Freakshakes - Action on Sugar calling for a ban.

Sorry, meant to include a link....

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-46179175?ocid=socialflow_facebook&ns_campaign=bbcnews&ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=facebook

I was amazed at them when they showed pictures on the news this morning, all the sweets/biscuits etc piled on top of the 'liquid' part. Kids must be hyper after eating one of them!

jusnoneed Kids must be hyper after eating one of them!

That was the first thing that occurred to me! I think some adults would be, too!

I think your average 7-10 year olds would struggle to eat / drink a whole one. Also they'd only have them on special occasions. I think most kids would end up feeling sick and never wanting another one tbh and it would be adults buying them for them. I just get really tired of everything needing to be banned. Coffee shops sell coffee's that are just as sugar laden and I doubt most adults drink them on a regular basis either but some certainly drink far too much coffee. Your link was going on about kids having them o a daily basis they'd end up hugely obese but it's not likely they'd have them weekly let alone daily.

FlexibleF I think most kids would end up feeling sick and never wanting another one

Great 'aversion therapy' perhaps!!

Sugar does not make children hyper. That myth was busted over 20 years ago www.livescience.com/55754-does-sugar-make-kids-hyper.html .It is all about parents expectations.

This Freaky whatsit, doesn't look like a child's drink. I would says it was aimed at late teens and young adults and the occasional adult. DGS, aged 8, is a chocolate and milk shake obsessive, but I have known him not order one in a restaurant because it looks too big. He actually finds these hyper milk shakes frightening and off putting. I am sure plenty more children react like that.

We ordered a milkshake for DGD after swimming and it came with marshmallows, Malteezers and enough whipped cream to sandwich a cake. She said the Malteezers were not nice in the hot chocolate. Forgot all about it til we took her to a different for a hot drink after a very cold outing and she ordered one of three kids' shakes which had flavours named after biscuits. No Malteezers or marshmallows this time but even more creamy topping and a thing like a chocolate bar sticking out. She said the whipped cream was too sweet, even for her. I agree these seem to be aimed at teenagers, but I think they could be gimmicky or pretty without being so laden with sugar.

The following is just an observation ... don't have any answers ...

Sugar is the latest bad guy .. a little while ago it was salt, before that butter etc. Oh, and we could only have a couple of eggs a week if we wanted to live dangerously.

Before "healthy eating" came out children used to have bars or chocolate or 2oz of sweets most days. School lunch included a sponge pudding and custard type dessert. Men especially used to have several cups of tea every day with two teasponfuls of sugar in every cup.

As far as I can remember nobody was hyper, very few behavioural issues in school, and just look at all the over 80s, they lived in a time when it was the norm to smoke at least 20 a day.

...nobody was hyper, very few behavioural issues in school

I wonder if there is too much 'labelling' nowadays, with almost everyone, it seems, having some sort of behavioural issue, be it ASD, being 'on the (autism) spectrum', and Heaven knows how many other this or that ...isms.

And I do wonder if this tendency to label every minute digression from the perceived 'norm' as something that sets people apart for special treatment is adding to the schisms we see in society today.

It seems to me that almost nearly everyone was considered mainstream at one time with few exceptions to the norm and these tended to be the extreme cases.

Sometimes you can attach too much importance to people's foibles and differences.

Everything in moderation

Oops, went off piste a bit there...

Sometimes ‘forbidden’ stuff makes it the most sought after! I remember accompanying a child on a school trip. He had been brought up with no sugary treats. When we got to the gift shop, he headed for the sweets and spent all his money on them and proceeded to eat every last one ! He was a bit green by the time we got him home.

Hear hear Blinko

Nanny state again. Of course the so called 'freakshakes' are unhealthy but so are many other things in life. We are entitled to make our own decisions even if others think those decisions are wrong. There will soon be a diet prescribed by the State.

Perhaps I am being unduly cynical, but it is easier to blame sugar for making children hyperactive than to enforce discipline in other ways.

Children become what was called "wild" when we were small either because they are over-tired or because no grown-up stopped them at the first sign of wildness.

"Stop that!" and "No" were commonly heard when I was a child, and usually we obeyed, because we knew we would be told to go and stand in the corner if we didn't.

And no child ever enjoyed standing in the corner with her hands behind her back, so the mere thought was usually conducive of good behaviour,

And no child ever enjoyed standing in the corner with her hands behind her back, so the mere thought was usually conducive of good behaviour,
Even worse if you had to stand in the corner with your hands on your head for a double lesson!

I agree Sweetie .

I too read the article and could understand how bad ones day would be. But are we seriously suggesting a child would be eating one a day? I’ve seen these and in fact I shared one with my daughter and 2 grandchildren. No one ate loads , I think at least half was left at the end and it was a one off thing.

Have we lost the ability to be sensible or isthis just another step towards a nanny state ?

Some of the chocolate birthday cakes now are unbelievable. They have Mats bars, flakes, Dime bars, Rolos, Maltesers and more piled up on them.

In the past we just ate less all round. Smaller portions of food, not eating between meals.

My parents were not impoverished in any way but, for example, if we had beans on toast for breakfast one standard sized tin of beans was considered as sufficient for four portions. Tinned fruit for pudding was, again, a standard tin divided by 4. Sweets were limited. My pocket money would not stretch to more than one bar of chocolate a week.

We didn't have biscuits or crisps or anything else between meals, there was no squash in the house and we drank water. This was the normal eating pattern in our household and not that different in any other one I visited.

The problem isn't sugar, or fat, or meat or any other single food stuff. The problem is that nowadays, all our food portions are too big. If DH and I have beans on toast, it is a standard tin between two, the same on the rare occasions we have tinned fruit. We spread the butter more generously than when we were children, have butter on potatoes. All these things add up and to children these large portins are the norm.

I am struggling to recall any overweight children in our area or my school when I was a child.

You MOnica have got it just right. No squash in our house and 1 tin beans between us three younger children for lunch AND we washed up afterwards. NEVER did we 'snack' between meals. I have the dubious honour of doing my 11 year old grandsons packed lunch every school day and I cannot believe what goes into it. Round of sandwiches ( good).2 cartons of drink...banana( good), Apple(good), crisps and chocolate biscuit ( not so good). It all seems an incredible amount of food!? I remember school packed lunches which were round of sandwiches or 1 roll. 1 piece of fruit. No crisps or chocolate bars, and definitely NO carton of drink. My mum or gran always said "the school has a water fountain use that". And we were skinny and incredibly healthy bunch of kids. Too much and too soon these days!

I am struggling to recall any overweight children in our area or my school when I was a child.
I don't think there are any obese children in the DGC's school.

However, I did see a tot the other day who must have been about 4 and was as wide as she was tall, a lovely little girl, but I thought it was sad that her mother had let her get like that.

KatyK we had a fat girl at my junior school.
We weren’t mean to her , we didn’t bully her but I do remember her.

Sugar actually does cause hyperactivity. The “study” that “proved” it doesn’t was probably commissioned by the sugar industry. To not be horrified that something so unhealthy is being targeted at humans, whatever their age betrays a passivity that I can only put down to s lifetime of fluoride consumption.