Artificial sweeteners in everything now?

[Catcatcat12]

Anyone else notice how the regular version of sodas such as San Pellegrino and Schweppes mixers now all have sugar AND artificial sweeteners? Not the diet or slimline versions, the regular ones.

They taste awful, and it’s not advertised clearly on the can or bottle unless you read the ingredients list. I feel I can’t yet the classic versions of hardly anything anymore other than Coke and similar beverages.

I rarely drink soft drinks, I have the odd san pellegrino and I use ginger ale or lemonade in my Pimms, so when I do enjoy one of these drinks I’d like for them to taste nice. Aside from the taste issue, I’d also rather avoid all artificial sweeteners if I can, so I find it annoying that they seem to have changed the recipes for all these beverages in their ‘classic’ non diet options to contain a mix of sugar and other sweeteners.

I would like for both options - regular and diet - to be available, and I would like it clearly labelled when an artificial sweetener has been added.

anyone else?

I can’t stand sweeteners at all including Stevia, they all taste like crap and nothing beats proper sugar, it’s definitely the sugar tax as I’m in Italy at the moment on holiday and there’s a huge choice of full sugar drinks without any nasty sweeteners added, what happened to freedom of choice and everything in moderation, in my opinion the sugar tax should be scrapped and bring back full sugar drinks, I’m so glad we still have chocolate, biscuits and sweets, we need to fight to save our sugar, I really miss full sugar Ribena Blackcurrant and Strawberry, full sugar lemonade, Irn Bru, cloudy lemonade, pink lemonade etc.

Sweeteners have unintentionally done my waistline a favour in that I drink far fewer sweet drinks because the new artificially sweetened versions of them are so hideous I would rather go without

Totally agree. Really annoying

All this sweetener and the population are getting fatter and fatter

Some of the most enthusiastic guzzlers of sweetener-laden drinks I’ve met have been significantly overweight as if it’s some magic potion that cancels out a poor diet.

Just had a look in whole foods and Karma drinks don’t have any sweetener, they do a cola, a lemonade, a fizzy orange and a few other flavours. Also Dalston’s, they don’t have any sweetener and are delicious.

Strongbow don't use sweeteners any more 😊

I have started a petition to scrap the sugar tax on soft drinks and to stop anti obesity plans for special offers, please feel free to sign and share, the more people that sign the better, we need our sugary drinks back. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/620658?fbclid=IwAR2l_7xbXUQ6eDouD9Y-cKJO5HHqMirDje6W3Bu57fGce0Qk4ebRIg6QOok

I'm meh about the taste of them as I am kind of used to it. I do get the aftertaste though.

I think it is a cost thing as well - some companies started to use sweetener + sugar long before the sugar tax, in order to reduce costs I reckon.

@AnnaWoods1986 Did you know there's a Petitions board? You could start a thread on that.
www.mumsnet.com/talk/petitions_noticeboard

Well they may have cut costs but they've saved me money!

Since all but cola (which I don't like) is now sugar free I have got into the habit of taking my own everywhere we go now as I know it'll be plain water otherwise and I'm not paying for that!

I even take my own tonic to the pub in case the only one they have is Schweppes.

Every time I look at this thread there's a Tesco advert for Splenda on it. 😬

I saw these in Costco at the weekend - it actually says on the packaging they've paid the sugar tax levy

www.drinkrio.com/

The only fizzy drinks I drink are now full fat coke and Fentimans lemonades

As these seem to be the only ones I can find that don't have aspartame and crap like that

It can't be good for you !! I think there's a gap in the market for full fat full sugar drinks

Looks great, will try to find them.

and yes @BiggerthanIusedtobe I too see the Splenda ad every time I check this thread…

Their targeted advertising has missed it's mark big time here, @Catcatcat12 !

Rio is lovely

Amazon sell classic san pellegrino but they also sell the evil version so make sure you get the correct one

When we do buy soft drinks, we go for Lowicz cordial from the Polish section in the supermarket (either raspberry or cherry), regular Coca Cola (which we're happy to pay more for), Fevertree, Bottlegreen cordial (rhubarb and ginger when it's available) and make our own elderflower cordial.

By adding sweeteners to drinks, you're doing nothing to lessen the craving for sweetness. The sugar tax should have been used to lessen our liking for sugar, rather than replacing it with something much worse.

I have Lupus so artificial sweetners are a no no. I've resorted to Belvoir Cordial with Fizzy water.

People may falsely believe that Artificial sweeteners are beneficial for their children but new research suggests that Artificial sweeteners could cause diabetes and adversely alter the gut microbiome, shocking new research says

nypost.com/2022/08/19/artificial-sweeteners-could-cause-diabetes-shocking-new-research-says/

Snap I firmly believe that artificial sweeteners are just not good for you. I go out of my way to avoid them at all costs. But then I also think the same about anything that isn't actual butter.
It's a pain but I can't see how a load of chemicals smashed together can be better for you than sugar or milk

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/620658
Link to petition

I got a bottle of sprite the other day with a meal deal. Rarely drink it but got it as a one off. It wasn’t the zero version but it was absolutely awful. All I could taste were the sweeteners.
Wish they’d bring back real drinks.

My local co op has started stocking Rio Tropical in cans! So happy as I’m going through chemo and fizzy helps the nausea but anything with sweeteners in flares up my IBS (and tastes rancid). Ingredients: lightly carbonated spring water, fruit juice and purée from orange, guava, apricot, mango and passion fruit, sugar, citric acid, natural flavourings. 😍 bliss!

It was going on a long time before the sugar tax. I get diarrhea, headaches, cramps and joint/muscle aches from artificial sweeteners and I've had to check the labels for many years. It was in supermarket own brand non-diet drinks at least 20-25 years ago, I gather it's much cheaper than sugar. Lemonades e.g. Schweppes has had it since long before the sugar tax, Tango & Lilt the same.