Soft drinks with artificial additives can harm your child
Feb 03, 2002
Soft drinks are increasingly becoming the primary beverage of choice among children and parents.
Soft drinks are increasingly becoming the primary beverage of choice among children and parents.Many parents spend a lot of money on soft drinks for their children to take back to school. In many homes they are preferred to fresh fruit juice and milk. This is understandable. after all they are convenient taste, look and smell good. After a glass of any of these drinks, one feels a surge of energy within a short period of time. This combined with radio, television and newspaper messages designed to entice, one assumes these drinks have to be the best choice there is. In reality they are not.One may ask what is wrong with them? A lot is wrong about them. For example, apart from artificial food colours, flavours and preservatives they have not food value. The problem does not stop there.Artificial food additives may cause allergies, hyperactivity and a certain degree of malnutrition that can easily lead to academic problems. Yet often, unsuspecting parents routinely pack large bottles of these soft drinks for their children to take back to boarding schools. Also for those at day schools.It is not unusual to see a school child substituting a soft drink with a bun made of white refined flour for lunch. Or a child drinking a soft drink on an empty stomach.These practices are detrimental to your child’s well being and school performance for several reasons:l Artificial food flavours, colours and dyes have been closely associated with hyperactivity in school children. In particular a food dye known as “tartrazine†or yellow dye No. 5 largely used to give yellow, orange, or lime colour to soft drinks. It can cause dad moods, short attention span, destructibility, poor concentration, not listening, abrupt shift inactivity, and failure to finish things.l High levels of sugar in these drinks may promote aggressive and restless behaviour.l Consumption of these sugary drinks may promote low blood sugar. After drinking a sugary beverage one experiences a quick boost of energy, only to be followed by low blood sugar within one hour or two. Low blood sugar may cause destructive behaviour, tiredness and irritability. l Soft drinks tend to be quite acidic. Acid combined with sugar is usually responsible for causing holes in our teeth.l Habitually taking acidic drinks on an empty stomach can lead to stomach ulcers.For children at boarding schools, pack powdered milk that can easily be mixed with hot water for a healthy drink. Suggest to the school administrator to introduce a fresh juice programme. And fund it with the money you would have used to buy artificially flavoured drinks.For children in day schools, pack a bottle of clean boiled water and another of fresh fruit juice, or a fresh fruit of the child’s choice.Soft drinks may appear good and tasty but they have no nutritional benefits. The writer holds an MSc in Human Nutrition and Dietetics.ends