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My wife and I limit our children’s consumption of soda to around four to five times a week. That's limited? Once a week, that's limited. Once every weeknight

by zzalpha 11y ago

My wife and I limit our children’s consumption of soda to around four to five times a week. That's limited? Once a week, that's limited. Once every weeknight isn't limited, it's a habit. Given the choice, I'll take a naturally sweetened beverage weekly over an artificially sweetened beverage daily, if only because of the awful taste of artificial sweeteners...

spathi_fwiffo 11y ago
Four or five times a week is still a large quantity; but, it isn't so much when compared to having sodas as as the only form of liquid intake.
- zzalpha 11y ago
  Absolutely true. And to be fair, my comment doesn't change the basic premise of the article: that if you're going to drink a sweetened beverage, artificial sweeteners have fewer negative health effects than sugar. I just found the statement odd. It seems the author's and my ideas of "reduced intake" don't align with one another... I mean, I can't imagine anyone would say a bag of candy every day constitutes "reduced intake". But for some reason it's acceptable when it comes to beverages. Go figure.
  - chrisfosterelli 11y ago
    I think the difference between having a bag of candy every day and a diet pop every day is that it isn't healthy to have candy that often. As far as we currently know, there isn't anything wrong with that level of diet pop consumption. I am in the same boat, I probably have 4-5 diet pop drinks per week. However, if it was naturally sweetened pop I wouldn't consider it OK to drink more than one a week. Everything in appropriate moderation. Although, to be fair, I don't consider the level of pop I drink to be "reduced", but it's less than what some children will drink if left unmoderated.
    - zzalpha 11y ago
      Yeah, but keep in mind, the author of the article isn't saying daily intake is okay because of the artificial sweeteners. I read it to mean, the kids are going to drink pop 4-5 times a week. We give them artificially sweetened pop so that it's "healthy". Contrasting this again with candy: if a parent said "I give my kids candy every day with their dinner, but I make sure it has sucralose in it", I'd still find it odd, because candy shouldn't be a daily occurrence. And yet, for some reason, soda is. It really is very strange, don't you think?
      - dragonwriter 11y ago
        I read it as that all of quantity, sugar content, and caffeine content are concerns, so the parents have: 1. Limited overall quantity of soda permitted to less than is typical for the age range, 2. Limited most of the consumption within that limited quantity to caffeine-free options, 3. Limited most of the consumption within that limited quantity to sugar-free options. I don't see anything to suggest that sugar-free soda is perceived as positively "healthy", only that it is a mitigation of one of the sources of unhealthiness (as is the caffeine-free limitation), but that other concerns exist, hence the overall quantity limitation.
      - deleted 11y ago
        [deleted]
  - Nadya 11y ago
    A bag of candy daily isn't a usual occurrence. In the US, multiple sodas a day is pretty usual. One by itself at some point in the day, one with lunch, and often times once with dinner as well. That's how my teenage years went and I wasn't alone. As an adult I "limit" myself to 1 a day - although more typically I limit it to 2 or 3 a week. Which I still feel is too much. Water all the time is "boring", I'm lactose intolerant so milk is out of the picture, juice makes me more thirsty. I often have tea, but I dislike chilled tea and hot tea during a hot summer isn't pleasant. I feel like my dislike of having "plain old water" all the time is my only issue with consuming less soda. If I could get over that hurdle I'd be fine.
    - stickfigure 11y ago
      I also dislike drinking "plain old water", but cold water with a little fresh lemon squeezed into it is delicious. Also try taking fruit juice and watering it down by 2/3. At this point I can't even drink straight-up fruit juice any more; it's too syrupy.
  - dragonwriter 11y ago
    > I just found the statement odd. It seems the author's and my ideas of "reduced intake" don't align with one another... I mean, I can't imagine anyone would say a bag of candy every day constitutes "reduced intake". "Reduced" means "at a level lower than it was previously". If you are eating two bags of candy every day, one bag of candy a day is reduced intake of candy. If you aren't eating any candy before, then one piece of candy a day is increased intake of candy. What level of intake is "reduced" depends on what the starting point is.
bryanlarsen 11y ago
Yes, it's limited. The average soda consumption of an American teenager is over 3 cans a day.
- zzalpha 11y ago
  Well, limited compared to a national average, sure, but the national average is terrifying. Is it better? Well, yeah. But it's still a daily habit, which still doesn't seem great, particularly as it sets the tone for the kids that soda every day is a perfectly fine and normal thing.
Lawtonfogle 11y ago
One has to consider the amount. 5 micro cans is equal to 1 standard 20 oz. (at least in US sizes). Both of these pale in comparison to having it once a week at a restaurant where you get refills and likely lose count.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
lambda 11y ago
Why do people think that it's OK to allow kids to drink soda? In fact, why do people think that drinking soda is something that anyone must do? I used to drink soda. Gave it up many years ago. Have not missed it. Have much less of a sweet tooth now; don't eat desserts very often, and when I do, a very small portion is plenty. I think giving up soda helped with that. If I want a caffeinated beverage, I drink coffee, black or with cream but no sugar. If I want a cool, carbonated beverage, I drink beer (which has most of its sugar fermented out; still has some calories, but not nearly so sweet). If I just need to be rehydrated, I drink water. It seems to me that so many people have this idea that sugary drinks, whether in the form of soda, sweet juices, sports drinks, and so on, but drinking those on a regular basis is a fairly new thing that I don't thin our bodies are well adapted for. Cutting out sugars via drinks are some of the easiest empty carbs to cut out of your diet.
- tjr 11y ago
  Most people seem to either not realize it's bad for you, or not care because they are so used to it. I significantly cut back on soda last year, and haven't had any at all for months. I drink mainly water. I don't miss soda; doesn't even sound appealing any more.
  - Balgair 11y ago
    Well, caffeine is addictive, and many sodas have caffeine in them, so it is not a 'used to it' thing, it's very physical[0]. When you order that diet coke with lunch everyday, you develop a habit that is very hard to break for a lot of folk. Also, enjoying a Dr. Pepper is not terrible, you just have to know you are drinking a lot of sugars. As an aside, the sugar profile of most sodas is made to mimic that of honey closely. So much so, that 'stretching' honey is a cause for concern in apiarist communities as it is quite easy to do so [1]. [0]http://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-withdrawal-symptoms-top-ten http://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-withdrawal-symptoms... [1]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23575142 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23575142
- mhurron 11y ago
  > Why do people think that it's OK to allow kids to drink soda? In fact, why do people think that drinking soda is something that anyone must do? > I used to drink soda. Gave it up many years ago. Have not missed it. Why do people feel the need to hold a personal choice as something everyone else must do? Please, next tell me how you don't have a TV.
igrekel 11y ago
My thought exactly. That sort of stuff is for exceptional events, a few times a year, not a week.

