To just quickly and apologetically ask - Why aren't we drinking Fruit Shoots??

[MsPontipine]

Hi Ds (Soon to be 6) has a birthday party soon and for all of his parties (Except his 1st) I have always bought Fruit Shoots (or Asda equivilents - any better???) I must say it's been for convenience really - minimal spillage etc.

Anyhoo - I did mention to him that this year we weren't having them and having squash instead - there was a bit of a protest so thought ok then Fruit Shoots it is then.... Anyway looking at them in Morrisons thinking hmm Fruit Shoots Fruit Shoots working out the cost for 30 odd children ..... 30 odd children drinking them .....30 odd children drinking Fruit Shoots....... An absolute Mumsnetting nightmare but........ Why exactly are they the very work of the devil? Why exactly are us Mumsnetters so against them??? I stared and stared and then decided I just can't do it. So you've won!!! But could you just share with me the reason why!!

Excuse all the "......" that's me musing!!

Message deleted

I give OJ with water at home, we don't even have squash in the house. Our parents both give her squash and FS when they're out - at least his parents keep the last bottle so they can water it down.

I agree with the sugar v aspartamine comments. I don't understand why we haven't banned it here yet.

BTW, I'd check the ingredients on lemonade, R Whites and erm... the other big name one... both have sweetners in their normal variety - and there was me thinking orange and lemon would be better than all the coke I was drinking! It helped that I wasn't having the caffiene that gave me heartburn but then I found they have sweetner.

Aspartamine is carcinogenic - ie it causes cancer.

I avoid Aspartame et al too. Am pretty annoyed now that Tesco have rebranded and no longer stock ordinary Hi Juice Summer Fruits - it's all No added sugar now dd likes Summer Fruits flavour and so now I'll need to stick with Lidl's until I can find any others.

My local town only has a Tesco out of the major supermarkets, we also have small Lidl, Aldi, Co-op and Somerfield. Anyone know of good additive free juices in any of these?

My ds goes lunatic on fruitshoot.

It really is scarey, you watch him drink, you count down then you watch him go.

I will not contribute to Robinsons' sales margins cos they are the work of the devil!!

Aspartame can also cause disease of the brain, tumours etc which is why I avoid it. Nasty stuff.

Message deleted

Sprite seems to be the best lemonade, if you prefer to avoid artificial sweeteners. Also go for fizzy drinks in glass bottles, they seem to need less chemicals.

Message deleted

SantaKLAWs, Tesco do a completely natural juice for diluting called 'Rocks' which is organic and totally additive free. It's a bit pricey, about £2 for 750ml but it says on the bottle that it makes 5 litres of juice although we like ours a bit strong so it never seems like I've got 5 litres out of it. This is the only one I know of and it's really nice tasting, worth a try.

I think it is mainly snobbism, and there is no harm once in a while.

Yes, a perfect mother would make her own lemonade from fresh organic lemons and hand picked organic blueberries, add spring water and nothing else. And serve it in tall glasses.

Then leave to glasses in the rain to rinse naturally, in order to avoid washing up (and wasting water and soap).

I would buy them once and then reuse the bottles as they are handy for out and about.

There have been some studies suggesting a link between aspartame and cancer but also there are some links that suggest it is not.

It is fair to say it has not been proven beyond a doubt that aspartame causes cancer.

some info here

Definitely think it is a judgement call, it might be better to be on the safe side and avoid it. But don't beat yourself up about it if you and your kids have it occasionally.

Personally if you try to avoid every single thing that might cause cancer you would go mad.. (And apparently that causes brain cancer ).

Cos they taste horrible.

when they first came out, I thought, Fantastic! not fizzy, and fruit based - was v disappointed when we tried them, the taste was just artificial.

My dd also turns into a crazy thing when she has a fruit shoot.
I generally thing everything in moderation, but she only ever has Fruit Shoots if she is at a birthday party or something, and I am not there to veto suggest an alternative.

Also use them as very good and cheap re-useable drinks. Just the right size and they don't seem to leak. Got fed up with 'proper' re-useable drinks / sports bottles for the youngest DS'. Once in a while they get to drink the actual stuff so exposure is minimised and its cheaper for us.

I think its better to get a proper water bottle rather than re-use the plastic bottles whihc you buy with the drinks in. The plastic bottles are only made for a single use and washing and re-using them causes ths plastic to 'break down'which isnt good for the drinker.

To interject a small note of rationality (as per BouncingTinsel) into the debate and to quote from the article she references.

