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Original poster

sugar or sweetener - which is the lesser of two evils?

12 replies

blindmelon · 05/05/2011 10:52

I've always been very much of the opinion that it's better to have a little of something natural than eat a larger amount of something full of additives. So I've never bought diet products, I have butter rather than margarine, cook food completely from scratch as much as possible.

But I'm in a dilemma when it comes to my 3yo DD. She likes things like squash, kids' yoghurts etc. I also let her have chocolate sometimes, but not sweets like jelly tots etc.

I always said I'd never give her squash, but she's had it at friends' houses and likes it so I thought a little won't do her any harm. I was buying an organic one, with no additives, all natural ingredients, blah blah, but the amount of sugar has made me think again.

Is sucralose any better than aspartame? Allegedly it's 'natural' Hmm Or do you think it's best to go with the full sugar variety but water it down a lot and be vigorous about teeth-brushing?

I know some people might say 'my child only drinks water..' but I'm not a perfect parent!

OP posts:
bessie26 · 05/05/2011 11:21

I would much rather DD (2.5) had sugar rather than sweeteners. (I won't eat it so why should she?!).

I figure that at some point she's going to have to learn about healthy eating & self control (wrt snacks etc) and giving her free reign on drinks & snacks because they have been artificially sweetened is sending a confusing message? (I am possibly over-thinking this bit Blush)

Buda · 05/05/2011 11:25

Sugar for me. I would rather my child had a few fillings than consume too much frankenfoods.

amidaiwish · 05/05/2011 11:27

i don't let DDs have aspartame sweetener and now age 5 and 7 they reject anything with it in, so that is good imo.

i don't worry too much about sugar within reason, but they don't have desserts every day/every meal (many people seem to which i find odd) and i try (but generally fail) to limit sweets to sweets after school on friday.

DD2 has already had a small filling though Blush despite good brushing by me at bedtime, dentist said it wasn't my fault just that her back teeth are very mountainous with lots of crevices and the filling was in between her teeth. still i am sure aspartame wouldn't have caused this...

my dds also are quite slim, so again that comes into consideration.

every adult i know who drinks diet coke is fat. i really think aspartame pickles your insides and destroys your natural body fat burning ability.

KeepCalmAndCarryOnMNing · 05/05/2011 11:31

I tend to give my DS (nearly 3) watered down apple juice rather than squash as a change from water/milk, although I wouldn't worry too much if he had some at a friend's etc. I'm not keen on sweeteners for me so I wouldn't give them to him at home. I'd rather he had the natural sugars in apple juice rather than something artificial.

working9to5 · 05/05/2011 11:32

Sugar. Everytime. Aspartame tastes vile too.

tigerandtabs · 05/05/2011 11:33

definitely keep her off artificial sweeteners, the jury is out on whether they cause brain tumours, and given that if we start our tinies on them now they will have years and years ahead of them, with a far wider choice of foods with them than we ever had, if there is any risk, it is far greater for them. there is also the issue of them learning to regulate their own healthy, balanced diet, and allowing them to get used to 'sweet' but sugar free/diet foods is certainly no help with that.

Original poster
blindmelon · 05/05/2011 14:57

wow, unanimous verdict against sweetener then! Good idea about watered down fruit juice, I'll give that a try.

OP posts:
ppeatfruit · 05/05/2011 15:46

I also agree with verdict; i saw a T.V. prog. which said that artificial sweeteners are not seen by our bodies as food (I know I'm allergic to aspartame).

bessie26 · 05/05/2011 16:34

Watered down juice is good, it took me a while to get used to it, but I now have half juice/ half water. DD has it watered down in the same proportion as you'd do for squash (at meal times) & thinks it's great!

ppeatfruit · 06/05/2011 09:06

You can also buy fruit juice that is sweetened by concentrated apple juice like the St. Dalfour jams that is lovely!

GrimmaTheNome · 06/05/2011 09:19

Sucralose isn't 'natural' but it is at least a sugar analog. It is totally unrelated to aspartame. I've not heard of any problems associated with it. As a chemist I'm a little Hmm at 'natural good, artificial bad' applied dogmatically. There's plenty of natural substances which are extremely bad for you.

None of my family like sugary drinks, but DH and DD (who is 12, not toddler) do like an occasional fizzy drink - so we get Sainsbury's own brand which is sweetened only with sucralose. Also their squashes. DD had various problems associated with not drinking enough, so for us its by far the lesser of the various evils.

nannyl · 06/05/2011 09:21

Another vote for sugar

aspartame is banned from my house (and sainsburys dont use it in any of their own brand product so easy to avoid without needing to read every single label if you shop there)

Sugar grows on a plant
chemical sweeteners are made in factories, by chemical reactions induced with nasty chemicals.

will choose sugar any day

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