at what age did your kids drink coke?

Personally I think there's more toxins out there worse than coke for heavens sake .

I've drank coke all my life and coffee and tea to no ill affect, but I suppose" our survey says it's bad for us so they must be right"
 
I remember drinking top deck shandy around the age of 10 in the early 80s. Loved it.
 
My friends would sometimes let their 3 year old have a drink of orangeade - mainly because of her reaction which was hysterical giggling whenever she took a sip.

She called it "tickly juice" :)
 
Chemicals in baby food

Baby food may contain small amounts of antibiotics and other veterinary drugs used to treat animals.
The chemicals are particularly likely to be found in milk and chicken based foods.

The amounts of veterinary drugs are tiny, but scientists have called for regulation of the process to prevent ANY animal drugs being eaten by babies.
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Only tiny amounts but it goes to show do we really know what we are feeding our kids. I wouldn't worry about coca cola when pretty everything we eat or drink nowadays has been tampered with in some way, unless you are going to grow your own food.
 
jason7579 said:
Chemicals in baby food



Only tiny amounts but it goes to show do we really know what we are feeding our kids. I wouldn't worry about coca cola when pretty everything we eat or drink nowadays has been tampered with in some way, unless you are going to grow your own food.
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Who gives their babies that jarred food anyway? Mine have always had actual real food.
 
Real home made / cooked food is much better as you know how much salt and additives you are putting in - I mainly just posted that to show it doesn't matter what you do now there is always someone that will tell you it's harmful and as many to tell you it's fine.

My kids are 10 and 3 and the amount of recommended foods that went from being encouraged when my 10 year old was a baby to strongly discouraged by the time we had our 3 year old.
 
My kids are 13 10 and 3, yes they have coke occasionally, my eldest and youngest both love a cup of tea while the youngest also loves black coffee, which he has occasionally. no effects as said earlier don't make things taboo, this is when things like alcohol can become an issue.
 
My 3 (4 next week) year old hates fizzy drinks. I let her try lemonade once. She has not had coke yet.

She would rather have juice, milk, water or tea (with no sugar).

I think 6 is probably an OK age to let them try it and if they like it have it every so often.
 
My boy drinks really weak juice and squash and nothing else aside from milk and water. To be fair, he never asks questions when he sees people drinking coke, although I'm sure those will come in time. Provided he doesn't start necking the stuff by the gallon, I won't forbid him fizzy pop - we'll just try our best to make sure he drinks a balanced range of stuff.

joescrivens said:
Who gives their babies that jarred food anyway? Mine have always had actual real food.
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Mine used to have jars, when taking a frozen meal (that I'd made and froze) wasn't ideal.
 
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ZoneV said:
Corona bottles, Um-Bongo (...Um-Bongo, dey drink it in de Congo) and the life-changing Soda-Stream (even though it tasted a bit odd).

Happy days. :D
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Those were the days....a glass of um-bongo and a packet of pacers
 
There can't be much wrong with Coke. After all , along with McDonalds its one of the main sponsors of the London Olympics. I wonder if the worlds greatest athletes will be tucking into their Big Mac's and large Coke's in a few weeks time.
 
The other interesting point I can see from this, is that people won't allow coke for a number of reasons, but are giving their kids juice, by which I presume they mean fruit juice which has it's own problems. I am talking from experience, as a kid I drank loads of fruit juice and ate loads of fruit,it's has had a bad effect on my teeth, to the point of I have had to have a lot of my teeth removed, and now have dentures. I have had several dentists put it down to the fruit that I eat and juice I drink, why several dentists, because I ask allergic to local anaesthetic, so have seen several d dentists for this.
 
Asha said:
Errr is that not bordering on some sort of child abuse??!!!!!

Is it not a serious caffeine kick ( i don't drink the stuff!)

I'm afraid I would not have been able to see that happen without saying something!
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No, nor me, but my wife is much more British about these things.
 
cambsno said:
Correct. At home its juice but at the pub or meal can be apple juice or coke or lemonade... a bit every now again does no harm.
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Nobody who researches the effect of aspartame properly ever says "a little bit does no harm"
 
The23rdman said:
Nobody who researches the effect of aspartame properly ever says "a little bit does no harm"
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Live a little Deano...go on dye your hair....Oh wait.....

(before you start, I know...people in glass houses)
 
The23rdman said:
Nobody who researches the effect of aspartame properly ever says "a little bit does no harm"
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Would that be researching the internet myths about Aspartame causing all sorts of deseases or the actual medical research publish in the lancet (for example)which debunks these myths?
 
My six year old has had lemonade twice, both times while we were on holiday in Majorca. She mostly drinks fruit juice, milk or water; likewise for my 3year old. I think they would both go ballistic if they had something with a lot off sugar in. I remember watching my nephew bounce of the walls after having a few skittles.
 
I think it's a common public misconception that it's ok to give 'juice' (be this squash or 'proper' juice') but think that coke is significantly worse.

Anything that isn't sugar free can cause significant dental decay.

The big take away message isn't the amount or volume of sugary drinks that causes decay - it's the FREQUENCY. Each time someone consumes anything with sugar in the decay reaction starts and can last for an hour or more. This means that getting the decay out of the way in one go is much much better than prolonging it - the decay starts with the first sip and will continue from the last sip for another hour. I'd much rather people would have a sweet drink or desert straight after / with a meal. If you have sweet drinks/snacks between meals you're asking for problems.

If you're drinking sips of coke / sugary drinks (tea and coffee with added sugar) / non-sugar free squash then you're soaking your teeth in something that will cause decay to occur all day.

Apart from this, excessive carbonated drinks and fruit juices can cause dental erosion. It's best to minimise your consumption of these and if it's essential then drink these with a straw.