by zzalpha 11y ago

spathi_fwiffo 11y ago

Four or five times a week is still a large quantity; but, it isn't so much when compared to having sodas as as the only form of liquid intake.

zzalpha 11y ago
Absolutely true. And to be fair, my comment doesn't change the basic premise of the article: that if you're going to drink a sweetened beverage, artificial sweeteners have fewer negative health effects than sugar. I just found the statement odd. It seems the author's and my ideas of "reduced intake" don't align with one another... I mean, I can't imagine anyone would say a bag of candy every day constitutes "reduced intake". But for some reason it's acceptable when it comes to beverages. Go figure.
- chrisfosterelli 11y ago
  I think the difference between having a bag of candy every day and a diet pop every day is that it isn't healthy to have candy that often. As far as we currently know, there isn't anything wrong with that level of diet pop consumption. I am in the same boat, I probably have 4-5 diet pop drinks per week. However, if it was naturally sweetened pop I wouldn't consider it OK to drink more than one a week. Everything in appropriate moderation. Although, to be fair, I don't consider the level of pop I drink to be "reduced", but it's less than what some children will drink if left unmoderated.
  - zzalpha 11y ago
    Yeah, but keep in mind, the author of the article isn't saying daily intake is okay because of the artificial sweeteners. I read it to mean, the kids are going to drink pop 4-5 times a week. We give them artificially sweetened pop so that it's "healthy". Contrasting this again with candy: if a parent said "I give my kids candy every day with their dinner, but I make sure it has sucralose in it", I'd still find it odd, because candy shouldn't be a daily occurrence. And yet, for some reason, soda is. It really is very strange, don't you think?
    - dragonwriter 11y ago
      I read it as that all of quantity, sugar content, and caffeine content are concerns, so the parents have: 1. Limited overall quantity of soda permitted to less than is typical for the age range, 2. Limited most of the consumption within that limited quantity to caffeine-free options, 3. Limited most of the consumption within that limited quantity to sugar-free options. I don't see anything to suggest that sugar-free soda is perceived as positively "healthy", only that it is a mitigation of one of the sources of unhealthiness (as is the caffeine-free limitation), but that other concerns exist, hence the overall quantity limitation.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
- Nadya 11y ago
  A bag of candy daily isn't a usual occurrence. In the US, multiple sodas a day is pretty usual. One by itself at some point in the day, one with lunch, and often times once with dinner as well. That's how my teenage years went and I wasn't alone. As an adult I "limit" myself to 1 a day - although more typically I limit it to 2 or 3 a week. Which I still feel is too much. Water all the time is "boring", I'm lactose intolerant so milk is out of the picture, juice makes me more thirsty. I often have tea, but I dislike chilled tea and hot tea during a hot summer isn't pleasant. I feel like my dislike of having "plain old water" all the time is my only issue with consuming less soda. If I could get over that hurdle I'd be fine.
  - stickfigure 11y ago
    I also dislike drinking "plain old water", but cold water with a little fresh lemon squeezed into it is delicious. Also try taking fruit juice and watering it down by 2/3. At this point I can't even drink straight-up fruit juice any more; it's too syrupy.
- dragonwriter 11y ago
  > I just found the statement odd. It seems the author's and my ideas of "reduced intake" don't align with one another... I mean, I can't imagine anyone would say a bag of candy every day constitutes "reduced intake". "Reduced" means "at a level lower than it was previously". If you are eating two bags of candy every day, one bag of candy a day is reduced intake of candy. If you aren't eating any candy before, then one piece of candy a day is increased intake of candy. What level of intake is "reduced" depends on what the starting point is.

