has anybody else found fruit shoot is a behavioural disaster

[zippitippitoes]

in toddlers?

The Isle of Wight study mentioned by Darryl wasn't actually dismissed by the Food Standards agency it was as a result of its findings that a further study was commissioned with a Food Standards Agency grant of £750,000 and this is the FABIC (Food Additives and Behaviour in Children) study which will be reporting in 2007. So the government is concerned about additives and children, so they may not be as harmless as the Soft Drinks Federation would like us to think.

Hiya zippitippitoes! Have you got a link for that study? I'll have a read and see if it's what DD is doing. Basically what she does is every week for 6 weeks, someone from the Uni delivers a bag of frozen drinks (ribena) DD has to have one every day whilst making sure she has none whatsoever of the 'bad' additives and presertavies in her diet and then at some point during the 6 weeks they add these to the ribena - but we (supposedly) don't know and have to see if her behaviour changes. They keep an eye on her at school as well to see if she is any different. At the end, they take a DNA sample from them all to see if there is something in their make up which makes them react to or not.

We noticed a big difference in DD last week when they had obviously added stuff to the drink because her mouth was bright pink! But she was horrid all of that week - stroppy, argumentative, tearful - just a nightmare really!!!

The booklet we've got lists all the supermarkets own brands as well as the well known brands and it's amazing what stuff has this crap in it - a good example is peas!!!

It sounds like it is the same one

\link{http://www.nrr.nhs.uk/ViewDocument.asp?ID=N0231163511\ Here}

in the course of looking these things up I discovered that there is a current scare about the combination of sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid in soft drinks creating benzene which is carcinogenic and the food standards agency are currently in the middle of a 4 week study to seee if there is a danger to the public. Ribena has those two in together.

Yes that looks to be the one DD is doing. We have to fill in a questionnaire every week realting to that week and say how she is with sitting doing a task or watching a tv programme, how she is sitting for meals, whether she fidgets etc. Also whether she snores, whether she breathes through her mouth, whether she wakes up thirsty, feeling unrefreshed or with a headache.... bit scary the amount of side effects these things can give children.

I heard about that scare on the news and was amazed that not only do they still allow it in drinks but also that it's not common knowledge exactly what goes into these products and what they can do!

Glad I'm not the only who hates Fruit Shoots with a passion. They are everywhere! I bought DD1 one once as there wasn't an alternative and bad mummy had forgotten to bring her normal juice and read the ingredients - yuck! The expense and the way they are marketed as healthy drives me mad as well. Whats wrong with buying fruit juice and watering it down yourself? Much cheaper too.

I know a friend whos 8 mo won't drink milk anymore so she gives him about 6 Fruit Shoots a day as he will only drink out of the sports type bottle and not a normal sippy cup.

He'd bloody drink something else if she didn't offer him fruit shites, SK...but I know you feel the same as me about this!

6 a day ?????? DS is 21 months and loves to drink out of sports cap bottles as well so he gets a sports bottle of water!

I know Hunker but it's a friends sisters little boy and my friend tells me what she's been up to, apparently he was having rusk at 8 weeks old too.

I hate seeing toddlers running about with Fruit Shoot bottles hanging out their mouths.

Have shuddered before re this, am sure, but...

I know but my mother has proudly told me that I was on Tatties and Mince at 8 weeks not gravy though proper mince (no wonder I'm a veggie now).

Am feeling very virtous as DP and I have given up all fizzy drinks for lent! Feel bad going on about Fruit Shoots then guzzling Diet Coke myself.

I don't give ds fruit shoot as his behaviour is far worse when he has this. So the answwer to your question is a big yes. larsxx

SK, planning on feeding DD2 mince and tatties in a week or so then?! I look at DS2 and have NO idea how I'd get food into him now - tongue thrust reflex, unsteady head and all - he's far too young!

Isn't preservative 202 on the dirty dozen list? That is more likely than the sweeteners to cause bad behaviour IMO, but taken together - nightmare.

How can they get away with calling them "fruit" anything?