For the OP - putting anything sugary in a baby bottle / bottle feeder and getting your child to suck on that daily is ASKING for all their baby teeth to rot - it's clinical nickname is 'baby bottle caries'. It needs to be stopped ASAP.

Safe drinks in between meals are milk and water. For adults plain tea and coffee are ok too.

Of course how sweet a drink is can make the decay worse, but it's not the most important factor.

My sources: I'm a dentist.
 
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Cheng said:
I think it's a common public misconception that it's ok to give 'juice' (be this squash or 'proper' juice') but think that coke is significantly worse.

Anything that isn't sugar free can cause significant dental decay.

The big take away message isn't the amount or volume of sugary drinks that causes decay - it's the FREQUENCY. Each time someone consumes anything with sugar in the decay reaction starts and can last for an hour or more. This means that getting the decay out of the way in one go is much much better than prolonging it - the decay starts with the first sip and will continue from the last sip for another hour. I'd much rather people would have a sweet drink or desert straight after / with a meal. If you have sweet drinks/snacks between meals you're asking for problems.

If you're drinking sips of coke / sugary drinks (tea and coffee with added sugar) / non-sugar free squash then you're soaking your teeth in something that will cause decay to occur all day.

Apart from this, excessive carbonated drinks and fruit juices can cause dental erosion. It's best to minimise your consumption of these and if it's essential then drink these with a straw.

For the OP - putting anything sugary in a baby bottle / bottle feeder and getting your child to suck on that daily is ASKING for all their baby teeth to rot - it's clinical nickname is 'baby bottle caries'. It needs to be stopped ASAP.

Safe drinks in between meals are milk and water. For adults plain tea and coffee are ok too.

Of course how sweet a drink is can make the decay worse, but it's not the most important factor.

My sources: I'm a dentist.
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The big difference between coke and juice though is that coke comes "as is" whereas juice is diluted by the parent. The tiniest splash of cordial and a pint of water is a very different drink to a regular coke.
 
joescrivens said:
The big difference between coke and juice though is that coke comes "as is" whereas juice is diluted by the parent. The tiniest splash of cordial and a pint of water is a very different drink to a regular coke.
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Unless it's the sugar free variant, it's still going to cause decay problems, no matter realistically how small the splash. When you get to the proportions where it doesn't cause erosion and decay, then you might as well be drinking plain water...

And again repeating what I said before, it's NOT THE AMOUNT of sugar...it's the FREQUENCY. I couldn't really recommend strongly enough milk or water outside of meals - remember I'm not saying that you can't have coke or squash. Just with a meal!
 
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Cheng said:
Unless it's the sugar free variant, it's still going to cause decay problems,
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I'm not disputing this but can you see the difference with the amount of sugar in a tiny splash of orange cordial compared with regular coca cola? You say it's not the amount but the frequency - but if the frequency is the same then surely the amount then becomes the limiting factor. I.e

Someone who drinks a litre or coke gradually over 6 hours is going to be worse off than someone who drinks a litre of weak orange squash over the same period.
 
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I can appreciate your point Joe. Unfortunately both are still very bad options and I can't stress enough that it's not good for your children's teeth (or your own!) to be having anything that isn't sugar free outside of meal times. (and I must say now that we recommend no more than 4 'meals/snacks' a day). In practice I don't think it makes a whole deal of difference between a regular squash drinker and a regular coke drinker and you'd be kidding yourself if you think that it'd be ok to give regular servings of squash outside of meal times just because you're diluting it down.

I'd much rather you have coke with every meal then dilute squash in between meals. :)
 
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Look. Everything in moderation is fine, and that includes fats, sugar, diet drinks and anything else probably bar crack and heroin. I remember drinking cognac at 10 as my dad said it tasted like orange. Still alive and healthy.
 
Cheng said:
I'd much rather you have coke with every meal then dilute squash in between meals. :)
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that's not what I asked though. Is it better to drink diluted squash with a meal of regular coke. Or is there no difference because it is with a meal?
 
joescrivens said:
that's not what I asked though. Is it better to drink diluted squash with a meal of regular coke. Or is there no difference because it is with a meal?
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Theoretically it'd be better yes. Realistically it probably doesn't make much of a difference if you stick to only meal times.

An analogy would be like it's running someone over at 40mph vs 30mph! :p
 
If you swoosh out your mouth with plain water after sugary/acidic drinks would this not just solve the whole issue?

Or drink via a straw as then the liquid isn't going on your teeth so much.

Only use I have for cola is to clean metal with. It does a good job of that.
 
srichards said:
If you swoosh out your mouth with plain water after sugary/acidic drinks would this not just solve the whole issue?

Or drink via a straw as then the liquid isn't going on your teeth so much.

Only use I have for cola is to clean metal with. It does a good job of that.
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Drinking through a straw - definitely helps with acidic drinks to stop erosion. We recommend it if you absolutely have to drink coke / fizzy drinks etc.

In regards to washing away the sweet/acid drinks - it helps a bit. But can't prevent the effect of decay fully. The sugars / bacteria get trapped in the pits and fissures of the teeth (mainly back ones) and in between the teeth, protecting them from being washed away. Rinsing is a good thing though, and if you can have a 30 second rinse with a Fluoride mouthwash before or after a snack then even better. Look for mouthwashes with 0.05% / 250PPM Flouride.
 
Cheng said:
Theoretically it'd be better yes. Realistically it probably doesn't make much of a difference if you stick to only meal times.

An analogy would be like it's running someone over at 40mph vs 30mph! :p
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Well there's a huge difference between hitting someone at 30mph vs 40 mph. Hitting them at 40mph there's an 80% chance they'll die. Hit them at 30mph and there is an 80% chance they'll live.
 
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