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News: Jamie Oliver urges Government to ban selling energy drinks to children

My brother used to work for a large firm that makes a lot of them - and he wouldn't touch them.

Its a shame it actually needs legislation to stop kids having them, but if that's what is needed then so be it.
 
I'm not sure whether i agree with stopping kids from doing certain things rather than teaching them about nutrition.
Before i was diagnosed i didn't have a clue about nutrition at all - couldn't read a label and see how good/bad something is.

I really don't understand why more teaching isn't done for children rather than battling the outcome later on in life
 
As a child Ill health and old age is something floating in the ether. It’s not real. Let’s face it a minute seems like a lifetime to a child. As a parent my child was brought up on milk and water. Education has little impact if it is freely available at home.
 
L3wisr said:
I'm not sure whether i agree with stopping kids from doing certain things rather than teaching them about nutrition.
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There's no point in me adding my two pennorth because you have said what I was going to say.

In addition, I don't think that Mr Oliver thinks some of these problems through. After his crack down on school meals the schools seemed frightened to serve anything other than tuna salad. The kids ran for the tuck shop.

I was in a chippy one day and a bunch of school kids came in. Well you have to ask don't you? I asked them what was on the menu at school that caused them to invade the chippy. I was told that for £1 you could get a big bag of chips in the chippy but for the same amount in the school you got about three chips.

It seems there is an economic problem in addition to a diet one.
 
L3wisr said:
The celebrity chef and campaigner, who has pioneered a longstanding effort to combat diet-related disease in children, is backing calls by the National Education Union to introduce an age limit of 16 on all sales.
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Energy drinks are banned in school - both in the vending machines and students from bringing them in. There are lessons on healthy eating etc but some of the students don't even have a 'proper' packed lunch from home - they have crisps (I have seen large tubes of Pringles etc) chocolate and milkshakes. Maybe restricting sales by age would help - but students under 16 still smoke and drink!
 
Whilst I would prefer to give children and their parents the choice. And Nutritional Education for everyone( Especially In Schools.) Is highly desirable The fact is that we the public will probably be unable to agree on what the Correct Nutritional info. to teach. Now Throw into the mix The Profit Making Multi National who want to protect their products no matter what The research Doctors who are paid by the former. The differing interests of MPs who may have many constituents working who would loose their jobs...................I could go on buts its not always as easy to get change We All should be concerned about what our children eat and if Parliament need to use Legislation to protect our children SO BE IT !!! but it wont work without enforcement an the full support of PARENTS !!!.
 
archersuz said:
Maybe restricting sales by age would help - but students under 16 still smoke and drink!
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This is the part which probably hasn't been thought through - to some, restricting something so they can't get it themselves only makes it more desirable.
 
I don't like these bans. I agree that energy drinks are totally unnecessary, but with people talking about the sugar tax and government regulations on food and drink, products that I NEED to stay alive such as juice and soft drink will be more expensive. I don't want the government controlling people's diet choices - I can make up my own mind about what's good for me and what isn't, and people who are too dumb to consume junk food in moderation deserve the consequences. I use fruit juice to treat almost all my hypos, my teeth are in perfectly good condition and a lot better than many nondiabetic people I would say. Even before I was diabetic, I drank a small amount of juice on most days and never suffered any consequences for it. Sorry for the slightly off topic rant.
 
I think a reduction in consumption of high- sugar content food and drink will only work if attitudes change. If it becomes uncool to consume them then it's likely that the producers' and purveyors profits will suffer and things will change. A broad attack using the storylines in the media, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat etc, and people the young want to be like, may have more effect than a celebrity chef and Government decrees.
 
Having watched the tv show last night, I think Jamie’s mainly concerned by the caffeine content with these energy drinks.
There was no mention of the sugar content as he was talking about kids drinking Red Bull and the like for breakfast.
I don’t believe there is a diabetes link with caffeine.
 
The caffeine isn't that high in many energy drinks: we should be worried about the sugar in drinks, and that includes the healthy organic orange juice Jamie Oliver would probably recommend as a proper breakfast drink.
 
