I couldn't believe it. The first time, I told them, "That's not good for you, don't drink it". More or less anyway and in a way that they can (hopefully) understand. I thought all was well until my daughter came home yesterday with small pink marks above her upper lip like she was drinking something I didn't give her. She says big brother has been sharing his quarters so they can have these. That was very nice of him and all, but geez that's the wrong time to be sharing!
So this morning I found an empty bottle in my son's back pack (which is funny because yesterday he tried to claim that he didn't even have one...). I thought, "Great! Let's see what's inside!" :
It's a little hard to see, but the second ingredient is high fructose corn syrup!! There is also yellow #5 and it contains no fruit juice. There is one site that says yellow #5 should be avoided because it can trigger hyperactivity in children, there is an allergy reaction to primarily those who are aspirin sensitive, and is usually contaminated with cancer-causing ingredients or that the body will convert to. They are benzidine & 4-aminobiphenyl (http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm#yellow5, 2012).
Another ingredient I wanted to make mention is glyceryl abietate. I looked up a little bit about it and there really isn't a whole lot. One thing is that its purpose is to keep oils suspended in the liquid. The FDA considers it "generally recognized as safe". However, I don't buy it... I found this ingredient interesting because I have never seen it before. It is mainly used in citric flavored drinks.
The amount of sugars in this is insane from the high fructose corn syrup. Normally, for me personally, I don't mind the sugars if it is 100% juice. Because that means the sugar is naturally there from the fruit. Fruit sugars are good. And look at that sodium amount!
My kids thought that since it said it was a sports drink that it was ok and good for them. So we went over it all this morning and tried to make them realize that there isn't anything good about it and what we give them is good enough. They don't need to be spending money on this junk.
I have decided to take action. I understand that these bottles are coming from a vending machine and my kids are making a choice to use their money on this. However, my kids aren't old enough to make that decision in my opinion and these types of drinks shouldn't be in the school even in a vending machine. I'm going to go to the school with this empty bottle to ask questions and try to get this junk out of the school. I have a lot of respect for this school and how they generally try to keep kids healthy and junk food out. However, they are letting these kinds of things allowed. I will keep you all posted about what happens.
Have a great Thursday!
Reference
Center for Science in the Public Interest. (2012). Retrieved on August 29, 2013 from: http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm#yellow5
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