Avoid Kool-Aid for Kids; Offer These Drinks Instead

Kool-Aid is a fun drink with vibrant colors marketed towards kids for generations. It is often the drink offered to kids at summer parties, picnics, and camps. The popularity and excess consumption of Kool-Aid for kids makes it unintuitive to question whether it is healthy. I am ready to take a closer look at the ingredients of the bright-colored drink with you and offer more nutritious, hydrating, and satisfying options to kids and adults alike!

The ingredients

While searching for Kool-Aid products, it took much work to choose the focus on one product because all are equal to the others. Below is a list of ingredients in their Kool-Aid Bursts Cherry flavor:

– Water

– High Fructose Corn Syrup

– Artificial Flavor

– Sucralose

– Citric Acid

– Sodium Citrate

– Red 40

– Blue 1

– Sodium Benzoate

– Potassium Sorbate

– Calcium Disodium EDTA

One bottle contains 20 calories and 5 grams of sugar. Besides plain water, sucralose is the least worrisome ingredient from the list above, but it still needs to be addressed.

Sugar

It is well known that child sugar intake has increased in recent years. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommend no more than 25 grams of added sugar each day for children over the age of two. One cup of sugar is equal to 200 grams.

Sugary drinks are linked to an increased risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, hypertension, and heart disease in children (1). The regular consumption of sugar in children also hurts the gut microbiome.

Sadly, sugar is an empty carbohydrate with no nutritional value; Its only job is to provide a sweet taste. Sugar produced now is also genetically modified to withstand high amounts of pesticides like glyphosate. That is, it is bioengineered and covered in the dangerous weed killer in Round-Up.

High fructose corn syrup is a cheaper sugar substitute with more sugar content that has been linked to obesity, colorectal cancer, and intestinal tumor growth (2). It has also been shown to increase one’s appetite and raise obesity more than sugar (3).

Citric Acid

Citric Acid is the most common additive in food to preserve shelf life; it is often considered healthy. It is most often thought of as extra vitamin C or ascorbic acid. A quick Google search claims, “citric acid is an organic compound naturally found in citrus fruits” (7). That makes it easy to believe that the most common additive in food is natural. But, like food dyes, producers want to make their products as cheap as possible.

Manufactured citric acid is synthetic and made from black mold (aspergillus niger). It is known to cause inflammation and allergic reactions (8). Citric acid is a known excitotoxin. An excitotoxin alters the brain by making neurotransmitters fire more quickly. This results in neuroreceptors receiving more information than they can process. Eventually, this leads to the dying off of the neuroreceptors and the killing of brain cells.

While this harms everyone’s brain, children’s brains are more susceptible. Excitotoxins have a potential impact on learning and behavior. Children with learning and sensory disorders often have a rapid decrease in symptoms when things like citric acid are removed from the diet.

Artificial Flavors and Colors

Simply put, artificial ingredients are chemicals made in a lab. These food additives often originate from petroleum byproducts, which the FDA still approves. They can trigger a dopamine rush to the brain, making consumers crave more. In other words, they have addictive properties (4).

Red 40 and Blue 1 are the two artificial colors in the product above. They are linked to cognitive symptoms and hyperactivity (5).

Red 40 is contaminated with benzidine, which is a known carcinogen (a chemical known to cause cancer) (6)—no wonder most artificial food coloring is been banned in other countries Thankfully, there is an increased awareness of the health risks of food dyes on children. Kool Aid is only sold in the USA and Canada, so Kraft does not have to change their ingredients to sell it in Europe. Hopefully, America will be in the right direction in banning these food dyes from its products.

A Quick Digression

As stated above, most food dyes are banned in other countries. Here is a list of ingredients for M&M’s sold in the US versus those for the same product sold in the U.K.

Mars can make a cheaper product by using artificial food dyes and selling them in the US. If the same ingredients on the left were used for the products in Europe, the package would have to supply a warning label that states, “May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.” Knowing this is genuinely disheartening, I challenge you to retake a stand on artificial food dyes and actively remove them from your home! Your kids will thank you. (Maybe not literally, but their behavior, attention, and activity will be significantly affected!).

Promote Healthy Habits

Regularly consuming massive amounts of sugar can alter a child’s palate, developing a preference for sweeter foods and drinks. Ultimately, this can lead to poor nutrition, where kids adapt to sugary drinks. Over time, a child will have difficulty drinking plain water, milk, and fruit juice.

Healthy Drink Alternatives

Various options can develop a child’s palate and preference for more nutrient-dense drinks or plain water to stay hydrated. These healthier options also have less sugar. Here is a list of the most popular drinks for my toddler.

Lemon Water: Adding a squeeze of lemon to water is a great way to add flavor and a good source of vitamin C to water. Additionally, adding lemon to water aids digestion, boosts your immune system, improves skin quality, and can balance acidity in the body. We often squeeze lemons, pour the juice into small square ice cube trays, and freeze to make lemon ice cubes. Fill up a large glass of water in the morning, drop a lemon ice cube in, and it will melt quickly!

100% Juice: Another healthier choice in our house is juice. Often, I make homemade apple juice by cutting up and blending 3-4 apples with 4-5 cups of water. The less water used, the more it will taste like apple cider! You are supposed to peel the apples, but leaving the skin on is more straightforward as they will get strained out anyway. After blending, strain through a nut milk bag. If it tastes too sweet, add more water before giving it to your toddler.

If making juice is not an option due to time, opt for 100% juice (not from concentrate) from grocery stores. Juice made from concentrate is often stripped of the minerals and nutrients in the fruit. When we do this, we frequently water the juice down so it is not too sweet and there is not too much juice. We also have a soda water maker; sometimes, we add juice to soda water for a nice treat.

Milk: Although there are other ways to add calcium and vitamin D into a child’s diet, milk is one way. If your child is sensitive to cow milk, you can try offering goat milk as it is more closely structured to human breast milk and can be more gentle on the stomach.

Coconut Water: Coconut water is an excellent hydrating drink. It contains electrolytes and minerals to help replenish the body from illness or an active lifestyle.

Switchel: Switchel is considered a natural alternative to sports drinks. Switchel is tasty, sweetened with honey or maple syrup, and beneficial to your gut. Here is our favorite recipe:

½ cup ginger, chopped

1/3 cup lemon juice

¼ cup maple syrup or honey

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

3 cups water

Directions:

Fill a saucepan with water and chopped ginger. Bring water to a boil and boil with ginger for 5 minutes.

Add honey or maple syrup and let steep for 15 minutes.

Add apple cider vinegar and lemon juice to a pitcher. Strain ginger and add ginger honey water to the pitcher.

Mix well.

Taste can be adjusted to preference by adding or reducing ginger, honey, or water.

Finally

Living a less toxic life often goes against societal norms. Society makes it very tempting to continually give in when we know something is unhealthy for our children. I encourage you to advocate for your beliefs and to educate along the way. Our house always has conversations about the foods we put in our bodies. We discuss which are suitable for the belly and can be eaten anytime, which are ideal for the soul, and which should be eaten in moderation. Depending on the child’s age, appropriate conversations can be started to educate and inform the child of your decisions and that you want to make healthier ones for you and your family.

Curious about other things in your home? What about air quality! Read more here about air purifier benefits.

If you’re on the journey to less-toxic living and curious about washing your newborn baby’s clothes and what detergents are safe, check out this article.

Follow along below for more actionable less-toxic living tips!