Sugar ad: your diet is depriving your kids of vital sugar!

Here's an undated ad from "Sugar Information, Inc" (our old friends), warning mothers that if they include their kids in their sugar-free, dieting lifestyles, they will be depriving the poor kiddlees of vital sugar and exposing them to "exhaustion." Obviously, this was before the cancer scares and other stuff about artificial sweeteners, because surely that's the major reason to keep your kids away from artificial sweeteners. I love the fact that they recommend sugar for dieters, too: "gives you the va-va-voom you need for all those exercises!"

Sugar!

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: ad • corporatism • corruption • Food • health • junk science • Kids • not food • nutrition • Old school • parenting

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Brad H.

Va-Va-Voom. An often under-looked state on consciousness as referenced in many fine medical journals.
http://obsidian.kokolis.net Chloramphenicol

I get the point you’re trying to make, but there’s a difference between sugar (sucrose) and high-fructose corn syrup. Given the choice, I think we’d all rather have sucrose in our drinks than hfcs. Is it still a crapton of ‘empty’ calories? Yes. But they’re tastier and less unhealty when presented as sucrose.
- ChicagoD
  
  Oh man. Now the Corn Sugar Society of America (or whatever) is going to flood the thread with comments.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    We had a lawyer for Big Peanut show up once to turf us. Srsly.
- Sigmund_Jung
  
  Both are crap. Both have fructose.
ChicagoD

No doubt about it. Sugar promotes weight loss. Wait, what?

Also, you know what else can protect kids from “bugs and ailments?” Vitamins and minerals. Are there any drinks with sugar AND vitamins? Let me think about it . . . oh right. Fruit juice. Not pop. Fruit juice. Weird, that doesn’t need to have added sugar. Why aren’t they promoting that. Oh. Right.
- Ito Kagehisa
  
  Mrs. Kagehisa occasionally scolds me for my habit of buying extremely large amounts of 100% fruit juice and storing them in the basement. She says “it’s just empty calories!”. I still have not figured out exactly what she means by this, but the kids and I love juice, so I keep doing it.
  - http://thisisonlya.blogspot.com robcat2075
    
    Mrs Kagehisa may know it’s better just eat the fruit rather than an industrial derivative.
    
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/29/100-percent-orange-juice-artificial_n_913395.html
    - ChicagoD
      
      And fiber. Fiber is probably the bigger issue.
      - Ito Kagehisa
        
        Oh yeah. I hate juice with no fiber – the cloudier the better! And the best stuff is not only full of pulp, it’s fermenting, too. Mmmmmm apple cider……
    - Ito Kagehisa
      
      I see Huffpo as Drudge Report read backwards. A little truth whipped up into a tornado of inflammatory truthiness, clearly intended to deceive people to serve political goals.
      
      Despite that, I read your link, and all the stuff it linked, and the response from the Florida Department of Citrus, and the comments on Civil Eats, and food renegade, etc. And here’s what I got out of it.
      
      At least two brands of packaged orange juice use a process where the juice is separated, the parts of it that can be boiled are boiled, and the parts of it that can’t be boiled without being destroyed are added back in after the boiling, so that the juice doesn’t rot or turn into poison in the bottle. Hurray for Louis Pasteur.
      
      Unsurprisingly, the parts of the orange that can’t be boiled but also do not support microbial life, are volatile flavor agents – a.k.a. chemicals. You know, chemicals, the stuff oranges are made out of? Yes, those exact chemicals. I can’t muster any fear or horror… I myself am made of chemicals, and so is all my food.
      
      Huffpo takes these facts, which apply to a specific brand of a specific type of juice, and attempts to create fear of “the juice industry”. I think we can assume that the majority of Florida juice growers donate more to the Republican party than they do to the Democrats – because that’s how Huffpo articles always seem to break down, somehow.
      
      Oho, looky there, a little googling and we see that the Florida Orange Juice Growers Association is rabidly right wing, and has used Anita Bryant as a spokesperson, and, well, I’m done with this now.
      
      EDIT: You’re right, robcat, it is better to eat the fruit, and I can’t deny it. But reading Huffpo’s inflammatory and manipulative nonsense always sets me off. Sorry.
      - ocker3
        
        In Australia there’s a brand called Preshafruit, and they sterilise the juice by simply applying pressure, lots of it. It’s not as cheap (currently) as boiled juice, but it Really tastes just like fruit does.
  - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1610605242 Karyn Layton
    
    The brain doesn’t recognize calories in liquids so they do not satisfy hunger, but the excess calories are still stored as fat. As far as that goes, fruit juice is no better than regular soft drinks.
    - ChicagoD
      
      Wait, so drinks won’t satisfy a feeling of hunger. They still have vitamin C or whatever though. They are not the best way to get vitamin C or whatever, but it’s still there. Which it isn’t in Pepsi.
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        Nuts. A handful of nuts is your friend. Or an ounce of cheese. A couple of olives. Anything with some fat.
      - niktemadur
        
        @Antinous_Moderator:disqus
        
        Right on.
        After an allergy induced episode of high blood pressure, I implemented a daily quota of fifteen almonds, ten pistachios and some strips of dried mango into my diet.
        The level of potassium on nuts is off the charts.
        