bryanlarsen 11y ago

Yes, it's limited. The average soda consumption of an American teenager is over 3 cans a day.

zzalpha 11y ago
Well, limited compared to a national average, sure, but the national average is terrifying. Is it better? Well, yeah. But it's still a daily habit, which still doesn't seem great, particularly as it sets the tone for the kids that soda every day is a perfectly fine and normal thing.

Lawtonfogle 11y ago

One has to consider the amount. 5 micro cans is equal to 1 standard 20 oz. (at least in US sizes). Both of these pale in comparison to having it once a week at a restaurant where you get refills and likely lose count.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

lambda 11y ago

Why do people think that it's OK to allow kids to drink soda? In fact, why do people think that drinking soda is something that anyone must do? I used to drink soda. Gave it up many years ago. Have not missed it. Have much less of a sweet tooth now; don't eat desserts very often, and when I do, a very small portion is plenty. I think giving up soda helped with that. If I want a caffeinated beverage, I drink coffee, black or with cream but no sugar. If I want a cool, carbonated beverage, I drink beer (which has most of its sugar fermented out; still has some calories, but not nearly so sweet). If I just need to be rehydrated, I drink water. It seems to me that so many people have this idea that sugary drinks, whether in the form of soda, sweet juices, sports drinks, and so on, but drinking those on a regular basis is a fairly new thing that I don't thin our bodies are well adapted for. Cutting out sugars via drinks are some of the easiest empty carbs to cut out of your diet.

tjr 11y ago
Most people seem to either not realize it's bad for you, or not care because they are so used to it. I significantly cut back on soda last year, and haven't had any at all for months. I drink mainly water. I don't miss soda; doesn't even sound appealing any more.
- Balgair 11y ago
  Well, caffeine is addictive, and many sodas have caffeine in them, so it is not a 'used to it' thing, it's very physical[0]. When you order that diet coke with lunch everyday, you develop a habit that is very hard to break for a lot of folk. Also, enjoying a Dr. Pepper is not terrible, you just have to know you are drinking a lot of sugars. As an aside, the sugar profile of most sodas is made to mimic that of honey closely. So much so, that 'stretching' honey is a cause for concern in apiarist communities as it is quite easy to do so [1]. [0]http://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-withdrawal-symptoms-top-ten http://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-withdrawal-symptoms... [1]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23575142 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23575142
mhurron 11y ago
> Why do people think that it's OK to allow kids to drink soda? In fact, why do people think that drinking soda is something that anyone must do? > I used to drink soda. Gave it up many years ago. Have not missed it. Why do people feel the need to hold a personal choice as something everyone else must do? Please, next tell me how you don't have a TV.

igrekel 11y ago

My thought exactly. That sort of stuff is for exceptional events, a few times a year, not a week.