Aspartame & Sucralose in Yogurt & Kids Behavior

Try going with natural ingredients as much as possible. Never give kids sugar free stuff. There are so many side effects from this stuff. If you remember Saccarine caused cancer after it had been used for a few years.

All of these artificial sweeteners they are coming out with in the past few years do not have long term studies done yet because they have not been on the market very long. When the kids of today grow up they may all have deformed kids or something from using too many artificial sweeteners as children...I know that sounds silly but it could happen.

Many things that you wouldn't expect have these in it unfortunately. Don't stop with yogurt-just get him the good stuff. Look in the organc section. And now is the time to do it-before he develops the taste for bad stuff.

I did a research project in college on aspartame poisoning. I look at every label every time now. What I learned would scare any mom. Do not give it to your kids!!! Do not take it yourself. It causes 92 diseases, or can mimic 92 diseases. It causes brain cancer, head aches, etc... if we stop buying it maybe they will get the hint. I hope I didn't sound too harsh, but be careful. Go organic as much as possible. If there is sugar in it, it won't be processed.

You can always switch to Stoneyfield Farms organic yogurts and Yo baby (also by stoneyfield) - they are 100% organic at every level.

I agree with all the other comments. Stop TODAY! Throw it out, it is not worth $2.89 for reprocussions (sp?) later in his life. It is an excitotoxin. Dr. Richard Blaylock has a good book out about excitotoxins ( do n't remember the name) it might even be Excitotoxins. Go with your gut!

From Kenneth Bock, MD in his book "Healing the New Childhood Epidemics . . . " (p. 228-229):

"Aspartame is also an excitotoxin. Its only active ingredient, phenylalanine, is an amino acid that helps govern the function of the brain and nervous system. When too much phenylalanine hits the brain, it can cause hyperactivity and other behavorial symptoms" [this comes from the sub-section "Reactive Food Additives].

I'm not a fan of sucralose either - if my memory serves me correctly it is a modified derivative of sugar (?). I could be wrong so double check that one.

With my children I try to stick with whole foods and real cane sugar (as little as possible). Anything derived chemically makes me very nervous. Our children should not be the guinea pigs for these "food" stuffs never before introduced into the human population. Some people call it frankenfood.

That's JMO and I'm not a health care provider of any sort.

Here's to good health . . .

no way would/do i give that to my kids or myself.... my son eats tons of yogurt, i go organic on yogurt and anything else i can, especially foods they eat a lot of. i dont treat my lawn, i use natural personal care/cleaning items whenever possible, and always for the kids... there are so many options now, natural products are in typical grocery stores, you dont have to go crazy to really reduce your chemicals. we are already immersed in so many chemicals and so much radiation all around, i try to reduce it wherever i can. i was just in target today and soooo happy to see so many natural products at regular prices.... we get stonyfield yogurt, easy to find, same price, also, it comes in the big containers, less plastic waste :)

You are right on to be concerned! I'm super health-conscious and buy nothing with artificial sweeteners (or flavors/dyes) in it whatsoever; I've done a lot of personal research on the subject. Just google the subject matter and prepare to be amazed. I second the suggestion to buy organic yogurt, free of artificial sweeteners, colors, rBST and antibiotics. :)

I have had a brain injury when I was younger and I can not eat anything with artificial sweeteners in it. I get a very bad migraine headache. I work on a special needs school bus and I know that many different artificial dyes and sweeteners make the kids out of control.

i give my son yogurt as well, but i give him yoplait original with regular sugar. I also have chosen this one because it had 50% daily calcium and 50% daily vitamin D. A little high in sugar but worth it to get him the vitamins he needs! I have heard things about sucralose that i dont like either. If i drink soda i have regular. not diet.

Oh, just wanted to say that i hate those sweeteners, for multiple reasons! before I had kids, my mom got me way into reading labels and such- so I was used to it. You'd REALLY be surprised what is in every day foods that you would otherwise purchase if you didn't notice the label.

So, I haven't noticed the correlation because my kids haven't eaten that stuff. Whether there is or isn't, I'd just switch the yogurt that he gets- and check your other labels. We like Chobani "champions" or "Yo Kids" by Stonyfield.
regardless of whether it contributes to hyper-ness or not it is bad. I know that they are working on getting rid of those artificial ingredients in a lot of foods as well as preservatives such as MSG.

If you buy yogurt without the aspartame it will probably have a TON of sugar in it so it is a choice you have to make. Most yogurts have around 33g per serving in it which is about 8 teaspoons of sugar. Try to find one that doesn't have the chemicals in it but has the lowest sugar possible. I haven't been able to find one that tastes good, has low sugar, and doesn't have those chemicals in it so we go with the chemicals instead of the sugar, maybe a wrong choice on our part.

You can try eliminating Yogurt, or you can purchase more nutritional varieties!!!!!!! But 1st recognize that as babies age, yes they will have more energy, as they begin to turn into little people, rather than babies!

Also ask yourself, does he have to have yogurt everyday?

For any moms reading this, please know that although yes, yogurt makes a great healthful snack or quick meal, but if you are worried about ingredients, read labels and make the best choice available.

Also recognize that most low fat/no fat and low sugar dairy and other snackin foods commonly contain excess salt, sugar and sugar subs to compensate for flavor. Does this make them bad for you, not really when served in limited amounts and occasionally, rather than the primary source for a meal.
Yet when you make your own snacks, and purchase more healthful dairy products, ie Plain old yogurt (preferably thick rather than watery), you can add your own fruit with maybe a teaspoon of honey, and thus know that you are serving your family and children good healthful choices.

For more tips like this one, see my cookbook at
www.themuffinlady.com

R./The Muffin Lady

I think it is a good idea! Not all yogurt has that in it... just switch to something else and see what happens! I'm always on the look-out to avoid gelatin in my yogurt because we are vegetarian, so I know there are vast differences of ingredients in yogurt. The simpler the better in my opinion!

Thank you for posting. Also watch the dyes...specifically Red #40. My son was eating yogurt every day also and I wasn't watching the labels carefully (mistakenly believing at that point "yogurt=healthy"). I was shocked to find that his yogurt and mine contained Red 40. We've switched to all natural brands and his behavior has improved greatly.

I get headaches after eating artificial sweeteners, especially aspartame. So I decided that was enough evidence to keep it away from my kids. We get regular Yoplait and my kids are fine with it, not hyper. I tried unsweetened yogurt mixed with fruit but no one (even me) enjoyed it without adding a spoonful of sugar. So we went back to the Yoplait.

Hi Honey,

First off, I am gratified to see from the previous responses how many mama's have recommended such heretical activities as label reading and going organic! Magnificent!

Please--continue what you are doing. Read, question, THINK! Your children are relying on you to be the one that's smarter than a TV commercial or a government agency that's been paid off.

Yes, those chemicals are bad news. Like several other replies have mentioned, I, too, get bad headaches from chemical sweeteners. That was the first step in my journey to the conclusion that if it didn't grow safely with Mother Nature's assistance, it's probably not something my naturally grown children need. I have used the Stonyfield Organic products for at least four of my five kids and love them.

Another thing to watch out for is anything genetically modified. Sure that sounds exotic, but the reality is that most (90+ %) of corn is GMO now. So that means corn syrup, corn starch, corn protein, corn flour......Holy Bleeps! Soy and sugar beets are also bad news.

Best wishes and blessings!