I've witnessed " naughty " youngsters buying energy drinks in bulk from the pound store with the main purpose of getting hyper active and fueling there behaviours . I worked with children with severe mental , emotional and behavioural difficulties who on purpose would drink energy drinks to get hyper. A few would drink coffee for the same reason but, a cold tin with bright colours seems more appealing and much easier for a youth to consume. Jamie Oliver quite clearly stipulates when he makes sugar ladened desert that it isn't an every day thing thing but a treat. Also now with drinks like relentless come in a beer size can. Kids think it's cool to drink it. They have high levels of caffeine and often taurine in. If my 36 year old mate drinks one it sends him loopy. He is a nightmare when out if he drinks red bull or the like. What's it doing to a youngster. I back Jamie in this and have often thought the same age limit should apply. Kids will drink and smoke and consume what they can. Just makes it less available to them.
 
bangkokdiabetic said:
but it wont work without enforcement an the full support of PARENTS !!!.
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Exactly. We do teach nutrition even to the youngest children but the children don’t do the shopping and so are governed by what they are given to eat.

It’s the same problem for the new government ‘idea’ to help all disadvantaged children learn to read. They think we don’t already work tirelessly to achieve this, but we cannot do it properly without the support of the parents.
Schools and parents need to work together, but I often find it it the parents that need educating rather than the children. I won’t go into the rubbish I see in packed lunches everyday.
 
It is all about parents and unfortunately many don't seem to have the will or education to pass on what is correct. I'm so lucky to have learnt how to cook from my grandparents and mother. Now I teach them things as I love cooking good food so much. Now with this diagnoses I'm going to try even harder to create some fab recipes for my diabetic friends.
 
Obviously the children I looked after in the care system are a bit different as some must of only felt that the only thing they could control with all the other things they had to deal with was what they put in their mouth.
 
Pipp said:
This is the same Jamie Oliver that makes a living from promoting sugar laden recipes?

https://www.yummly.co.uk/recipes/jamie-oliver-desserts

Seems a bit hypocritical to me.
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Don't Get Confused there are 2 problems
1) the amount of Harmful ingredients in Energy Drinks and the effects on Children etc Something we should all be concerned about. should CHILDREN be able to buy them without their parents knowing we have an age limit on Alcohol yes some kids get round it but by and large it works. SELLERS are the key harsh penalties 1st offence 1000 pound fine 2nd offence 6 months in jail minimum no alternative. should do the trick and same for adults buying for kids who are not their paent

2) If Jamie Oliver is a hypocrite or not. I think probably yes but remember he sells food to Adults who can choose if Children eat his food the person paying for it is normally a Adult PARENT
 
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Not confused, though I would agree I highlighted just one of the many problems.
I do not believe Jamie Oliver to be a hypocrite, just that in view of the point I made about how he makes a living strikes me that his attitude regarding the energy drinks seemed to me to be hypocritical. I fully agree that these energy drinks are not good for children. I don't think they are good for most adults either, though I know they are useful for some diabetics to resolve a hypo.

To say there are 2 problems is somewhat simplistic. To give just a few examples :there are numerous problems in the food industry, the big companies are embedded in politics, the lack of education in simple nutrition some parents have, also the disinterest in their childrens' welfare from some. When I was young, mothers and grannies taught us how to cook using fresh, natural ingredients. There were also lessons in school cookery classes. Now most parents are too busy earning a living and many rely on microwave meals to feed the family. Schools I know of don't have cookery lessons any more. They have 'food technology' lessons instead. We have also been conned by the advertising suugesting high energy drinks etc were somehow healthy. I even know of an athlete who consumed them during a marathon because they had been advised by a university sport science expert that he needed to replace the 'essential' minerals and electrolites lost through running. That athlete was extremely ill with kidney problems for months after.

I think if we take your suggestion seriously @bangkokdiabetic we will end up with pushers of illegal energy drinks profitting from secret sales of the stuff, just as with other drugs.
Big problem no simple solution.
 
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