Ok for children to use Benecol/Flora Proactive?

NIMAN

Bit of a strange question, but it popped into my head today while I was buttering their toast.

I began to buy these spreads a couple of years ago, but never considered whether they should or shouldn't be used for toddlers?

How Strange

We use flora at home because my husband doesn't like butter for bread etc. having said that our son eats very little bread so his intake of margarine is low. I don't know if the cholesterol lowering ones would do any harm but are they more expensive than regular flora or spreadable butters?

pwurple

On their website they don't recommend it for pregnant women or children under five.

http://www.au-flora.com/proactiv/Flora-pro-activ-Frequently-Asked-Questions/Default.aspx

Hobbitfeet

I never use margarines only butter. Margarine is basically an over processed product it's not a 'real' food it's manufactured chemically. http://all4women.co.za/health-and-wellness/health-articles/how-margarine-is-made.html
I definitely would not feed it to my child

implausible

I doubt it's doing them any harm, but toddlers need fat in their diet.

How Strange

It's a bit off topic but in reply to what implausible said about toddlers needing fat; I got an email update from an American patenting website where they recommend parents start cutting down on fat in toddlers diet after 2 so switch to low fat milk, reduced fat spreads etc, yoghurts etc.

Personally I think that sounds a bit bonkers. Surely fat they get from these food sources are good fats. I'd be more of the opinion of a little of everything in moderation and watch the snacks and portion sizes instead.

implausible

How Strange wrote: »

It's a bit off topic but in reply to what implausible said about toddlers needing fat; I got an email update from an American patenting website where they recommend parents start cutting down on fat in toddlers diet after 2 so switch to low fat milk, reduced fat spreads etc, yoghurts etc.

Personally I think that sounds a bit bonkers. Surely fat they get from these food sources are good fats. I'd be more of the opinion of a little of everything in moderation and watch the snacks and portion sizes instead.

I'd agree. I'm a firm believer in giving kids (and myself) proper food. By that, I mean food that doesn't have a list of tongue twister chemicals in the ingredients. Butter contains butter and usually a bit of salt, Flora contains

vegetable oils (including sunflower oil (33%)), water, salt (1.5%), buttermilk, emulsifier: mono- and di-glycerides (E471), preservative (E202), citric acid (E330), vitamins A, D & B12

It'd be better advice to encourage parents to cook proper natural food for their kids instead of getting parents worried about the weight of a 2 year old!

How Strange

I'm going to start using butter for my son and myself from now on. My husband prefers flora. I never really thought about it before but it is a highly processed product.

implausible

How Strange wrote: »

I'm going to start using butter for my son and myself from now on. My husband prefers flora. I never really thought about it before but it is a highly processed product.

That said, I still use spreadable butter for sandwiches, Dairygold and Kerrymaid are the best of a bad lot. At least the primary ingredient in them is cream, they're somewhat close to the real deal.

I read a book a few years ago called In Defence of Food by Michael Pollan. It really makes you think about what you're eating (and feeding your children.) His advice is "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants" and he addresses what you mentioned there about the American parenting advice: "The French paradox is that they have better heart health than we do despite being a cheese-eating, wine-swilling, fois-gras-gobbling people. The American paradox is we are a people who worry unreasonably about dietary health yet have the worst diet in the world."

Hannibal Smith

there few always the individuals that are a conundrum though...my dads cholesterol levels are well within the normal range...his diet is perfectly fine...but he still has heart disease....though his cholesterol levels are normal they are still too high for him.

he was breastfed ...never over indulges in 'bad' sugars....that's why I use flora ....just in case.

How Strange

Hannibal my mam is very active, fit, healthy and the proper weight and she had a cholesterol reading through the roof a few years back. She was taking benecol products and they didn't seem to be working. In the end she cut right back on biscuits and cakes etc (I actually never knew she ate so much of these things), started eating more whole grains, seeds in porridge etc and that seemed to do the trick for her.

My husbands father is a vegetarians, super super fit for a man in his 60's, thin etc and he had to have an emergency quadruple bypass. I'm now watching dh like a hawk as he'd have a tendency towards a high fat diet with lots and lots of food which is yummy but bad.

So I agree you never can tell from looking at a person or their lifestyle as genetics play a huge part.

Hobbitfeet

Very interesting article on flora here http://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/behind_the_label/269112/behind_the_label_flora_proactiv.html
It worries me that children boys and girls are starting puberty a lot early than normal and I wonder why? What is causing this hormonal shift in our children? Personally I believe it is a combination of eating fake foods like these, overly processed foods and also all of the additives, chemicals etc which are in almost everything these days...food, cleaning products, shampoos, deodorant etc.