"In the past 20 years, aspartame has undergone many safety reviews ? and has consistently been shown to be completely safe. The most recent of these safety reviews was carried out by the European Commission?s Scientific Committee on Food (SCF), who reviewed more than 500 papers published in the scientific literature between 1988 and 2001 on the safety of aspartame. Its review included studies supporting the safety of aspartame and others pointing to potential adverse effects. Following this extensive review, the SCF concluded aspartame was safe.

In fact, the safety of aspartame has been confirmed by the regulatory authorities in more than 130 countries including the European Commission?s Scientific Committee on Food, America?s Food and Drug Administration and by experts within the United Nation?s Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Health Organisation. Furthermore, the UK?s Food Standards Agency don?t recommend that consumers make any changes to their diet at the current time."

As far as I can tell, only one study out of the many hundreds (which was on rats incidentally) showed any possible link with carcinogenic compounds was the Razzmini study in which the rats were fed 100 times the RDI amount of aspartame and subsequently got negative peer reviews, for example, here. Indeed, the American National Cancer Institute did its own review of aspartame which concluded that there "was no increased risk seen even among people who gulped down many artificially sweetened drinks a day".

Just a personal bugbear but I hate all this pseudo science which is generally utter bollocks and designed to scare people. There may be good reasons for not having fruit shoots (they are stupidly expensive) but health risks are not one of them.

Thank you so much for all your replies. re aspartamine. I knew artificial sweetners weren't good but I thought we were talking teeth and behaviour really.

I shall be checking those labels a lot closer from now on

Aspartame breaks down to meths which then breaks down to formaldehyde. Most well known problems are vision probs (meths drinkers go blind)but it also causes problems with DNA replication. It also contains 2 amino acids, one of which is a carcinogen and one which is neurotoxic and stimulates nerve cells to the point of death. Its a cumulative poison so once at a party will do no harm, although its hardly a treat. Every week at a party is not too good. Its particularly bad in conjunction with MSG or if its stored in a warm place which is why its blamed for Gulf war syndrome. Tastes shite too but its cheaper than sugar both because you don't need to use so much and heating is not required during manufacture, which it is if you have to dissolve loads of sugar for cordial.

It should perhaps be taken into consideration that aspartame was developed as a nerve agent for use in chemical weapons and was only approved by the FDA after the head of the FDA was sacked and replaced with someone who would give approval.
Animal studies are not appropriate for the study of methanol toxicity as there isn't an animal model that reacts in the same way to humans to methanol poisoning due to humans lacking several enzymes present in animals.
It is a cumulative poison though and you will not drop dead from having it occasionally. People who allegedly have died from aspartame poisoning are reported to have only drank aspartame containing drinks for many years without ever drinking water or fruit juice etc.

LJF: less than 10% of aspartame breaks down to methanol, which is less than that in most natural fruit juices (circa 15-20%) so if we're discussing the risks of "meths" its safer than natural fruit juice. In any event, the production of methanol and formaldehyde are natural by-products of the human metabolism and are largely excreted by the body. Our bodies naturally have methanol and formaldehyde in them and our bodies are designed to metabolise them.

Equally importantly as methanol breaks down to formaldehyde, so does formaldehyde break down into formic acid (as formate) which is harmless and can be allowed to accumulate. In short, even if you massively overloaded your system with aspartame there would be no build up carcinogens becase (a) the amounts involved are tiny and (b) they are capable of being metabolised by the body.

never mind the aspartame (though I agree with all those who said they'd choose the sugar varieties over aspartame any day) - have you ever tasted a fruit shoot? They are disgusting. For that reason alone I won't buy them.

My two-penneth, from US research:

Aspartame has a long list of critics, including government scientists. After investigating the industry-funded studies, FDA toxicologist Dr. M. Adrian Gross found that at least one of them ?established beyond any reasonable doubt that aspartame is capable of inducing brain tumors in experimental animals.? According to Dr. Russell Blaylock, a board-certified neurosurgeon, the first safety study of aspartame produced a rate of brain tumors in the aspartame-fed rats that was 25 times higher than would be expected to occur naturally.

Yet people um and aah about a potentially life saving MMR jab whilst not looking at labels in the supermarkets...

Surely it's cheaper and less waste to buy apple juice at 58p a litre?

LJF: I've also seen those rumours about the head of the FDA being fired because he was unwilling to approve aspartame. I'm yet to see any evidence other than rumour on it, and it also doesn't account for the other 130 countries and multiple international organisations which have also found it to be safe.

I'd also be interested to see those studies which show people who have died from aspartame poisoning.

Message withdrawn