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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To stop my daughter drinking Coke Zero

202 replies

MumsForPresident · 23/05/2023 12:01

Hi all so I just need some advice. My DD who's 14 (in my opinion) drinks way too much Coke Zero. She spends about a £1.15 every day (sometimes gets 2 bottles) on a 500ml bottle of coke. I personally think this is far too much and she needs to stop because of all the negative impacts and the potential risk of type 2 Diabetes.

She disagrees with me and says it's only 500ml (sometimes 1l) of coke a day but I still think it's too much as she doesn't drink water until the weekend and even then she is still drinking coke. We have stopped buying it but she still brings into the house. To be fair, she does have a pretty healthy diet, it's just the coke that worries me

Am I being unreasonable to think that she needs to change her choice of drink and become more healthy?

OP posts:
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7
musixa · 23/05/2023 16:23

Reugny · 23/05/2023 13:25

And it will still strip her tooth enamel...

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Unless you want to drink little else but tap water, most things will have some impact on your teeth.

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 23/05/2023 16:24

MumsForPresident · 23/05/2023 16:16

Thank you for the comments, a lot of them have been really helpful.

Maybe I am being too controlling but I think reducing the amount of coke and just drinking more water isn't too much to ask 🤔 But understand I may be wrong

I'd love to reduce the amount she's spending on it but her dad doesn't listen. I just want what's best for her even though I do completely understand all the comments about pick your battles, like obviously it's great she's a generally good kid but thst doesn't mean I don't need to advise her.

But you have advised her. She knows your feelings and doesn't agree with you. And that's okay. She's fourteen. She's not supposed to agree with her mum.

I suspect if you dropped it and stopped making it a big deal, you may find she drinks less of it naturally. The more of an issue you make of it, the more she'll want to rebel.

Vegetus · 23/05/2023 16:30

Unless she's a rat then sweeteners haven't been proven to be either beneficial or detrimental to our health. Diet coke/zero is neither good nor bad it's not going to do any damage but there's better things she could be drinking. Honestly I'd let it slide tbh.

user1745 · 23/05/2023 16:30

I went through a phase of doing this as a teenager but I think the main reason I stopped was because it was financially unsustainable to be spending £1 most on Coke when I was on about £30 per month pocket money!

But you can't really stop her if she's buying it herself. Coke Zero isn't the healthiest thing out there but it's not the worst either so I'd maybe leave it and hope it runs its course.

user1745 · 23/05/2023 16:31

*most days

mimblefish · 23/05/2023 16:37

LaDamaDeElche · 23/05/2023 16:10

I don't have the same drink habits, but I am saying pick your battles. There are many things that teens do that we don't want them to do, but when they're 14 there are other things better focussed on than a dietary choice. In four years this girl will have complete autonomy over her diet. If she was younger it would be different. If it was alcohol or something illegal it would be different. Part of parenting is encouraging and modelling healthy choices and once children get to a certain age, and I think 14 is that age, they should be left to make their own choices about certain things, diet being one of them.

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I agree with this. And as a lot of posters have indicated, plenty of parents have no idea what would be a healthier substitute! Sugar free squash and water maybe? But it still contains sweeteners. Fruit juice with carbonated water? Contains sugar AND has the same ill effects from carbonation as the Coke Zero. Short of just drinking water all the time, there aren't that many alternatives which aren't worse in some way, or equally as "unhealthy", as Coke Zero.

SavvyWavvy · 23/05/2023 16:48

Glitterybee · 23/05/2023 15:26

I’d let it go…

It’s Coke Zero, no sugar, zero calories. Yes fizzy drinks are not ideal but she could be doing worse!

I have one daughter who drinks only water and another who loves fizzy drinks. I only buy Coke Zero for the house but I know she chooses full sugar coke when out with friends. Unfortunately at 14 we can’t really police what they choose to drink 🤷‍♀️

Read the full thread. Plenty of people explaining that artificial sweeteners are worse than sugar.

Hobbi · 23/05/2023 17:07

None of the ingredients in Coke Zero are harmful with the consumption you describe.

www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/cancer-myths/do-artificial-sweeteners-cause-cancer

georgarina · 23/05/2023 17:14

MumsForPresident · 23/05/2023 16:16

Thank you for the comments, a lot of them have been really helpful.

Maybe I am being too controlling but I think reducing the amount of coke and just drinking more water isn't too much to ask 🤔 But understand I may be wrong

I'd love to reduce the amount she's spending on it but her dad doesn't listen. I just want what's best for her even though I do completely understand all the comments about pick your battles, like obviously it's great she's a generally good kid but thst doesn't mean I don't need to advise her.

I’m sure you have habits that aren’t the best, or like things other people don’t like or think are a waste of time.

how would you feel if you liked watching telly in the evening and someone stopped you because reading is better and surely you can read more and watch less? Or if you liked high heels but were told you couldn’t wear them because they were bad for your arches, and you should wear sensible shoes instead?

drinking Coke Zero is such a minor thing. From what it sounds like, you have advised her of your feelings on it. Just let it go.

