ARTIFICIAL ADDITIVES IN CHILDRENS DRINKS

My area of interest is Natural Health, and when my son began reacting badly to food and drinks "made for children" I began researcing what exactly was in these products the big manufacturers have been spending £££MILLIONS MULTI MILLIONS OF POUNDS on advertising to our children and we the parents with a message that we should "Bring them up" on the their product among others.

What I found when I began my research and talked to ethical people in the Food and Drink Industry as well as health Professionals - there are many Educated people in the Medical Profession as well as Professors in top Universities who have written papers documenting the effects that ingredients contained in the leading childrens juice drink brands, sweets and food contain.

I was told only yesterday that an ingredient in the leading UK children's juice drink brand is Highly Toxic and that if you were to drink a bottle of this juice within 12 hours of it being produced you would die.

Not only that but the people working with the product have to wear safety suits similar to those worn in space because of the high levels of toxins.

We have been duped by the Marketing machines of these big companies. They tell us that artificial sweetners are ok in small amounts and so safe in the products they sell to our children - what they do not take into account or tell us - is that children dont drink one drink, they may have a drink and a pack of sweets and some cereal and a cake or biscuit all containing the same artificial sweetner so they are not consuming that small "safe" amount. Children who do this on a daily basis have these awful ingredients build up in their systems causing all kinds of health problems.

Sweetners are not the only problem. We know about artificial colours and flavours but there are also the preservatives and the ingredients hidden beneath their E number or another unfamiliar name.

I was so incensed that I produced our own drink - Magic Fruit Potions. However, if you were to ask me "what shoud my child drink" I would say water or diluted real fruit juice, but mainly water. A fruit juice or a Magic Fruit Potion is definitely better than these other additive laden drinks.

Magic Fruit Potions have no artificial ingredients at all.

I am not here to sell them but if you want more info look at our site www.magicfruitpotions.co.uk

If you have any queries, please ask me I am happy to answer any questions.

If your child is experiencing health issues that the doctors have not found an answer too, I would get them off all drinks and sweets with artifcial additives and give them milk thistle and dandelion (liquid herb from a good health food shop - ask for the alcohol free verions as it is easier to disguise in juice or food - Natures Answer is good) to help their sytem clear. Bioforce the herbal people, have a great helpline that you can call and get information on what herbal preparations are good and safe to give to your children for comoon ailments and those that the doctor hasnt give an answer to. Herbs are the basis of modern medicine, they work and they work very well. You will find Bioforce's number on their website - look under Bioforce "Irvine".

I would also steer well clear of anything containing soya flour - especially if your child has asthma or problems with congestion or coughs which are unexplained and check out all the information you can on soya flour and soya products which are not properly fermented - soya flour is not and it is in most of our mass produced bread - read the labels.

It is interesting that all of the big producers - Warburton, Mothers Pride, Hovis etc etc all now make their bread with large amounts of soya. This is not because it is good for our health - another marketing lie they all capitalise on, it is because it is a cheap filler.

For info on additives just google "children and additives" and see some of the information there in the public domain - here is one from the Guardian:

Danger to children from food and drink additives is exposed· Study links to hyperactivity and disruptive behaviour
· Government body tells parents to check packaging labels
· Angry reaction as decision on law change is passed to Europe
Buzz up!
Digg it
Rebecca Smithers, consumer affairs correspondent The Guardian, Thursday 6 September 2007 Article historyParents are to be warned of the dangers of giving their young children drinks, sweets and cakes containing specified artificial additives, as a result of new findings being made public for the first time today which confirm their link with hyperactivity and disruptive behaviour.
The government's Food Standards Agency is taking the significant step of issuing revised guidance to consumers recommending that they steer clear of products containing certain E-numbers if their children are showing signs of hyperactivity or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The release of the new public health advice follows the results of the biggest UK study into the links between hyper-activity and chemical food additives, which was commissioned by the government and published today in the medical journal the Lancet.

But the move has confounded experts and health campaigners, who say the government had missed an opportunity to take a tougher line by banning the additives completely instead of placing a huge burden on parents. Adults are being advised to check for additives by scrutinising labels, yet many sweets and cakes are sold loose without labels, as is ice cream.

The FSA also said it would not be issuing any formal advice about the findings to headteachers about the content of school meals via the School Food Trust.

The agency said yesterday it was passing them to the European Food Safety Authority for it to make a decision about a ban as part of re-evaluation of the safety of all food colours.

Hyperactivity is a behaviour officially indicated by increased movement, impulsiveness and inattention, and can impair learning. It is unclear how many people in the UK are affected by hyperactivity conditions. In its more severe form ADHD is believed to affect between 2.4% and 5% of the population.

For their research, scientists from Southampton University recorded the responses of 153 three-year-olds and 144 eight to nine year-olds to mixes of additives placed in different drinks; they found that artificial food colour and additives were having "deleterious effects".

The children drank mixtures of additives, which included artificial colourings and the preservative sodium benzoate, which is commonly used in soft drinks. The mixtures were designed to reflect what a typical child might eat in the course of a normal day.

The results of the Southampton study show that when the children were given the drinks containing the test mixtures there was an increase in hyperactivity. However, the responses were not consistent; some children reacted significantly, others not at all.

The study found that the deterioration in behaviour after consuming the additives occurred in children in the general population, not just in those identified as suffering from hyperactivity.

Professor Jim Stevenson, who headed the Southampton study, said: "We now have clear evidence that mixtures of certain food colours and benzoate preservative can adversely influence the behaviour of children. There is some previous evidence that some children with behavioural disorders could benefit from the removal of certain food colours from their diet."

He said it was his "personal view" that the government could easily have taken a tougher line and banned the colours, although he admitted the issue of sodium benzoate was more complex.

Dr Andrew Wadge, the FSA's chief scientist, said: "We have revised our advice to consumers: if a child shows signs of hyperactivity or ADHD then eliminating the colours used in the Southampton study from their diet might have some beneficial effects."

He went on: "If parents are concerned about any additives they should remember that, by law, food additives must be listed on the label so they can make the choice to avoid the product if they want to."

A spokesman for the Hyperactive Children's Support Group said: "This research confirms what many of us have known for 30 years. But we seriously question the implementation of the new advice. Is it practical to expect parents to quiz headteachers about additives in school meals, or to ask parents about the contents of party bags?"

Popular drinks and sweets that still contain one or more of the named additives include Diet Coke, Irn-Bru, Orangina, Refreshers and Skittles.

Richard Watts, coordinator of the Children's Food Campaign, said: "The junk food diet turns out to be bad for children's mental health, as well as their physical health. We need to go further to make parents aware of the potential health problems created by additives, as well as do more to persuade children to eat less E-number-riddled junk food by restricting its marketing and labelling it clearly."

The food and drink additive industry is worth more than $25bn (£12.4bn) a year globally. But the impact of the research will be much wider, affecting the whole of the food and drink industry.

Julian Hunt, of the Food and Drink Federation, stressed the work it had already done to cut additives, and added: "As a responsible industry, we shall be studying the detail of the research and companies will clearly take account of these findings as part of their ongoing review of product formulations. The industry continues to respond to consumer demand by reducing the use of additives ... many food and drink products on supermarket shelves contain no artificial colours."

The British Soft Drink Association said in a statement: "All additives, including colours used in food and drink, have been approved by the FSA as being safe for use and are carefully selected and monitored. They are included to meet the expectations of the public about the appearance and shelf-life of products and to enhance the choices that are available to them."

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