Diet Soda vs. regular

[emkay64]

If you were to choose between the two..which would you determine to be the safer alternative for your child? Do you believe that artificial sweeteners are poisonous? I am also aware that most parents don't let their children mainline pop..so lets keep parenting styles out of the conversation. I understand that "no soda at all" would be the best answer to this question. Please answer what is better for the health of a child who drinks one soda per day: What would be the better choice: diet soda or regular soda.

Do you agree with the possible implementation of the "soda" tax? Is it justifiable in the scheme of things, or is it a violation of rights.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124208505896608647.html

Discuss

 

[mercury]

I would opt for the no caffeine regular soda for my child.... Unless my child was a diabetic or severely obese.

(mine rarely drink soda at all. we have milk, water, cranberry juice & orange juice available 24/7. I, on the other hand, drink more than 2 liters of Diet Pepsi/per day.)

The soda tax is another slipper slope thing. It will only open the door to being taxed for every lifestyle choice we make. Violation of rights.

 

[timesjoke]

Well I will discuss the most important issue first, the "sin" tax on something the Government feels is bad for us and so they tax it to death.

All extra taxes and fees for things like this is wrong, it really has nothing to do with the Government wanting to steer people away from bad things, that is all just cover, the real issue is more taxes. The Government at all levels cannot control their out of control spending so they look for any excuse to increase taxes on us all. Recently Florida doubles every fee and every charge for services the State offers, for example last Septenber they doubled the price to renew your drivers license and doubles the tag renewal fees at the same time. The thing that ****** me off the most is that while every non-government employed person in America is learning how to survive on less, the Government is still increasing taxes and hiring millions of new Government employees and spending more tax money than ever before.

This "sin" tax will not be the last, they started with tobacco products and now it is soda, next will be fast food and icecream, all under the "claim" they are trying to discourage their use but I ask this question, if they really want people to stop using the things they are setting the very high taxes on, why are they at the same time spending the new tax money before they ever get it?

As far as sugars in soda I would rather my kids be exposed to something natural than something chemically created that did not exist in nature. I don't do much soda but we do have sweet tea (southern man, can't help it) but most of the time we have juice and water, I even take my own well water with me on trips in the cooler because I can't stand city water and bottled water is something I have difficulty paying for.

I guess in the homes where there is no real supervision available and kids have access to whatever they want, I would say the diet drinks are the best because massive amounts of processed sugars is not really a good idea, but I am always wondering what new scientific revelation is going to suddenly appear concerning all these artificial sweetners one day.

 

[emkay64]

I drink Diet too...and it has nothing to do with what is best for ME lol. I just like it.

However..when I have the choice I opt for caffeine free, sugar free for the kids when they have one.

http://ec.europa.eu/food/fs/sc/scf/out155_en.pdf

Recent evidence seems to suggest that the artificial sweeteners are safe and if you scroll to the summary end of every section you'll get a less medical filled response. The breakdown of aspartame in the body breaks down into 2 naturally occuring amino acids that occur in the body anyways. That being said...I agree with you Merc..but I'm not against a sugar free soda either.

As far as the tax goes...as I mentioned before, I can't support something dictating what I eat or what I put into MY body...so again..I believe the tax is a violation...but I'd pay it if it was enforced, even though I'm essentially being fined for the food I eat. That being said..if you support various forced procedures as a way of saving lives, knowing that many people die as a result of diabetes, heart disease and disease related to obesity, wouldn't this tax/law be good in the scheme of things? I mean..it's saving lives possibly. Especially when the biggest single source of calories in the American diet is

fizzy soft drinks. The average teenage boy will get 15 teaspoons of sugar a day just from these drinks,according to one report...Medical researchers watching this trend say the growing fondness for sweetened drinks may be one of the major forces behind children's rates of obesity, diabetes and tooth decay."

as stated in this article:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/healthscience/stories/103005dnnatliquidcandy.c19fb4f.html

 

[timesjoke]

There is nothing that proves that reducing sugars will prevent deaths. "IF" there was such a proven and checked science to say this and a solid number could be defined as being too much, I might consider measures to limit it just like when medications are found to be unsafe and we limit them. But again, there would have to be real solid proof, not just bored socialists saying whatever they can think of to give them excuses to further their Nanny State experiment.

 

[RegisteredAndEducated]

My argument would be that if they are ONLY hurting THEMSELVES, then what's the problem. It's when someone starts hurting other people that they should be punished. That's why I disagree with all of the 'sin' tax and drug laws.

As far as coke goes... I'd rather have my kids drink Coke than diet Coke. But alas, neither one gets that at my house either. It's water, tea, juice, kool-aid, or milk.

 

[hugo]

While sin taxes are wrong forcing someone to watch fat **** and then charging for part of the production costs of it is just fine. That way they will be fully informed.

Taxes are a much more moral and responsible act than our current policy of passing our bills on to our kids.