Hannibal Smith

How Strange wrote: »

Hannibal my mam is very active, fit, healthy and the proper weight and she had a cholesterol reading through the roof a few years back. She was taking benecol products and they didn't seem to be working. In the end she cut right back on biscuits and cakes etc (I actually never knew she ate so much of these things), started eating more whole grains, seeds in porridge etc and that seemed to do the trick for her.

My husbands father is a vegetarians, super super fit for a man in his 60's, thin etc and he had to have an emergency quadruple bypass. I'm now watching dh like a hawk as he'd have a tendency towards a high fat diet with lots and lots of food which is yummy but bad.

So I agree you never can tell from looking at a person or their lifestyle as genetics play a huge part.

its amazing how it works...when my dad initially went to his gp he said he was fine...his white blood cells were up but his cholesterol was fine so he put it down to an infection and prescribed antibiotics...it was only after he had a heart attack they did the angiogram and saw one of his arteries was blocked.

in my head... butter = blockage lol

iguana

Butter, in moderation, is actually very, very good for you. It contains lots of selenium and vitamin K2. K2 is not in very many foods and people who don't eat butter tend to be deficient in it which is unfortunate as K2 significantly lowers the risk of cancer and cancer mortality.

wolfpawnat

All those products are lacking in essential nutrients and minerals for pregnant women and under 5's hence the warnings on the packets.

Plus they taste absolutely horrid. Very false and plastic-like.

I understand people trying to look after themselves, but a balanced diet can do that without having to resort to those things.

I would never give them to my son personally, but to each their own.

Oral Slang

I buy the butter in the silver foil - no added salt for cooking, adding to potatoes if I need to, toast etc. An odd time I give my little one flora or whatever spread we have in the house if I'm in a rush, as it's easily spreadable versus the butter which takes ages to get soft enough to use.

pwurple

I keep a small amount of butter in a covered butter dish in a cool cupboard (unheated pantry). It's always soft enough to use from there. My grandparents never refridgerated butter.

Hannibal Smith

wolfpawnat wrote: »

I understand people trying to look after themselves, but a balanced diet can do that without having to resort to those things.

not in our family...balanced diet doesn't count for much when every bit of fat adds to the clogging and for some unknown reason won't break down.

If they turn out needing stents at 40 at least they can't blame me...I made the best decision from the information available to me

wolfpawnat

Hannibal Smith wrote: »

not in our family...balanced diet doesn't count for much when every bit of fat adds to the clogging and for some unknown reason won't break down.

If they turn out needing stents at 40 at least they can't blame me...I made the best decision from the information available to me

There is a genetical heart issue on my partners side, so I always need to make sure of what my son is eating, but still, a good diet will hopefully help with it.

iguana

Hannibal Smith wrote: »

not in our family...balanced diet doesn't count for much when every bit of fat adds to the clogging and for some unknown reason won't break down.

If they turn out needing stents at 40 at least they can't blame me...I made the best decision from the information available to me

It's transfats that clog up the arteries and can never be broken down. Butter doesn't have transfats but many of the supposedly healthy spreads are mainly transfats.

Hannibal Smith

iguana wrote: »

It's transfats that clog up the arteries and can never be broken down. Butter doesn't have transfats but many of the supposedly healthy spreads are mainly transfats.

I'll tell me dad his consultant has it all wrong then and he's to get straight back on the butter

I'm just explaining why I use it.

implausible

Hannibal Smith wrote: »

I'll tell me dad his consultant has it all wrong then and he's to get straight back on the butter

It's a good job this conversation was here and not over in Nutrition and Diet - they're very pro-butter over there and do reckon the consultants have it all wrong :eek:

Anyway, there's a vast difference between needlessly giving a small child an artificial spread and being under doctor's orders to use it due to a medical condition.

Hannibal Smith

implausible wrote: »

It's a good job this conversation was here and not over in Nutrition and Diet - they're very pro-butter over there and do reckon the consultants have it all wrong :eek:

Anyway, there's a vast difference between needlessly giving a small child an artificial spread and being under doctor's orders to use it due to a medical condition

I'm just referring to my dad (and his family btw its a hereditary thing) to explain why I chose flora.

its no major deal...just a choice in what we spread on our toast...I actually like it too *nods*