Understanding Fruit Shoot

I’ve noticed there has been some chat on Netmums around drinks for young children and in particular the value of Fruit Shoot. My heart goes out to mums over all the anguish around what to give young children to drink – we mums are meant to understand so much! I wish more communication was around when my girls were young – they are teenagers now so I should probably find a site to help me!

As the qualified nutritionist for Britvic, the company that makes Fruit Shoot, I’m keen to help other mums understand more about what is in our products so they can make informed decisions.  I’ve noticed lots of the mums on netmums are worried about aspartame which is completely understandable as there’s so much confusing information out there! 

In actual fact the sweetener aspartame is one of the most thoroughly tested ingredients of all time and in over 30 years of scientific tests no conclusive evidence has been uncovered to suggest any link to health problems.  As recently as June this year, another major report on the effects of aspartame by the European Food Safety Association has once again given it the all clear. 

In reality aspartame brings nothing new to the diet. It is made up of two amino acids –which are the building blocks of protein – and you will find these amino acids naturally occurring in many foods. The amino acids are incredibly sweet – in fact these same amino acids are found naturally occurring in breast milk and they contribute to its sweetness.

It’s understandable that despite this reassurance some mums out there might still feel uncomfortable giving their kids any food or drink containing aspartame.  Those mums might be interested to know that Fruit Shoot Regular and our 100% range of pure juices (Fruit Shoot 100%) do not contain any aspartame and none of the products across the Fruit Shoot range contain any artificial flavours or colours.    

Mums opinions are really important to us and we are always listening to mums to make sure we are meeting their needs – that’s why we launched the new Robinsons Be Natural range earlier this year.  Be Natural is made from only naturally sourced ingredients and contains no artificial preservatives or sweeteners.  As both Robinsons Be Natural and Fruit Shoot 100% do not contain any preservatives they must be stored in the refrigerator after opening and consumed within three weeks.

I’m more than happy to answer any questions you might have so don’t hesitate to drop me an email at julie@juliedean.com and I’ll do my best to answer your queries.

Julie