• Blackmist@feddit.uk
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    4 months ago

    That’s not because the sugar tax was enough.

    It’s because the drink manufacturers mostly just stopped selling the full sugar versions, which kind of sucks for anyone who hates the taste of artificial sweeteners. Even squash like Robinsons became undrinkable. It tastes like battery acid.

    There’s only really Coca-Cola left that tastes the same as it did before. Lemon and lime drinks like 7-Up or Sprite almost cover the taste of it, so they’ll do in a pinch. Otherwise I just drink water and cider. Apparently alcoholic drinks don’t need to tell you how many calories are in them either, so I’ll assume it’s none and carry on looking confused when I get on the scales.

    • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      It’s because the drink manufacturers mostly just stopped selling the full sugar versions

      Which was a result of the sugar tax. They didn’t just suddenly drop the sugar content for no reason.

      • Liz@midwest.social
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        4 months ago

        The sugar tax didn’t include artificial sweeteners? That’s an oversight. Those things are bad for you in ways that are different from digestable sugars.

        • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          They’re nowhere near as bad as consuming a huge amount of sugar.

          They only cause issues for a vanishingly tiny amount of people that have pre-existing genetic conditions.

          • EnderMB@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            That’s highly debatable. It’s swapping one set of side effects for another, especially when drunk at high volumes.

            • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              It’s not highly debatable, it’s been studied to death. Sweeteners have existed for a long time.

              There were rumours they cause cancer, this has been proven false. There were rumours they cause headaches, this has been proven false. There were rumours they cause infertility, this has been proven false. There have been rumours they stimulate your appetite, this likewise has zero scientific backing.

              Aspartame, the most common sweetener, does cause issues for people with phenylketonuria, a rare genetic disorder, because it contains stuff they can’t metabolise. But so does a long list of foods people eat every day.

              Some polyol sweeteners have a mild laxative effect if consumed in very high quantities, but the same is true for stuff like tea, coffee, most fruits, etc.

              Sugar is far worse for your health.

        • uis@lemm.ee
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          4 months ago

          Artificial sweeteners were created to fight glycation and allow people with diabetes enjoy sweetness.

          And glycation is bad thing.

    • Katana314@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      So now people are avoiding sweet drinks not because they cost too much in taxes, but…because they taste like battery acid.

      That’s still achieving the overall goal.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Give people options and let the market decide

        Who do you think is not giving people options? Because it isn’t the UK government. They didn’t make the drinks illegal. They put a pretty modest tax on them.

        So I’m not sure what you want, a law to force Pepsico to sell drinks with sugar in them? Because I think the market wouldn’t be deciding there.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            Oh look, you took a post I wrote entirely out of context.

            I’ll fix that for you.

            That was in response to this:

            Which was a response to this:

            In this thread: https://lemmy.world/post/17453467

            I’ll assume that was an honest mistake and you aren’t just trolling and definitely won’t get banned like in the many, many other communities you’ve been banned for trolling people in, so you’re welcome.

            Edit: I suppose the alternative is you believe in such a thing as an “Artificial Intelligence Supercomputer,” but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt there.

    • chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      4 months ago

      In fact, the only ones that do tell you seem to be the ones aimed at calorie counters who still want to drink, mostly hard seltzers like WhiteClaw, Truly, etc.

      White claw smaller can at 5% is 100-110 calories a can.

    • EnderMB@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I said this in another comment, but trying to find drinks that don’t use sweeteners is painful nowadays. I can no longer drink most squashes, and my soft drink options are pretty much limited to coca cola (normal pepsi now has sweeteners), sainsbury’s high juice, or rose’s lime cordial…