Agree re Fruit SHoot effect. Dd turns into a different toddler when she has one. She will now drink water but sometimes has watered down fruit juice-mostly apple. Can anyone tell me what the 'best' frut juices are? I normally buy LIbbys or the own brand organic one but I never know if it's good idea or not! Also, chilled or non-chilled or doesn't it matter? Are there any squash drinks that are better than others (dh drink this)- I thought the HIgh Juice was slightly better than the others but wasn't sure.
sorry for going off on tangent

When DD started this study I asked about her drinking Vimto as it's her fav and was told that she can drink that all the way through the study as it is one of the few that only use natural fruits instead of artificial crap.

Hayls, don' know how accurate it was but remember reading that the long life (usually carton but sometimes chiller) ones had been heat treated, which kills off some vitamins. So for best i would stick with freshly squeezed chiller juices.

I happily give my kids saver juice though, still less additives than squash.

Definitely agree that the fruit shoots with 'no added sugar' turn DD's into satan's little imps however I do very occasionally allow them to have the fruit shoots 'with no artificial sweeteners' (these are the ones with the green lids rather than the blue ones)and these don't seem to affect them.

The key with robinsons is to avoid the blue lids like the plague as blue = full of chemical cr*p - stick to green or gold.

\link{http://www.petitiononline.com/Additive/petition.html\petition}

\link{http://www.ukfoodguide.net/enumeric.htm\list}

A couple of interesting links.

BTW I'm not the originator of the petition.

My understanding was not to have freshly squeezed for littlies as it has not been pasturised and therefore was a food poisoning risk. May be wrong.

It's easy to decide which squash to buy. Read the ingredient label and choose the one with the fewest ingredients, all of which you should have heard of.

My (bought) blackcurrant squash has blackcurrants, sugar, vitamin C. So it's just as I would make myself if I had a blackcurrant bush and lots of bottles. That is what you are aiming for.

With regards to the petition - if that woman's son is so sensitive why on earth isn't she reading every label, every time? Sadly I think the company will just come back at her with "buyer beware".

What is the percentage of fruit in these things?

the percentage of fruit juice ina fruit shoot is about 11%. This is how when you work out how much it would be to offer diluted juice instead the costs sound ridiculous.

I have just had my reply from customer care

Thank you for your recent email.

As a matter of policy Britvic Soft Drinks only uses fully permitted and
approved ingredients in its drinks within the limit specified by UK
regulations.

The use of food additives was endorsed by the Committee on Toxicity, a
department of the Food Standards Agency, in 2001 following a review of
the suitability of food additives for those with food intolerances.

The Foods Standards Agency has dismissed claims, by the Food Commission,
that additives in food and drinks cause hyperactivity. In fact research
initiated by MAFF and inherited by the FSA, which suggested such a link,
has been rejected by a number of peer review journals and has not yet
been published.

In the opinion of the FSA's scientific experts, the findings are based
on subjective parental observation and there is no conclusive evidence
that food additives are a cause of hyperactivity. The FSA suggests that
the results of the research are not clear and the data questionable.

For further information on this issue, please contact the British Soft
Drinks Association on 020 7430 0356.

We trust you find this information useful and thank you for contacting
Britvic Soft Drinks.

Yours sincerely

Kerry Stoneman
Britvic Consumer Care Advisor

LOL at them referring their customers to the Soft Drinks Association. it was their spokesman who was telling BBC news that manufacturers had a 'duty' to provide drinks with high levels of benzene in them (because customers 'demand' drinks with those ingredients).

Is the Soft Drinks association an independent or regulatory body, or an umberella organisation aimed at the promotion and marketing of Soft drinks?

The British Soft Drinks Association say of themselves:
"The British Soft Drinks Association represents UK producers of soft drinks, including carbonated drinks, still and dilutable drinks, fruit juices and bottled waters. ..Membership at present includes around 90% of the manufacturers, factors and franchisors of Britain’s soft drinks.

BSDA's principal activity is to represent the interests of the soft drinks industry, both at UK and European level, ensuring that the industry’s perspective is always considered "

So they will alleviate your concerns from an independent, objective pov, then!