Tesco withdraw Ribena

[Quintanimo]

linky

Slightly irrelevant, but in my health record book when I was 4 months old the Health Visitor recommended my mum give me Baby Ribena to drink.

I am not sure what is more shocking- that there was special Baby Ribena or that the HV recommended it for a 4 year old

As it's only Ribena and a couple of others (Capri Sun and Rubicon I think), I wonder if there's been some issue with the manufacturer or supplier (over costs or something) and so Tesco are spinning it as a health thing? Just cynically speculating here!

I can't stand the taste you get with sweeteners and I've noticed diet drinks are often cheaper now. I'd be more concerned about 'hidden' sugar in pasta sauce, cheese strings, pizza etc.

SomethingFunny I'm old enough to have had rosehip syrup as a toddler! - I'm a size 10 and still have all my teeth (except the wisdom ones), but can you imagine giving that to a child today? Can you even buy it anymore?

What's wrong what's wrong with sweeteners?

Yy to 'hidden sugars' - it's shocking.
There are huge amounts of sugar in preprepared pasta sauces.

MinesaBottle Despite it, I am also fairly slim and have perfect teeth (no fillings)...

Imagine the MN outrage if that was these days though!

I used to have rose hip syrup, we loved it as children. You can still get it mostly online though.
we only drink full sugar squash here (not every day but often) and ribena is a favourite. My children are all slim, fit and and have great teeth.
I'm a grown up I'll decide what to drink and what to allow my children to drink. It drives me crazy when shops presume to tell us or try to dictate. Besides it hypocritical when the next aisle is chock full of biscuits, cereals and chocolate crap.

I am all for sugar over sweeteners in drinks. I know what sugar does to me, whereas sweeteners it isn't as clear.
I manage to cook most meals from scratch like tomato sauces so miss the 'added' sugars there.
Robinsons do not make any sugar options now.
I found a brand called Rocks that do all natural squash. Tastes great to.

Sweeteners are cancer causing, so yes, they are dangerous.

There are over 92 known adverse reactions to aspartame (the worst sweetener). Details here:

www.sweetpoison.com/aspartame-side-effects.html

It was banned by the FDA twice, but was ridiculously reinstated. Anyone interested can read here:

www.collective-evolution.com/2013/01/19/the-shocking-story-of-how-aspartame-became-legal/

Don't be fooled. It's cheaper than sugar, that's why they use it. You think they won't put poison in food?

Cigarettes and alcohol are legal, doesn't make them good for you.

Tesco are keeping own brand juices (which have considerably higher profit margin) so hardly going to be skin off their nose. I suspect there's much more to this.
Hidden sugars are scary, virtually all processed foods contain sugar, eight to twelve teaspoons in ketchup?

That would be the tomatoes, Ubik. They're sugary, particularly when concentrated down in a sauce.

And who eats enough ketchup that the proportion of sugar is an issue?

Those are interesting links. I was chatting with a friend about this yesterday, she has epilepsy and was warned one of her meds that she took years ago would interact with aspartame and give a 'speedy' effect. So I imagine it isn't safe for everyone.

There's no evidence at all that aspartame causes cancer.

I don't like the way it tastes but claiming it's a poison is going a bit far

I have a severe reaction to artificial sweetners, stomach ache, squits and hives all over my body. It is becoming very hard to find a soft drink without it these days. Might just have to stick to wine!

There's plenty of evidence that aspartame causes cancer in rats. That kind of evidence is enough for most studies, rats being similar to us.

NHS choices

'Aspartame has been extremely controversial since its approval for use by several European countries in the 1980s. A 1996 report suggested a link between aspartame and an increase in the number of diagnosed brain tumours. However, the study had very little scientific basis and later studies showed that aspartame was in fact safe to consume.
The European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences has published several long-term studies (2006, 2007) linking the consumption of aspartame with an increase in cancers, namely lymphomas and leukaemias, in rats.
Following these studies, the US National Cancer Institute conducted a study of nearly half a million people, comparing those who consumed drinks containing aspartame with those who did not. Results of the 2006 study found that aspartame did not increase the risk of leukaemia, lymphoma or brain cancer.
Amid the continuing disquiet, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) conducted a comprehensive review of the evidence in 2013 and concluded that aspartame was safe for human consumption, including pregnant women and children.
In digestion, aspartame is quickly and completely broken down in to by-products – including phenylalanine, aspartic acid and methanol – which then enter our system through normal routes. Hardly any aspartame enters the bloodstream.

All I can say is that when I stopped drinking a certain brand of drinks with aspartame added, I had bad headaches for four days. This has happened twice (because I'm a moron who doesn't learn.)

I complained because lipton have started putting stevia in their iced tea. It does not taste nice and the reply was that they are refing sugar in their drinks because the government told them to
Shouldnt they let customers decide. I would be interested to see if they are doing the same in Europe.

Fantasyland, diluting fruit juice is a good option for kids. As long as it's very dilute. It's also best to keep juice for meal times, and try to offer only water in between.
My son will only drink water if it's in his dad's running bottle! (So now this wee 3 year old has his own man-sized bottle for that very reason )

When are companies going to catch onto the fact that so many people are looking for authentic ingredients now, even authentic sugar, and not chemicals? Things are going in the wrong direction.

This is ridiculous. I always search out the squash with sugar in and avoid sweeteners. Ribena is our favourite.
Tesco must be mad.

I honestly thing all the aspartame stuff is scare mongering.

participants who were self-diagnosed as sensitive to aspartame showed no difference in their response after consuming a cereal bar, whether it contained aspartame or not
www.food.gov.uk/news-updates/news/2015/13719/aspartame-study-findings-published

The studies provide no evidence to support an association between aspartame and cancer in any tissue. The weight of existing evidence is that aspartame is safe at current levels of consumption as a nonnutritive sweetener
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17828671

By all means persist with faith in the government and the NHS if you like. Don't call the rest of us scare mongerers though.

Hahahahahaha
I reckon they've fallen out with ribena otherwise surely coke would be off first on the moral sugar front!!!

I for one am appalled by the amount of sugar in lunchbox drinks, and welcome a clampdown on it. They could do better than target Ribena though... Those Starbucks fake things in the fridge section, plus Frijj and other milk products are faaar worse. And don't get me started on Monster and all the other energy drinks. There are kids at dc's school who drink Lucozade at lunchtime FFS.

Not sure that aspartame is the answer though. Perhaps water really is the only safe stuff to drink.

Wasn't there a scare on bottled water a few years ago...?