[utahagen]

You're right about the "no juice" policy. It drives me crazy when I read about nutritionists who tell parents to replace soda with fruit juice. WRONG! Replace sugary soda with water, seltzer, even diet soda. Fruit juice is loaded with calories and the sugar enters the bloodstream quickly, because there's no fiber or fat to slow it down. A kid drinks fruit juice; his blood sugar spikes; his body makes fat from the calories; his appetite soars when the blood sugar levels come crashing down; and the kids eats more carbs. But listen to the hysterics when you tell someone to give his kid diet soda! I concede that water or seltzer would be far preferable to diet soda, but I insist that even diet soda would be better for kids than fruit juice.

[zerosix]

Better check further on any choice of diet soda; only those not containing aspartame, caffeine or sodium are without serious harmful effects.

Aspartame has been linked to brain tumors and other potentially lethal medical conditions. Soft drink makers are catching on as people are leaving Diet Coke and other diet soft drinks on orders from enlightened health care advisers. Phenylalanine added to most Coke products is far worse than caffeine for keeping everyone up and "reving up your body" - harmful for kids too, giving symptoms of ADD and hyperactivity.