Children drinking coca cola

[Iamseeingstars]

My family keep allowing my children to drink coca cola. I have told them time and time again I dont want them drinking it, they are currently extremely overweight and if they had their way, they would be allowing them to drink two or three cans a day.

Can anyone remind me the reasons why children shouldnt drink too much cola. I know there are good reasons but need to be able to justify my arguments.

They feel that because they drink the diet stuff that that is ok

Caffeine, aspartame.

Aspartame, full of sugar, caffeine is addictive, try showing them how you could clean your loo with the stuff.

I saw someone pour a Coke from a McDonalds cup into a young toddler's baby bottle yesterday. DP had to strong-arm me out of there before I said something.

Caffeine, heaps of sugar, really acidic and corrosive for teeth and stomachs.

IMO (not based on anything scientific - just my humble opinion :)) the diet stuff is even worse as it's packed with artificial sweeteners which in many ways are worse than sugar.

Tell your children to say, no thankyou. You need to teach them not your family. I allow my children the occasional drink of diet coke with their evening meal, I don't ban things completely as thats a sure fire way of them wanting the banned product more.

Bad for teeth? Could you compromise and say your trying something for their diet and are having one treat day a week maybe on a saturday and they can have one can then? My dd is allowed it if we are having a once a week takeaway or if we go to a restaurant and I think that's fair.

How old are your dcs? my nephew is not allowed fizzy drinks and if he is offered he says no I'm not allowed. He is 7 and VERY honest!

How old are your DC? Mine aren't allowed coke/diet coke but are allowed lemonade as an occasional treat.

They're your children and your family shouldn't expose them to things that you're not comfortable with. I'm know my family don't agree with all of my parenting but they respect me enough to stick to things that I tell them (and probably question it behind my back, but hey ho!)

My brother is two years older than me and his teetha re crumbling, I have had one tooth removed and another crowned - otherwise I full a full set of healthy teeth. I drink water my brother drinks coke, otherwise our diets are similar.

You could clean a toilet or a coin with a can of cola - then ask them what they think it is doing to their and your children's insides.

There are many ethical reasons to not buy cocacola.

Because the acid rots their teeth. Good teeth is one of the best gifts you can give a child. Even if you set aside the cosmetic side and the pain of dental treatment, just think of the costs of dental treatment over a lifetime, DH was charged £95 each for four small replacement fillings yesterday. That's a regular cost for our family budget. Thousands over the years.

bonehealth

Also this.

the phosphorous in the fizzy drinks - leaches calcium from the bones- to balance out the levels in the blood. This leads to bone weakness.

I didn't explain it very well - but that is the general idea. Enough for me to seriously limit any fizzy drinks for kids and adults.

I can see how full sugar cola is bad for teeth and weight but what exactly is the problem with diet cola?
Genuinely want to know as my teenagers drink quite a bit and I thought the cola zero was ok?

I drink loads of coke

If it's diet then the answer is aspartame is banned in some countries (I think) due to links with cancer. Also artificial sweeteners are sweeter than sugar so consuming them desensitises the palate to "sweet" so means that people don't get a "sweet" fix unless things are really really sugary which is terribly bad for obvious reasons.

Personally I would rather my kids had normal coke than diet, diet stuff is just revolting and even worse for you.

I also think they did a study and people who drank diet drinks ended up fatter than those who drank the sugar versions? To do with this sweet desensitisation I think. It's a vague memory though so might be off the mark.

Also the phosphorus point and acid erosion of teeth.

here is quite a good article that came up on google

I thought the aspartame in diet only posed a risk to the unborn foetus, if Mum (or Dad, I guess) have a particular genetic defect - the kind you would never know you had until yr child has a problem. I drink far too much diet coke, did so through pregnancy, and we're all fine. Am pleased kids have no picked up the habit, tho, as it is REALLY bad for the teeth, as everyone says.

There is also evidence (don't know where), that the sweet taste itself excites a small insulin reaction, which will make you hungry and lay down more fat. But as I don't know what the evidence really is, I hesitate to say that very loudly.

Judith
lowriver.blogspot.co.uk/

It's difficult. My children never had fizzy drinks until they were about 10 and then only as an occasional treat. I always gave them full sugar until recently.
They are 14 and 16 now though and both like fizzy drinks, whether lemonade, cola or fizzy flavoured water.
I buy diet because DS2, while not technically overweight is certainly not skinny in spite of eating half what his skinny older brother does.

2-3 cans per day?! Thats a lot!

My kids are young (8 and 5), but as they see me have very occasional diet coke when out in restaurants (never at home) I let them have a little of mine then. Probably about 4 times per year.

Other than that, they never have fizzy drinks apart from occasional mineral water at restaurants - though dd1 has friends who do, so might get given an Orangina at a party these days.

Full sugar version: acid, too much sugar, corrosion, weight, etc etc

Diet version: aspartame and food colourings etc which I wouldn't want a kid to have on regular basis.

Thanks for your comments.

They don't drink 2-3 cans a day but would like to

Hv told the children that they are no longer allowed to drink coke unless I say so, which will be when we go out only

Full fat coke has the equivalent of 16 sugar cubes in it. That is diabetes in a can (plus tooth decay).

Diet coke is equally as acidic but won't give you diabetes or tooth decay. There will still be the long term osteoporosis issues though.

Everything in moderation.