Ten for A Dollar

What a deal! Every Tuesday and Thursday at my children’s school you can purchase 10 Twizzlers for $1.00 from our very own Snack Shack. That is 10 cents per Twizzler. Deal or not deal? For your $1.00 you get 320 calories of strawberry flavored, chewy ropes, of bright red yumminess. What else you ask? Well what else do you need to know? They taste good and, well…it is only a treat, right? Here is the break down…All the ingredients are listed by volume with the greatest amount first.

• Corn Syrup -A balance of dextrose, fructose, malt and glucose to keep them chemically stable is a result of a series of two enzymatic reactions used to convert the cornstarch to corn syrup. Corn syrup is used to soften the texture, add volume, prohibit crystallization and enhance flavor.
• Flour -Plain old white flour, maybe bleached, maybe not, but this food is not gluten free.
• Sugar -The 38 grams of sugar are all added, thus 10 Twizzlers equate to nearly 10 teaspoons of plain white sugar. That is over half the amount the USDA recommended as the limit for school aged children per day.
• Cornstarch -The starch of the corn grain is used as a thickening agent; as the starch is heated, the molecular chains unravel, allowing them to collide with other starch chains to form a mesh, thickening the liquid.
• Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil (2% or Less)-A trans fat that happens to be just less than the FDA requires is reported per serving.
• Salt (2% or Less)-Contributes to the 260 mg of sodium in this serving of Twizzlers. This equates to 20% of what a child between the ages of 8 and 13 should consume per day, more if your child is younger.
• Artificial Flavorings (2% or Less)-Simply chemical mixtures containing dozens, if not hundreds, of chemicals interacting to create the desired taste and smell.
• Citric Acid (2% or Less) -A weak organic acid, and it is a natural preservative used to add a sour taste. It can also be used as an environmentally friendly cleaning agent.
• Potassium Sorbate (2% or Less) – A preservative used to limit the growth of yeast and mold, thus increasing its shelf life. It can be fully digested and is polyunsaturated fat which is odorless, colorless and tasteless. It is non toxic, however prolonged use could lead to allergic reactions, nausea, diarrhea and nutrient loss in food.
• Artificial Coloring (2% or Less) - Includes Red 40: Allura Red AC is a red azo dye that goes by several names including: Allura Red, Food Red 17, C.I. 16035, FD&C Red 40[1][2], 2-naphthalenesulfonic acid, 6-hydroxy-5-((2-methoxy-5-methyl-4-sulfophenyl)azo)-, disodium salt, and disodium. Several case studies have linked azo pigments with Basal Cell Carcinoma, skin cancer.

Sounds yummy, doesn’t it? So your child is not eating their lunch in order to be first in line with that $1.00 you gave them for their Tuesday and Thursday treat. And thus they got 320 calories, 10 teaspoons of sugar and a whole lot of chemicals. How do think their afternoon of learning and behavior went? I kid you not, the other day, during lunch recess, I witnessed 1st graders racing each other to the Snack Shack line, then sit down with fist fulls of Twizzlers and Fruit Roll Ups and Corn Nuts.

Are we really the parents that want our children to eat this stuff? Don’t we care more for them than this? Don’t get me wrong, I like a Twizzler as much as the next person, but ten…at lunch time...every Tuesday and Thursday…at school, every week…really?

Some Facts to consider when we feed our children:
• An average of 17% of school aged children are considered obese with a BMI over 31%. (Ogden, JAMA. 2008;299(20):2401-2405)
• Nearly 5% of children in the US have been diagnosed with non –alcoholic fatty liver disease, with many more undiagnosed. This is caused by the consumption of High Fructose Corn Syrup. (Feldstein & Kay, Department of PGN & CB, Cleveland, OH)
• If current trends continue, 1 in 3 Americans will develop diabetes sometime in their lifetime, and those with diabetes will lose, on average, 10–15 years of life. (Dept. of Health and Human Services, CDC)
• Leaky Gut, Candidas, Constipation, Diarrhea, Indigestion are complaints on the rise in the Pediatrician’s office. (Fratkin, Holistic Pediatric Association July 2004)
• There has been a significant increase in the diagnosis of learning disabilities and ADD/ADHD during the same period of increase in obesity among children. (Obesity Journal, 2009; Dr. Allan Green, June, 2009)
• Nutrition can play an important role in the prevention and management of many kinds of difficulties in behavior, learning and mood. (Greene, June 2004 Archives of Diseases in Childhood.)

Do you want to know if there is real fruit in the Fruit Roll Up? Food for thought.

Beth Ann Bentley is the founder and publisher of iLunchBox.com and the mother of four school-aged children.