Why do fruit shoots get such a slagging off on MN?

[Gateau]

Not intended to provoke a debate (tho it might!)but they get slagged off quite often on MN, and I'm intrigued to know why.

Gateau - yes, "someone" does always seem to get uppity on your threads, don't they?

I buy high juices that have sugar not sweeteners I just try to avoid aspartame.

I usually buy fresh fruit juice and dilute it to carry in a sports bottle for ds. Or offer water.

Actually, cordials that have real sugar rather than artificial sweeteners are better, for a treat.

You can also buy 100% fruit juices from concentrate in boxes with straws if you want something easy to take with you.

My point (which seems to have been missed) is that giving your child the odd fruit shoot is not worthy of the sort of condemnation displayed on MN.

I agree that it is right to judge the marketing of the product - and to look closely at the business driving this, but not to make blanket statements about the sort of parent that would give their child one to drink, which usually takes the form of barely masked snobbery. And on MN, debates on this subject often take the latter form.

I understand what you're saying bluebutterfly - and I agree.

Oh and I have heard (don't know if this is true) that if you are going to give your child juice, giving it with a straw is a better way for them to drink it because less gets on their teeth.

I am sure if this is incorrect, someone will correct me...

Absolutely Blue. I find the marketing of most children's products pretty objectionable, actually. But the occasional Fruit Shoot is certainly not going to kill anyone - I just don't understand why anyone would give their kids a fruit shoot when there are better products on the market, just as easily available!

I think there are certain MN articles of faith. And fruit shoots are always a Bad Thing. And Innocent smoothies are always a Good Thing.

However they do taste vile.

Innocent smoothis are also way too expensive. Better to make your own - and tastier!

mine have water and diluted fruit juice in the main

they have FS when we go to MacDonalds as they come with the Happy Meal

they taste vile though, plastic taste imo

but all things in moderation yadda yadda

I think Fruit Shoots are gross. THey are so strong flavoured. THey are like squash that hasn't been watered down.

I wouldn't judge others though. But I personally don't give my DC squash at all. They have fresh fruit juice watered down a bit

It irritates me that this kind of junk exists since it's unhealthy and expensive. I don't impose a blanket ban on stuff dd gets elsewhere - I don't exclaim 'OMG - a Fruit SHoot! or whatever'. But I do inwardly grit my teeth. Apart from wanting (as unsmugly as I can manage) to avoid the worst of the junk onslaught I don't want to reward the commercial sophistry that produces this kind of stuff. Adults may be fairer game perhaps - but not kids.

There are far worse things - but it takes absoultely no effort or time on my part to not buy this stuff. It's such an easy improvement to make.

hiya, i am a childrens dentist and the main problem with fruit shoots is the high level of sugar and kids drinking vast quantities of them during the day. i have seen 2 year olds who need to have all their teeth extracted in hospital from decay due to drinks like these. thats why they are so bad. obviously once in a while with food is ok but its when that is all kids drink it is a problem. personally milk and water is best albeit boring for kids i know. but boring is better than having no teeth until you are 10!

It's basically like dipping some felt-tip pens in a cup of water and then making your child drink it

I mean, it's not TOXIC, but why would you do it? And why would you PAY to buy it?

It's one of those BAFFLING things

They were giving them away free last week as I exited London Zoo. Basically, pushing one or two bottles into the hands of leaving children.

We eagerly took three, until I read the (phenomenally long) ingredients list! Good grief, why would I want to give DD that, dressed up as healthy, when we could just cut to the chase and give her Coca Cola or Fanta or something. It really annoys me that they blatantly market to kids and pretend to be healthy when.. they're not.

(She didn't get Coca Cola or Fanta either, BTW- poor soul).

As for Innocent Smoothies, there was a thread on MN a while back where THEY got a kicking too. Bad for your teeth all that fruit etc etc

to be honest the whole 'middle classes having an excuse to be superior' type comment really really really fucks me off.

My son has profound autism and the shit in these types of drinks make him bite himself and do all sorts of other really unpleasant stuff.
So I avoid it. And i do have to tell my DD to put that drink down because we can't have it in the house.
And then I know some wanker in the queue is going to make oh so clever inverted snobby comments about me being a middle class mum with a Tarquin son and a precious DD.

Perhaps if someone in the food standard agency grew a pair then I wouldn't have to read lables and would just be able to buy my kids food and not some kind of fucking chemical experiment in a bottle.

But then I suppose it is entirely possible that I am just having a bad day

My DD1 has the very very occasional one (usually if we're out and someone has bought it for her) but they taste VILE. Increibly sweet and sickly and artificial. It's like the equivalent of a whole bottle of undiluted squash in one small bottle.

The bottles are handy to reuse for water when you're going out though!

My cousins ds's used to have fruit shoots - We re named them 'hyper shoots' as they both went mad after having them!! After experiencing it I will not be letting dd have them when she is older!

we generally avoid all robisons drinks as they all seem to contain sweeteners.

My children have become very good at reading bottle labels in shops if they are thirsty now and know that they are to avoid ones with sweeteners in them

If my children want squash, we go for high juice ones which have natural sugar in.

On a slightly different note, am I the only person who can't stand the robisons adverts on the radio "what does an artificial taste sound like......"? They should remake it with "what does artificial sweetener sound like"!

I think all of Tesco's own label & Robinsons contain aspartame. Sainsbury's own brand says on the label it does not contain benzoate preservatives or aspartame, it's sweetened with sucralose - my dh likes this. I'm not particularly keen on squash but Rocks Organic blackcurrant is lovely; it's more expensive & it has to be stored in the fridge.

I think dh might be a secret mner. The other day in pizza hut there was a baby in a high chair drinking from a fruit shoot bttle. When they left dh said 'did you see that? That baby was drinking a fruit shoot!'

I wonder how he knows!!!!

I had no idea what a fruit shoot was until I started reading mumsnet!

dd drank a fruitshoot at playgroup once and only once without my knowledge.

She didn't sleep for two days.

never again.