AnnWithoutAnnie · 23/05/2023 17:24

I'm 53, my Mum would still say I don't 'listen'. It would be more accurate to say I don't DO what she says. It's not the same thing 🤣🤣

I think you need to work on your attitude AND pick your battles, Coke Zero would NOT be a hill I'd die on. Much bigger  coming downstream!!

dutysuite · 23/05/2023 17:51

I never allowed my children to have fizzy drinks and as a result my eldest (ds15) just can’t tolerate them at all so never buys them or drinks them if offered etc, however my 13 year old loves lemonade and I will only buy it on the rare occasion as a treat, she never buys it herself and frizzy drinks aren’t sold at school. I grew up on frizzy drinks and had several fillings by the time I was 12 so really wanted to avoid that for my own children.

Cocopogo · 23/05/2023 20:11

@fyn she doesn’t drink tea either

L0bstersLass · 23/05/2023 20:18

MumsForPresident · 23/05/2023 16:16

Thank you for the comments, a lot of them have been really helpful.

Maybe I am being too controlling but I think reducing the amount of coke and just drinking more water isn't too much to ask 🤔 But understand I may be wrong

I'd love to reduce the amount she's spending on it but her dad doesn't listen. I just want what's best for her even though I do completely understand all the comments about pick your battles, like obviously it's great she's a generally good kid but thst doesn't mean I don't need to advise her.

You can advise her once. You don't need to keep mentioning it.
She is allowed to ignore your advice.
As has been said countless times, and kindly, pick your battles.

Hairbrushhandle · 23/05/2023 20:26

Your best bet is to slip the dentist a fiver to tell her her teeth are getting awfully stained. The health issues won't concern a 14yo but cosmetic issues may well do.

declutteringmymind · 23/05/2023 20:30

The WHO has just realised guidance on sweeteners. I'm trying to reduce it myself but it's hard.

www.who.int/news/item/15-05-2023-who-advises-not-to-use-non-sugar-sweeteners-for-weight-control-in-newly-released-guideline

ILoveDigestiveBiscuits · 23/05/2023 20:40

I personally think you're being a worrywart, 1 bottle day is absolutely fine, especially as she is being alot more health conscious with her decision of zero sugar. On the scale of bad things that teenagers do at that age I would let that slide.

Original poster
MumsForPresident · 23/05/2023 21:09

L0bstersLass · 23/05/2023 20:18

You can advise her once. You don't need to keep mentioning it.
She is allowed to ignore your advice.
As has been said countless times, and kindly, pick your battles.

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Yes I've understood the picking my battles thing. 😁Think it is best to let it go as lots of you have said and maybe I'll just encourage water and offer her a glass every now and then with meals and stuff but not actively say anything about the coke. Thanks for the advice everyone.

OP posts:
beanii · 24/05/2023 21:14

Coke zero is sugar free so no particular diabetes risk 🤷‍♀️

Veryxonfused · 24/05/2023 21:51

I drink more than 500ml a day of Diet Coke on average tbh so I’m really surprised at the responses to this

When I was at school and walked home I had friends who’d buy those cheap energy drinks (500ml or more) a day - doubt their parents would ever find out as they drank it on the way

nosyupnorth · 24/05/2023 22:04

So she's generally healthy with what she eats, but control freak mum is trying to ban her from having pop once a day? Poor kid.

Beneficialchampion2 · 24/05/2023 22:41

Some total tosh being posted in here

Risk of diabetes is 0, sweeteners are infinitely less damaging to one's health than the equivalent amount of sugar.

There is no peer reviewed research that suggests sweeteners in the concentration and consumption described by the OP is damaging to health.

The previous comment around the link of drinking coke to a fatal new born as well, just ludicrous, unproven bollocks.

Let her crack on, the worst she will do is damage her teeth from the acid.

DrJump · 25/05/2023 04:39

For me it would.just be the waste of money. Is there something she likes that she would say up for? A pound a day adds up to something much better quickly.

CheshireDing · 25/05/2023 04:51

It’s not the best but dont teens need to go through these phases ? Better than cigarettes I suppose

I would mention the artificial sweetners (aren’t some carcinogenic?), that it will literally disintegrate her teeth over time (so she will look bloody stupid), and the weight gain

would she drop down to one ?

Bloopsie · 25/05/2023 05:03

Coke zero dosent have sugar so diabetes isnt a concern but the cancirogenic sweeteners asparatame and acesulfame
k should be

georgarina · 25/05/2023 06:41

CheshireDing · 25/05/2023 04:51

It’s not the best but dont teens need to go through these phases ? Better than cigarettes I suppose

I would mention the artificial sweetners (aren’t some carcinogenic?), that it will literally disintegrate her teeth over time (so she will look bloody stupid), and the weight gain

would she drop down to one ?

Op said she did only have one a day and that she’d already told her her feelings about it. I don’t think continually harping would be v nice - imagine if you liked to have a chocolate bar every day as your one treat, and your partner (or whoever) wouldn’t let you enjoy it and kept saying you would gain weight, rot your teeth and look terrible etc. this is what op’s daughter likes - not the healthiest, but as a small part of a healthy lifestyle not going to do any harm. And I don’t think any good will come out of harassing her over it.