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Message withdrawn

Agreed Pruners. DD does have Fruit Shoots from time to time, mainly because of convenience or if we're out somewhere that sells them. That being said, they taste appalling and are absurdly expensive - as I said, plenty of good reasons not to like them (I mean seriously 75p for a bottle of tiny bottle of squash) but cancer risks is not one of them.

Agreed ref: snobbery Pruners, I know a couple of well-off mums who fill the cupboards with them - IME lots of mums use them because they're easy, not because they're cheap.

And ref: the research, I personally don't need any proof that drinking artificial, chemical sweeteners is probably not what we are supposed to do to our bodies.
I switched from sweeteners back to less sugar in tea etc for that reason, and packed in the Diet Coke. Again, just personally, I found headaches are rare for me now (which would follow the aspartame/migraine related research but I can't prove.)

I do know it's the most profitable synthetic sweetener ever used...

LedodgyCHristmasjumper, out of interest, which countries have banned aspartame?

I'm not trying to say that one fruit shoot will kill you stone dead. I am saying that the components in aspartame may cause a health risk if consumed excessively over a period of many years. Some people may be more susceptible than others. There is probably more formaldehyde in the air than in a fruit shoot. I do let my dcs have aspartame containing drinks at parties etc because its only once a month or so which I think is ok. They don't go crazy or have headaches after drinking them which some people seem to get. Ds is peanut allergic and feels like enough of a freak without having to refuse drinks too. I disagree about formic acid being harmless. If it was then why do people who work with it need to have so many urine tests to check that they aren't accumulating to much?
I don't know of any countries which have banned aspartame.
Death by aspartame poisoning is anecdotal but it was listed as a side effect on the infamous DHHS list of 1994. A woman in the US is using aspartame poisoning as her defense in her trial for killing her husband. I have heard Kentucky being called something like 'aspartame death capital' or something similar which sounds slightly dramatic.

Chocolat I don't know the whole list I read it on here but I think that a few have banned it in children's food stuffs. Australia is one of them iirc.

Because it tastes vile.

I avoid this stuff for another reason -- if they have a fruit shoot or any other sugary drink they've had a lot of sugar without feeling that they've really had a treat. If they have a biscuit, a piece of cake or some chocolate they get a lot more pleasure out of it, so I'd rather save the sugar rush from something that they really feel is a treat.

Apple juice diluted with sparkling water is DS's party drink of choice and is fairly convincing as a sweet drink, though his best mate, whose mum is unschooled in the ways of mumsnet, thinks its vile.

As far as I can see no country has actually banned it (definitely not Australia). Bills have apparently been introduced in Hawaii and the Philippines and Indonesia apparently considered it last year but I can't find any country which has banned it.

Oh well I must have been mistaken then. I did read that it has been banned in childrens food stuffs in some places though. I'm sure it was on mn and was backed up but if not I stand corrected.

Agree with chocolatedot - can't see any country that's banned it.

Aspartame causes heart palpatations. I would rather drink sugar drinks that no-sugar drinks. I never buy no sugar drinks or diet drinks they taste vile and are very bad for you. The aftertaste of diet drinks is unbelievable, I really can't understand why anyone can drink it.

The only thing I can find from Oz is that in the state of Victoria, the government banned sugary fizzy drinks from vending machines but allowed the low-calorie version - i.e ones with aspartame. Now that does seem bonkers.

Ok well I must have been mistaken then however through googling a few seem to be petitioning for it to be banned. Either way it isn't good stuff.

I know i've just read that myself choc isn't that bizarre!

whats wrong with pure juice in a little tetrapak - no additives, can recycle.

I think once you educate yourself with the shit that actually go into these drinks, as a mother you would think twice. (Nothing to do with snobbery.)

Saying that, I don't mind anything that contains sugar, it's those evil additives and colourings that scare me.

I wouldn't touch that stuff - for me or ds. I'd rather ds had sugar than artifical sweeteners and preservatives.

He drinks milk, water or diluted apple juice. If he drank a fruit shoot I'd probably have to scrape him off the ceiling.

do artficial sweetners not "rot" the menges in children,(the protective covering of the brain)?. was told this by friend who is nurse( not just a regesterd, but high up in the nursing world, shes got degreess!)scary stuff>

Ds is intolerant of some artificial sweeteners including aspartame.

For parties I buy Tropicana Go's instead. He does have full sugar fruit shoots occasionally but they are not easy to find.

At home day to day he was water of pure juice.

Does anyone else apart from me find it a bit and that someone will boycott something without knowing the reason why?

It reeks a little of mob mentality methinks.....

(not having a go at the OP - you are certainly not the first to ask that and you won't be the last)

It is banned inthis country in foodstuffs meant for under 3's. Older than that and there is no restriction.

Obviously many people feed under 3's with normal stuff.

have you ever tasted one? they taste like hell, god knows how kids drink them.

why is this stuff allowed?

Gosh, scarey stuff. I had never heard of the (DD is only 11 months) but reading some of these posts has really made me want a sausage roll and lots of rubbish to eat

I already find it (me) odd that my values over what I will feed DD are so different to those that apply to what I eat. I guess because she is so little right now.