Can someone tell me what's the deal with Fruit Shoots?

[malmaman]

Are they very, very bad? I thought they weren't much different to any dilutable cordial for instance?

What (apart from water) is the preferred beverage for MNrs dc"s?

Oh and cheesy wotsits I get, they are obviously bordering on radio-active

Taste one. It's like drinking cordial before here is any water.

But are they actually bad for you? They seem to get a bad press on MN but dd always asking for them so was going to let her try one...

Personally since I have tasted a fruit shoot, if your kids want one or you are in a position to change them, I would buy a bottle of water, tip half to three quarters of the stuff out and fill it up with water. I promise you it will taste the same as when you have a glass of cordial at home.

If you normallly feed your child good stuff, then they make your kid mad. Well in my opinion they do.

I gave DS a bag of skittles once. JUST THE ONCE, and he went berserk.

Its all to do with the fact that we are now very sedentary and don't go walking with our kids who do not get any excersise.

I dont like my dd having too many artificial sweeteners but she does have the odd fruit shoot - she tolerates them fine and does not go 'crazy' like some kids seem to.

The rest of the time she has water, well diluted 'hi-juice' squash (with sugar in and around 50% fruit juice), cartons of pure fruit juice, drinkable yoghurts, etc

My bil's step son only drinks fruit shoots and coke

I would prefer that DS never had Fruit Shoots BUT I am a realist who lives in a far from ideal world - so sometimes he has one. They are not something I generally buy though. DS likes water, fruit juice and milk so I usually just give those three things.

oh yeah, I dont actually ever buy fruit shoots for the house - dd has them if we are out for lunch or at someone elses house.

I think, personally, that those who experience some kind of hallucination whereby their children go beserk because of Calpol or Smarties or whatever, must have been secretly swigging fruit shoots because it just isn't true I tell you! It is imagined. Smarties don't have artificial colourings now do they?

Do we truly believe that bad food makes us go temporarily mad? Good food is good, bad food is just bad food, not hallucinogenic.

What's the big deal? I gave my ds fruit shoots when he was little and liked them.

He appears to be absolutely fine with no long term effects at all.

Seems to be a kind of one upmanship to me. When I read threads like this, it makes me want to rush out and buy loads of so called evil stuff

When fruit shoots first came out, I thought, fantastic, they are fruit based and not fizzy. I couldnt wait to try them. We found them really disappointing because they just taste so artificial.

when we are out, we always take water with us. My children also like capri sun drinks (better taste than fruit shoots), pepsi (which I only allow on rare occasions) and ice tea. Also various posh sport juice based drinks, the names of which I cant remember.

It's the list of ingredients that makes it a no-no for me
Water, Orange fruit from concentrate (6%),Peach puree from concentrate (4%), Citric Acid, Acidity regulator (Trisodium Citrate), Preservatives (E202, E242, E211), Vitamins (C, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, B6, B12), Stabiliser (Xathan Gum), Sweeteners (Aspartame, Acesulfame K), Flavouring. Also contains a source of Phenylanine.

Yes, why would you really want to give your DC a chemical cocktail? I just don't get it. There is no point in these drinks - they are just chemicals mixed together with sugar to make a profit for companies that don't give a toss about your DCs health. They are not a treat. At least my wine is natural

I avoid aspertane and acesulfsame K

I dont feed them to myself and there is NO WAY i would feed them to children

I wont give them any sugar free (full of these chemical drinks either) or ANYTHING with aspertane in full stop.

Obviously the odd fruit shoot is not going to do any harm HOWEVER we as parents who are smart enough to bother reading the label of the stuff we feed our kids have a duty to the kids of parents who aren't smart enough to read the labels not to buy them.
It is a hugely cynical marketing ploy to get parents to buy a drink packed full of chemicals under the assumption that because it says fruit on the package that it is somehow healthy.
Makes me

Oh and that Sunny Delight stuff that too is just crap in a bottle and the manufacturers pay to have it displayed in the chilled cabinets even though it will remain 'fresh' in a warm room for years

I don't let my dc's have them, if we go out we take water with us and they all love it. At home we have juice made from concentrate slightly watered down. For years I was buying the more expensive freshly squeezed juice untill my dh was working with a well known juice company. He suggested that they emphasise the health benefits of freshly squeezed over concentrate and they replied that there were none, which is why none of them say anything about health advantages.

So at 6 -8 cartons of juice a week I opt for the concentrate version.