diet pop for kids

[rea]

Do doctors reccomend diet pop for diabetic children?

my daughter isn't diabetic, (I am) but is VERY sugar sensitive, and I have never allowed her to have regular pop, or strong juice. I am wondering, since there is such a bad rap on aspertame, is it safe for diabetic children? I would like to be able to give her a 'treat' once in a while, but am worried about anything it might do to hurt her, longterm.

she is about to start school, and going to more birthday parties, but i want to know how safe it is before I start letting her have diet drinks while other kids have regular ones.

how about splenda? they SAY its safe for children, but where i live its hard to find in a pop.

anyone heard of anything?

[DeusXM]

Problems with aspartame are an urban legend. There are a small number of people who are genuinely allergic to the stuff, which can cause headaches.

The idea that it causes brain cancer or anything more severe than a headache in a few people is false. There is absolutely no scientific evidence whatsoever to suggest aspartame is damaging in reasonable amounts. The only sources of information that claim aspartame is dangerous coincidentally always seem to either be hawking a book on the dangers of aspartame, a detox plan (that of course, you have to pay for), or they're part of a general 'alternative' health site, which also coincidentally appears to have rather a lot to sell.

http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/qa-adf9.html
http://www.acsh.org/healthissues/newsID.265/healthissue_detail.asp
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ANSWERS/ANS00772.html
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/1998/aspartame-0916.html

It is perfectly safe for children with diabetes to drink diet soft drinks. If anything, you should be more concerned about the artificial colourings, flavourings and caffeine in diet soft drinks, rather than aspartame. Diet soft drinks are far safer for children with diabetes than regular ones and pose pretty much no health risk whatsoever. I say 'pretty much' because technically nothing can be guaranteed safe. But for 99.999999999% of people, diet drinks and aspartame are absolutely fine.

[archimeech]

There's more of a chance of furthering Osteoporosis (sp?) than there is of getting cancer. I've read a couple of studies that suggest overindulging in Pop, Soft Drinks, Soda (whatever your local vernacular for it is ;) ) can contribute to bone loss due to the large amounts of calcium-carbonate ingested. Not so much a problem for kids as it is for adults. My kids aren't diabetic yet, and we are tryin to get the whole famliy away from sodas and drinking more water, but one or two every now and then for a treat won't hurt. :)

[duck]

You're picking your poison, basically. There is no doubt that our kids are consuming more processed sugar than ever nowadays. My wife and I, though, have decided to keep our kid(s) away from the artificial sweeteners as much as possible while trying to limit sugar as well. Nothing austere, just mindful of what they eat.

[Erin]

I thought it was saccharine that gave you cancer, and aspartame made you stupid?

Either way it's moot, b/c you (or your kids) would have to ingest much more than a reasonable lifetime supply in order to get those side effects. I, personally, plan on having my kids drink the "real stuff" but only in moderation, like for special occasions. that is unless they are diabetic like me, then they'll get the diet stuff, but only for special occasions. Like Duck said, you pick your poison. I like what my aunt does with her kids, they get a tiny bit of fruit juice mixed with seltzer, so it's sweet and fizzy, but it's a pretty healthy drink.

[duck]

I thought it was saccharine that gave you cancer, and aspartame made you stupid?

Either way it's moot, b/c you (or your kids) would have to ingest much more than a reasonable lifetime supply in order to get those side effects. I, personally, plan on having my kids drink the "real stuff" but only in moderation, like for special occasions. that is unless they are diabetic like me, then they'll get the diet stuff, but only for special occasions. Like Duck said, you pick your poison. I like what my aunt does with her kids, they get a tiny bit of fruit juice mixed with seltzer, so it's sweet and fizzy, but it's a pretty healthy drink.

You know what's funny? I decided about a year ago that I was an aspartame abuser--there were days when I would drink 10 sodas, other days when I would drink 14, never less than six. So I looked up the effects of "aspartame abuse". Yeah, there are a lot of websites that HATE the stuff...So I gave it up cold-turkey in September, I have had two sodas in the meantime with aspartame, both last week. Do I feel any better? Meh. But I digress..what I find funny about the aspartame-bashing sites is that most of them are pro-saccharin/anti-Splenda! I guess those sites are run by whoever makes the "pink stuff"? LOL.

[rea]

I normally am a bit of a health freak myself. I was more concerned with lupus and ms, which I heard aspertame overdosage can give you symptoms of, and I thought, thats fine to risk for me, but maybe not a four year old.

I normally use the 'carbonated water and juice' trick, for myself as well, but she is getting to the age where she is over at peoples houses and the other moms just don't have the kinds of things I would. you dont' see white bread in my fridge, nor many pre-packaged or processed foods, let alone red meat. I am learning to relax a bit though, to try to make at least her life more 'normal'.

its easier to tell other parents I don't allow her sugary things, but give them diet pop so she can be normal like other kids. I can't give her regular pop, even in small doses.

she's four, and has a bladder problem, and can't handle candy or pop without having 'accidents' all the time. her bladder just hasn't caughten up to all the growing the rest of her body has done, and after seeing every website and doctor out there, its easier to just keep away the sugar. she has been tested for diabetes, but doesn't have it. but she is obviously very sugar sensitive.

anyway, i had this idea to give to diet pop on those rare occasions, but I know so many other people are so against children drinking it, I thought, well, what do diabetic children drink? do doctors allow it? so I thought I would ask!

I love to hear your opinions!

