Danger of "No added sugar" labels

[haleheart]

A fiend of mine who is a pathologist has informed me that drinks and sweets with "no added sugar" are dangerous because they contain cancer causing ingredients like chemical sweeteners such as aspartame, splenda and others and that these are proven to accelerate the growth of tumours and leukemias as well as contribute to all kinds of mood swings, temper tantraum, adhd etc. Her exact words were, "its crazy, people are trying to save their childrens teeth by giving them cancer causing food and drinks". The world has gone mad. Sugar is safe and has been around for ever and as long as you dont overdose on it is is a good natural product which is good for you in many instances. The big manufacturers have a lot to answer for. These sweeteners have been banned in some countries and other countries have tried banning them. Just have a look on the internet at the dangers of sweeteners". I have looked at this. Im a nutritional therapist and I have a child too. I am currently trying to find a professional in the childrens health area to confirm the above. Watch this space. Meantime, look out for labels with "NO ADDED SUGAR" and read the back of everything. I advise all my clients to eat and drink only natural products - we did nto evolve on chemicals, so if nature didnt provide it - I wouldnt touch it.

I've been wary for a loong time about this. It didn't dawn on me at first and thought that 'no added sugar' meant that the thing just wasn't as sweet. I then started looking at labels and realised that the thing may not have sugar but was stuffed full of chemicals, about which I knew nothing. I usually go for the sugar version of most things if there is one. I can limit the intake of these things, and make sure my children brush their teeth properly. I feel happier doing this than stuffing them full of chemicals which may do goodness knows what to them.

Yes I also try to avoid the 'no added sugar' versions of anything. Much prefer sugar in small doses.

This is quite worrying, having been a dental nurse for 12 years and from a tooth persective I only give my children 'no added sugar fruit juice'.
I already knew that artificial sweetners were not good but I didnt realise to that extent!

Im going to stop now and use either normal sugar or plain water. The question is though is - is there any long term side effects?

Also, even if you go for some products such as cordial that are the normal sugar ones, they can still contain sweeteners. Just not so much as the 'no added sugar' variety.

I spend a lot of time reading labels!

Stick to water or milk.
Then you can't go on.
Kids don't NEED flavoured drinks!
My cousin brought her 3 kids up only drinking water or milk. They are now 19, 15 and 8 and they still only drink milk or water, apart from very rare occasions! The 19yo doesn't even drink much alcohol! They had to twist her arm to get her to drink some champagne on her 18th birthday lol.

go on? go wrong I mean DUH!!!

I don't mean to be rude, but I am astonished that people don't know this already. I am amazed at how ill informed we are about what we are putting into our bodies.

I thought that too WTWTW

oh BT I wish that could be true, but when you have a child that refuses to drink cows milk (after I stopped bf'ing) and would go all day with just a few tiny sips of water (less than an oz) for days and days on end.

Then sometimes you have to give in and give them something flavoured. He (DS1) does drink water now, but when he was little it was an absolute no no for him. And I still have a lot of trouble trying to get him to drink enough, I think he's permanently slightly dehydrated tbh and [worried]

DS2 will drink anything and everything - except water, and he was bottle fed and I tried feeding him water in his bottle from very early on. Thankfully he drinks loads of other fluids unlike DS1.

DS3 - it's also been a battle to get him to drink anything other than milk from a bottle, he will now drink very diluted squash (go on shoot me now - it's the normal one though so not "no added sugar), or fruit shoots.

i have known this for hyears too and avoid no added sugar / diet stuff where possible

the worrying thing is even full sugar squashes and fizzy drinks are having them as ingrediants now (they never used to), so i find the only way to avoid them completly is to study the labels of squash in great detail, or go for rocks organic which does not have all those vile chemivals

Yes.I've known about it for a long time.Normal sugar is less harmful(in small doses of course)then any sweetener even for diabetes!!!

It can be very hard though when you have a 2 yr old who wont drink water and you are not rich enough to fork out on the amount of milk he wants to drink!

We've always avoided these as aspartame gives ds1 the runs, even the smallest amount.

I avoid where possible too. Got some funny looks in Boots one day when I was buying cough medicine for DS and the pharmacist assumed I would want the sugar free one. I politely refused it saying I would rather DS had a few fillings than cancer!

I thought this was pretty much general knowledge ... but then again I do have a DS aged 6 dx ADHD, so maybe I'm just more 'careful'' iyswim.

Can't do links but this web page is useful:

WWW.UKFOODGUIDE.NET/BESTAVOIDED.HTM

It's useful to bear in mind that several of the E numbers quoted in the 'Keep away from children' section are currently used in bread and bacon in this country

I never give the Dcs sugar free drinks, I prefer they have less flavoured drinks with regular sugar instead, but I do use sweeteners for myself .

We used to have fights with DSS who is now 12 about soft drinks - he has tantrums when he drinks coke or lemonade (poss. the aspertame) and this kids is seriously the most happy go lucky lad you'ld ever meet. Teh low sugar versions were always worse

We compromised on appletiser as it is just fizzy apple juice.

Most of the squashes are vile. I always give water/milk or v watered down juices.

I'm not convinced aspartame (or any of these) cause cancer - certainly there have been many studies showing they don't. I avoid them as they are quite processed, and I prefer to eat (and feed my children) things that are less processed.

Um, missionimpossible, that site's a bit ... well, mad. I quote: "aspartame is one of the most dangerous substances ever to be foisted upon an unsuspecting public. " What - worse than thalidomide? Worse than cocaine? (used to be in coke!) Honestly.

Bizarrely, its section on 'what additives do' is largely old wikipedia content.

I am sure it is aspartame that is banned in USA.

My mum cannot get her head round the fact that I dont give my boys no added sugar stuff and she always buys it for them. It tastes vile anyway.

The organic cordial is nice and I think Tesco do a full sugar cordial without the sweeteners.

I am shocked people didnt know this tbh....and dont get me started on froot shoots!!

Sainsburys own drinks do not have artificial sweeteners now.

Aspartame is legal in the US. I think saccharine may not be.

agree with NQC

and even drugs like thalidomide are used v these days eg in treatment of cancer, so dangerous things can be used in the correct way, erm, safely

I hate it too - AFAIK there aren't many solid scientific conclusions yet, but from childhood I've avoided saccharine as it gives me a skin rash, and I don't trust aspartame either. DS usually drinks milk, water, or fruit juice mixed half and half with water which helps to reduce the sugar he gets. It infuriates me that "no added sugar" is stuck on things as some kind of health benefit. People wouldn't be buying it in their droves like they do if it said "lots of extra additives" instead .

Also, the harms of sugar, in moderation, are much overstated and it was recently disproven yet again that there is any link between children eating sugar and their behaviour. The "eats sugar = goes hyper" myth was found to be nothing but parental expectation. If parents thought their children had had a sugary drink, even when they hadn't, they rated their behaviour as more hyper.