        Then there’s olive oil, garlic and habanero, my holy trinity.
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        A lot of micronutrients are fat soluble, so people who avoid fat also avoid vitamins and minerals. Nuts and seeds are incredibly nutritious.
    - Ito Kagehisa
      
      I have not found this to be true in my case. Once my stomach is full, my hunger is satisfied. Water works as well as anything else.
      
      I have noticed that hunger works quite differently in different people. I can see at least three distinct patterns.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    Would you eat eight oranges at a sitting? Twelve apples? Fruit has a high glycemic index because of the sugars, but generally has a low glycemic load because the sugars are a fairly small part of the whole package. Take out the rest of the fruit and you’re sucking down vast amounts of sugar. Didn’t anybody ever tell you not to put apple juice in the baby’s bottle?
    - Ito Kagehisa
      
      Er, no, because the acids make my urethra sting after about five, and yes, 12 raw apples if I’m really hungry, and yes, but I personally wouldn’t put anything in a baby’s bottle that didn’t come out of a woman’s breast except in extremis, and even then I’d use the best approximation of breast milk available.
      
      I understand her point, now, though – thanks!
http://www.facebook.com/alexander.williams Alexander Lee Williams

Sadly, there’s not much sugar in soft drinks anymore. It’s all corn syrup — unless you’re anywhere but the States.
- http://jere7my.livejournal.com jere7my
  
  Mountain Dew Throwback, baby.
  - Lupus_Yonderboy
    
    Mexican Coca Cola at the corner store, baby.
    - Donald Petersen
      
      Dublin Dr Pepper, babelicious. Of course, it’s $2.05 per 8oz bottle at my neighborhood specialty sodee-pop shoppe, or you can get a case of those li’l bottles shipped straight from the bottler in Dublin, TX for about $40.
      
      Some days, it’s worth it.
      - Lupus_Yonderboy
        
        Unfortunately the Dr Pepper/Snapple monster didn’t like that (apparently DDP got so popular that other regional bottlers got jealous) and they forced the plant to stop making it. Thanks for the link, I’ll be ordering some.
      - Donald Petersen
        
        Dude, seriously? Aw, man… and Bill Kloster spins in his grave.
        
        Just two years ago, Dr Pepper celebrated their 125th anniversary with cans using the original cane sugar recipe. Who was the Dublin plant hurting?
        
        Think I’ll write a letter to Wayne Sanders and Larry Young over at Dr Pepper Snapple and explain to ‘em I’m switching to Mr. Pibb.
      - http://twitter.com/beep54orama B E Pratt
        
        Not sure if the Dublin plant still does DP. I think they got cut out. But that merely freed them to make their own sodas, so it’s all good :)
      - niktemadur
        
        What I don’t yet understand, Dublin Dr Pepper is a cult classic, but they had to shut down because “Doctor Pepper” is in the name.
        
        Why not continue to make it under a new, nudge-nudge wink-wink name, such as “Dublin Classic”, or something like that? In fact, being tied to the corporate name brand “Doctor Pepper” may have been a hindrance for decades.
        
        Emancipate!
- Ito Kagehisa
  
  Lay low, look for the poorer quarters where the ragged people go, search for the places only they will know. You’ll find the mexican coca-cola right next to the jarritos, on the shelf above the extra picante pulparindos.
  - penguinchris
    
    In California the poorer quarters where the ragged people go includes Target which sells Jarritos and Mexican Coke (among other things), and it’s usually the same price as you’d get from an actual poorer quarter where the ragged people go (lai lai lai lai lai lai lai).
    
    Also Wegmans grocery stores in NY and surrounding states have it, though it’s more expensive (and we’re about as far from the border, culturally anyway, as possible though of course we are right next to the other border).
    