[duck]

I normally am a bit of a health freak myself. I was more concerned with lupus and ms, which I heard aspertame overdosage can give you symptoms of, and I thought, thats fine to risk for me, but maybe not a four year old.

I normally use the 'carbonated water and juice' trick, for myself as well, but she is getting to the age where she is over at peoples houses and the other moms just don't have the kinds of things I would. you dont' see white bread in my fridge, nor many pre-packaged or processed foods, let alone red meat. I am learning to relax a bit though, to try to make at least her life more 'normal'.

its easier to tell other parents I don't allow her sugary things, but give them diet pop so she can be normal like other kids. I can't give her regular pop, even in small doses.

she's four, and has a bladder problem, and can't handle candy or pop without having 'accidents' all the time. her bladder just hasn't caughten up to all the growing the rest of her body has done, and after seeing every website and doctor out there, its easier to just keep away the sugar. she has been tested for diabetes, but doesn't have it. but she is obviously very sugar sensitive.

anyway, i had this idea to give to diet pop on those rare occasions, but I know so many other people are so against children drinking it, I thought, well, what do diabetic children drink? do doctors allow it? so I thought I would ask!

I love to hear your opinions!

One thing: You may want to pop over to the "parenting" section here and post those questions...I always browse "new posts" but some people actually browse by sub-section to sub-section, skipping sections that do not necessarily pertain to them; In other words, you may get a better response in the parenting section.

Personally, I bet once your kid has a diet drink or two she'll hate the stuff! LOL :)

[jen_slc]

I normally am a bit of a health freak myself. I was more concerned with lupus and ms, which I heard aspertame overdosage can give you symptoms of, and I thought, thats fine to risk for me, but maybe not a four year old.There is a ton of misinformation floating around the internet about this, but there is absolutely no credible evidence of an association between aspartame consumption and MS or lupus. Did you happen to receive an email about Diet Coke drinkers developing MS? :wink: Bogus. I don't think it's a problem for kids to have diet soda at all, if I were a parent and given the choice between regular soda and diet, I'd absolutely go with the diet. But of course, I'd force water on them first and foremost. Too much of anything will harm you in *some* physical manner. I'm such a hypocrit, being the Diet Coke addict I am, I really should take my own advice... :laugh:

[rea]

thanks everyone!

I haven't found any actually study or evidence other than net gossip either.

[someone]

I think it is mainly legend. I know someone who is crazy about diet coke and will sometimes drink 2 of those 7-eleven big gulps. She has been doing this for years.. since Tabb came out. Quite honestly, if the apartame thing was true, she would be dead by now. Althought it does not hurt you, it definately isn't great for you.

[duck]

Tabb is saccharine. I wish they still made it, because I always thought it tasted more like real Coke than Diet Coke did...

[someone]

Ick, Tabb is nasty stuff (not that aspartame is any better)... and they do still manufacture it in small quantities. I have seen it in the grocery store here and there.

here are a bunch of places you can get it:
http://home.epix.net/~tjwagner/tab.html#links

[duck]

Nuh-uh! My Food Lion doesn't carry it!

Wow, it really suprises me that they still make that stuff!

[someone]

That's umm.. unfotunate? If you want it that bad just order it online.

[DeusXM]

As far as I'm aware, neither saccharin, aspartame or sucralose (Splenda) have been proven to cause cancer or any other condition that cannot be explained as an allergic reaction. It used to be received wisdom that saccharin did cause cancer, but the jury is now largely out on this after studies have failed to support the idea.

Aspartame can cause problems but only if you have phenylketonuria (PKU), which is a genetic disorder that makes you intolerant to phenylalanine. Most of the bumf around aspartame is based on claiming the effects of aspartame on people with PKU apply to everyone.

However, the vast majority of people who claim they've had problems from aspartame in diet soft drinks can very easily be explained by caffeine addiction. If you are drinking 9-10 cans of diet Coke a day, then it's not the aspartame that's causing the problem, it's the caffeine. Incidentally, diet Coke has a higher level of caffeine in it than regular Coke.

[rea]

DuesXm - thats very interesting.

I usually avoid caffeine products for my daughter and I (thank goodness) and stick with clear diet drinks.

I have heard about phenelenylum-whatchamacallit. I didn't realize that people are allergic to it are the ones having reactions. makes sense. there is always someone out there allergic to something!

the whole situation is funny for me, I usually dont eat processed foods, so there isn't much worry about any effects it could have long term. (hmm, long term effect of eating broccoli?) but I need to start being more lax for my poor kid. recently I let her eat sugar free gum and she LOVES the fact she can have something like the other kids at her daycare. when other kids brag about the huge chocolate bunny they ate, she brags she got a stick of gum! its pretty cute.

[DeusXM]

Caffeine isn't particularly safe for children -that's why you don't give kids coffee! On the other hand, one Coke every now and then isn't a massive problem.

It's worth bearing in mind that caffeine is also fairly damaging to adults too. It causes your BG to raise, slightly increases your risk of a heart attack and makes you put on weight. It also is highly addictive and it's a real pain in arse to try and reduce your caffeine intake once you're hooked.

Having said all that....basically, EVERYTHING is bad for you. The trick is to just be sensible and not stuff yourself full of any one particular thing, be it a manmade chemical, or even just carrots. Common sense is the order of the day, and I'm sure that since you're a parent, you've got bags of that already.

[duck]

I would concur much of my problems are prolly caffeine-related. I have tried to repeatedly to avoid the ****, even cutting it out completely once, successfully about 18 months ago. But someway, somehow, it gets back at ol' duck. It just won't let me out of its clutches!

:coffee: