:00

He’s a twat. How is adding chemicals to something a victory to be celebrated? I won’t let my kids have artificial sweeteners, as far as I can avoid it, I’m suspicious about the possible cancer link. My friend used to have them a lot and got breast cancer, she’s sure ASs were to blame. They should have just reduced the sugar in Ribera and let us add our own.

malmi · 02/05/2018 00:08

Obesity caused by excessive calorie intake is a more likely cause of cancer than artificial sweeteners.

Anyone who thinks they know better than Cancer Research UK and the US National Cancer Institute should publish their studies, not just spout nonsense about 'the chemmikulz'.

(Everything is chemicals)

HelenaDove · 02/05/2018 00:12

of DofE to look at how Ofsted look at health education

Yeah right! Im in my forties and when i was in primary school there was no homework............everything was done at school and we were able to go home after school............change out of our school uniform and go straight out to play.

gluteustothemaximus · 02/05/2018 00:41

Jamie Oliver will be remembered, not for his cooking, or for his pet named children, but for ruining Ribena.

ToadOfSadness · 02/05/2018 00:53

He is a prat. He is responsible for cinnamon being added to otherwise decent tasting foods where it has no place. He messes with good recipes and turns them to shit.

And now sweeteners in perfectly decent drinks. I didn't often have a fizzy drink, it was something for when I was ill or a special treat. Had just found Fever Tree Sicilian Lemon, I had only had one bottle, chosen because it was sweetener free, so it will be my last if it has sweeteners.

Sweeteners taste foul and give me belly ache.

I am already sick of reading labels to avoid palm oil, now have avoid sweeteners as well. Strange thing, all my family lived in to their 80's and they ate the fat on meat, used salt on it, dripping on toast, sugar in tea, cakes made with butter and sugar, dreadful, absolutely terrible, oh yes, it is all lethal stuff, but none of them were obese, they had their own teeth until they died in their 80's unlike many of the overweight people these days that don't know about nutrition or sensible diet and live on junk food.

What should be tackled is GREED, not sugar in drinks. Children always stuffing their faces with rubbish is the problem, and parents allowing it or teaching them that it is OK because they do it too. Just pure greed and gluttony. What is wrong with self restraint and sense?

Leave sugar alone, reduce the amount, put the prices up but don't ruin everything, we have already lost decent chocolate, it is now palm oil and sugar, is that going to be replaced with sweeteners too?

Shadow666 · 02/05/2018 00:59

scaryteacher how about water or sparkling water? You should get used to the taste soon enough.

I used to take half a teaspoon of sugar in my tea. I stopped. It tasted bitter at first, but I'm used to it now. Life goes on.

InTheGhetto · 02/05/2018 03:34

Anyone who thinks they know better than Cancer Research UK and the US National Cancer Institute should publish their studies, not just spout nonsense about 'the chemmikulz'.

(Everything is chemicals)

This.

Iwasjustabouttosaythat · 02/05/2018 03:46

This thread is pretty embarrassing. Just stop drinking cordial if it bothers you so much. Are you 5?

There are so many jerks in this work. Why get so mad at someone who is try to make children healthy? It’s hardly the crime of the century.

Artificial sweeteners are healthier than sugar. End of. There are thousands and studies online if you want to look them up rather than telling us what you reckon.

If you don’t like artificial sweeteners then that’s a good thing! Stop eating/drinking crap and behave like adults. If people just did that to begin with we wouldn’t need all this ridiculous stuff.

pallisers · 02/05/2018 04:02

sugar is addictive and people should definitely advocate for less of it in unnecessary foods.

That the solution to too much sugar is adding chemicals to food ... absolutely awful

I used to buy lucozade at christmas as a treat for myself. That's gone as I won't drink stuff with asparmante or whatever in it.

Artificial sweeteners are healthier than sugar

Really!

personally I think artificial sweetners have not yet been discovered to be worse than sugar. They will in due course.

Iwasjustabouttosaythat · 02/05/2018 04:21

That the solution to too much sugar is adding chemicals to food ... absolutely awful

Do you know what this chemical formula is? C12H22O11. It’s sugar. You get that sugar is “chemicals”, right?

MichaelKnightsCar · 02/05/2018 04:27

I only ever bought full fat ribena when I had a cold as a mug of it hot always made me feel better. The low sugar version just wasn't the same.
I'm currently suffering from a cold and I am a bit grumpy that I can no longer have it.
There was already a sugar free version, why mess with the original? It does no harm if it's an occasional thing.

Artificial sweeteners are awful things and certainly not "healthy"

sofato5miles · 02/05/2018 04:30

FFS. Elderflower cordial with lemonade?? Cordial with water, surely.

This thread is an eye opener on how addictive sugar is.

I agree that the food and beverage industry need a radical over haul and regulation. People are bloody wilfully blind.

Iwasjustabouttosaythat · 02/05/2018 04:36

People are bloody wilfully blind

And not wilfully blind too given the amount of diabetic retinopathy. Lovely natural sugar, eh? Not sure how many people get those kinds of complications due to obesity from having artificial sweeteners... oh wait... Turns out it’s none.