    Of course my favorite time to buy Mexican coke is from the poorer quarters where ragged people go, or with pizza slices in the village in NYC, etc. Times when you’re on foot wandering through a city. Gives you the va-va-voom you need.
    - Ito Kagehisa
      
      Target doesn’t carry Mexican soft drinks around here, but we’ve got lots of little tiendas and taquerias.
bcsizemo

You know what else quenches fatigue? Amphetamines.
- Navin_Johnson
  
  And cigarettes!
- http://www.nathanhornby.com/ Nathan Hornby
  
  For your health!
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Actually, so do hyrocodone and oxycodone.
  - Ito Kagehisa
    
    If by “quenches” you mean “renders you insensible to” then yes, hydrocodone surely does the job.
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      They’re both slightly speedy. That’s one of the reasons that they’re so much more popular than most opiates.
http://www.facebook.com/dcbarclift David Barclift

“Their thirst craves anything cold and wet. But their bodies need much more. Energy.” Sounds like the tagline to some weird sci-fi horror flick.
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefan_e_jones/ Stefan Jones
  
  ”Deprive them of food energy, and your kids may turn to other sources, like that 220 volt socket in the basement. Imagine them, spasming and foaming at mouth, alone in the cellar, just because you were too much of a chickenshit calorie-hater to care.”
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    I’m more worried about them replacing shed cells with polarized silicon.
- Lupus_Yonderboy
  
  “Their thirst craves anything cold and wet”. So that’s why they don’t let kids in the back at the bloodbank…
bolamig

Thank you Mommy may I have another?
http://www.youtube.com/user/Freethinkersanon Christopher

The ad is undated. I almost said that, except for the haircut, I could believe the ad was current. But then it occurred to me that maybe the haircut was a subtle way of hearkening back to the good ol’ days. Maybe it’s the ad’s way of saying, “Sugar! Remember how good it was? Brought to you by the same people who want to put lead back in your paint and asbestos in your walls.”
http://twitter.com/cjporkchop cjporkchop

“18 calories per teaspoon”

So we put *10* teaspoons of sugar in your 12 oz soda!
- ChicagoD
  
  Have another. You look exhausted! Actually, try the convenient 20 oz size!
  - Donald Petersen
    
    You mean the “small.” One of the things I like about Carl’s Jr is that the 32oz size is a “medium.” The same volume that the 7-Eleven stores of my youth called the “Big Gulp” back in the late 70s.
    
    As recently as 1993, I’d occasionally buy a “Double Gulp.” It’s a half gallon, and the top of the cup folds just like a milk carton since no round plastic lid could keep that drink from completely soaking your lap when you drove over a speed bump.
    
    USA! USA! USA!
    - penguinchris
      
      The first couple of times I went to Carl’s Jr I thought they must have mistakenly given me the wrong cup when I got the “medium” combo until I looked behind the counter at what size cups were available.
GlenBlank

Several years ago, I was talking to a woman who was a school nurse at one of LA’s most prestigious Westside private schools, and she told told me that at one point, she and a couple of other school nurses had been comparing notes, and they realized they’d all been seeing an unusual and unfamiliar constellation of symptoms, and wondering if there was some new low-grade infection on the loose or something.

Then the school got a new hire, fresh from a stint with an NGO disaster-aid organization, and she recognized the symptoms right away – as malnutrition.

Everyone was dumbfounded. How could this many kids, from some of the wealthiest families in the city, be malnourished?

Turned out that body-conscious Hollywood moms and dads had been feeding their little darlings a “healthy” diet consisting entirely of low-fat and mostly nonfat or fat-free, sugar-free products of the high-protein, low-carb variety.

The kids were getting plenty of protein, since it’s the one major nutrient that hasn’t (yet!) been portayed as evil and labeled “bad for you” – and almost nothing else.

It produced an atypical set of malnourishment symptoms, because malnutrition typically includes a lack of adequate protein. But still, that’s what it was.
- chgoliz
  
  Interesting story….but it doesn’t surprise me. The kids who bring the worst lunches at my kids’ schools? The children of doctors. Money, privilege, AND specific health knowledge, but so many of them feed their kids the worst junk food available. What’s up with that?
Nash Rambler

The whole thing smacks of Don-Draperish logic.
rocketjam

Make sure they get sugar every day!
http://evilbobdayjob.blogspot.com/ Deidzoeb

I hope within a decade or two we’ll be able to look back on all of today’s ads and claims of products that “remove toxins” and laugh knowingly. That seems to be the latest unsubstantiated bullcrap theory to explain how modern snake oils or “therapies” work.

Also can I just say how much I hate it when I read a recipe for some fairly natural old-timey food, like fermented beet juice, and after the recipe they tell you it’s great for helping with liver ailments, kidney, stomache, brain, eye, ear, nerves, liverishness, women’s complaints, straightens armpit hair, don’t forget cancer. It’s like they’ve been cribbing off Tom Waits. http://youtu.be/y8YcEmKleJk
niktemadur

That B/W poster is prime material for a “Mad Men” prequel. Surely they’re rolled paper straws, remember those? When wet, their texture on my lips made me feel anxious, sorta like the feel of cotton balls or velvet on dry hands.

Yeah, those paper straws were around until at least the late seventies, maybe the early eighties.