Marketing Nutrasweet(aspartame) for children

[uwila]

Does anyone else have a problem with this? The one that really gets me is children's medicine. I recently went to Boots to buy some medised for my 8 month old DS. When she pulled the "sugar free" bottle off the shelf, I said "Oh no. I want the one with sugar." and she said "With sugar?" and I replied "Yes, it's better than nutrasweet. My 8 month old baby doen't need to be on a diet." I just can't understand why I seem to be the only one who thinks nutrasweet is not a good thing for my young children. What do you think? Should there be warnings on food so unsuspecting parents can be informed of the chemical crap they are putting into their children? And, I am the biggest Diet Coke feind that ever lived. But, young children are surely netter off with plain sugar.

yep plain sugar in this spiders web. Never buy sugar free/low cal stuff. mmmmm sugar coated crickets yummy

I totally utterly agree with you. Aspartame is the devils work. I try to avoid it wherever possible.

Have noticed that Calpol with aspartame seems to have disappeared. Bought some last week from a pharmacy and there only seemed to the two types for different ages. Was horrified when I discovered that the omega suppliments that I got for the DD's contained it.

Forgot to mention that there was no medised with sugar on the shelf. And Medised is certainly not alone in the this marketing plan. I see so many product for children that say "Sugar Free" on the front. But, when you read the label on the back, the fine print says aspartame.

Yes this bugs me too. I would rather my son's teeth dropped out than shove sweeteners down his throat. I had a moan at the phamacist in Boots the other week, that it is really hard to get medicine for children that is just the drug, and some suger to make it taste better. They are all full of colourings. WHY?

Oh, yes. Childrens vitamins, too. And let us not overlook the beloved Fruit Shoots.

I never actually realised (dumb me!) that they would replace sugar in medicines for children with aspartame till recently. Agree would much rather my child had sugar than chemical crap.

I agree with you Uwila.

I think it is the work of the devil too

Isn't it also linked with dodgy Donald Rumsfeld? Didn't he dodgily get it passed by the FDA when in fact it is borderline fit for human consumption. Or am I scaremongering?

agree, fruit shoots are the work of the devil!

Yes, Budababe, and how many parents are buying these products because they think oh good it has no added sugar not realising what has been put in its place.

I don't mind it for adults. I think we are big enough to read the back and buy the one we want, hence using our consumer vote. But when they market the products for children, and there is no Sugar alternative we have no voting power. You have to buy it because your kid needs the medicine.

good. I feel like this too. Hate it when I go to people's houses and they give my children "tooth kind but might give you cancer in years to come - who knows" Ribena.

I feel particularly strongly about this. I have NEVER liked sweetners. From the first moment I tasted TAB (!!) to present day when I get given low-cal tonic in my G&T and have to send it back because it tastes gross.

"You wait till they try my low sugar pancakes" ARGH! SUGAR WITH SWEENTERS!!! ARGH ARGH ARGH.

I agree it is terrible, I try and avoid getting anything with artificial sweeteners in. In fact from Monday when we do next weeks shop we're all starting the you are what you eat plan it may be drastic but i suffer from anxiety and depression and also breast cancer runs in my family i could also do with losing a good few stone and conbined with an exercise plan i'd like to feel what it feels like to be properly healthy there's too much crap pumped into everything and too much hidden chemicals in foods so as much as I hate Gillian McKeith im giving her ideas a go.

Er? Donald Rumsfeld? What power does he have over children's marketing campaigns in the UK?

I don't mind that it is legal. If fact I'd probably die if someone took away my Diet Coke. But I am an adult and can choose to take associated risk with the products I choose to consume.

I do however most certainly mind that when my baby is sick I can not buy a suitable medicine that doesn't contain nutrasweet.

I'm so glad to read that people agree with me. Do you think the power of mumsnet could get some action? Can we start a petition to whatever the UK equivalent of the American FDA is?

I totally agree. Aren't artificial sweetners banned from baby foods? Why isn't this extended to foods that 2yo, 4yo, 7yo frequently consume?

It's virtually impossible to find full calorie tonics that do not contain artificial sweetners these days. Schweppes low cal and regular contain sweetners as does Waitrose's tonic now. The only sweetner-free tonics I have found are Tesco's Finest range (so now sugar is considered something special!??!) and some from Lidl's. I'm a recent convert to Lidls for the reason that some of the staple foods contain less crap than British brands.

uwila he was a lobbyist for the Food and Drug Administration in the US, the country of origin of Aspartame

On one level you could say he started it

After reading a thread on here about it my dd's now have evryhting with natural sugar in!
It's amazing what crap parents are fobbed off with.

yep
toothpaste another one
I hate all sweeteners, sugar is FINE in moderation!

All those flavoured waters contain them.

But Suzy, my complaint isn't that it is used. It is the way it marketed to children. I think there should be a warning in the front of the package that says "Warning: Contains Aspartame"

ANd, look, in's even up at the top of this page. Click on the calpol, then surf around their site, you can find their "sugar free" products, but no mention of aspartame.

I have commented on this on loads of other threads. I hate the idea of giving aspartame to ds. Okay so sugar can give you tooth decay (so clean your teeth) and can make you fat (so limit how much you eat, and keep active).

But the long term risks of this synthetic stuff are totally unknown. Some american research has suggested it can adversely affect brain function and memory (a great thing to add to Omega 3 then - NOT).

I never buy anything with 'no added sugar' on the label. It's a shame they are not obliged to put 'withh added artificial sweeteners' on the label in print of the same size.

BTW when ds was 2-3 I used to buy him the occasional Fruit Shoot. But his behaviour always went out the window after them.

But while we're on the subject I was walking down the road only to see a wee bub of about 9 moths who had a bottle filled with irn bru sookin away!!!
(its like coke but much much worse)

Whats that about????

I've also noticed a link between my children behaving badly and sweeteners. It's happened several times and can't be coincidence.

I can't imagine what he'd be like after one of those chuppa-chups sugar-free lollipops they advertise on the telly. The add suggests you can eat them one-after-the-other cos they're sugar free.

OMG

My sister has a friend, a peadiatric oncologist, who is utterly and totally opposed to any artificial sweetners for children, saying that there has never been any long term research into them, and the effects on children in the quantities that children can consume them at, ie in all the soft drinks etc, as they are a relatively new concept.
Sugar, as we know, rots teeth, can make you fat, but provides energy and is otherwise OK. As parents we can control the downsides to sugar, but have no control of the potential consequences of artificial sweetners.
The food industry love them because they are very cheap, and can "add value" by being marketed as healthy.
I try my best to avoid them.