Would you add a potentially carcinogenic biochemical warfare agent to your children’s food?
Probably not, I’m guessing.
Yet the majority of children’s fruit squashes contain aspartame and saccharin.
Why should you care?
My toddler went to a Christmas party on Monday, with his child minder. He came home and spent most of the night awake, screaming. The next day, he had huge bright red patches all over his body that looked like burns. They were clearly causing him pain. I managed to treat them homeopathically and it’s been confirmed that it was probably a reaction to food.
All the food he ate at the party was stuff he’d normally eat, apart from one thing: orange squash.
A well known, respected brand; checks today with the child minder confirmed it contains both aspartame and saccharin. We may never prove it, but these are likely culprits for his discomfort over the last few days.
It’s illegal in the UK to market food containing aspartame at children under 3. But this doesn’t stop it being an ingredient in most squashes, fizzy drinks and even some children’s yoghurts.
Did you know…?
The Pentagon classifies aspartame as a biochemical warfare agent and recent research links it not just to behaviour problems, but also to leukaemia and lymphoma. But we feed it to our kids.
Here’s an excellent article by Pat Thomas on exactly why you should care about keeping aspartame out of your kids’ diet:
http://www.theecologist.org/archive_detail.asp?content_id=457
Unfortunately, the UK Department Of Health is still preaching that aspartame is a safe food additive, with no serious side effects. Until they change their advice, we need to keep checking the ingredients on everything we buy.
What can you do?
- Read the ingredients – particularly on anything “sugar free”, “low sugar” or “no added sugar”.
- Get informed, then write to your MP, voicing your concerns.
- Write to the food manufacturers, to explain why you won’t be buying their products any more.
Got an opinion? Let us know what you think, via the comments.
Hi
Just wanted to comment on a subject that is close to me Aspartame. I do not have children and I believe this is very important for adults as well. For many years I suffered with digestive problems I cut out many foods and drinks and ate as much healthy food as I could with little improvement. Then one day I was having lunch with a friend, I had diet coke and she had ‘normal’. She is over weight and it wasn’t until we were talking about diet ‘stuff’ that she mentioned aspartame and why she does not have diet foods, her symptoms were similar to mine. Since that day I have read everything before eating and cut it out of my diet and I can now say I really enjoy my food. I believe it should be banned from use.
I recently cut out all artificial sweeteners from my diet. I drank some diet coke and a lot of Crystal Lite. I also used sugar-free gum and mints. I am four months pregnant and started having severe headaches. After eliminating the artificial stuff I have not had any headaches. But even more amazing – I had been suffering for three years with racing heart, shakiness, and belly aches. Those problems are gone also. I have more energy. I am more alert and relaxed. I also don’t crave sugary foods. AMAZING!
I am so shocked by this and by the article in The Ecologist. I always thought that by substituting the sugar for sweetner I was helping myself but now it seems that I have been potentially causing problems greater than potential obesity!
My husband drinks squash with no added sugar and diet coke all the time (aprox 2 litres of each a week!) and suffers from digestive problems which I have always contributed to stress.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention!
Katy
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Hi. I’m a caustic satire writer for TheSpoof.com.
I specialize in exposing the truth about aspartame in satire that is published on the Spoof.
Please note, I once drank a LOT of diet coke.
Now I can tell you that the LDLo of aspartame is less than
3 ounces of aspartame (pure). Want the sources? I have them.