Mar
31
2011

What’s in his milk?

Shocking! Darling was reading the papers today (yeah, he diligently reads the papers everyday.. I don’t :P) when he came across this article.

The first thing I noticed was the 13 teaspoons of added sugars every day! What? So I thought they were referring to those super sweet UHT milk, you know, those kotak kotak one in the market? Terus I told Ethan, no more susu kotak for you boy! But as I read further I learn that they are referring to the growing up milk powder; the one that he takes at least 3 times a day if not MORE! Gasp! Apa nih?!!

Baru jer that day I blogged about excessive sugar intake kan? Now I read this and it got me super anxious!

Ok okay.. so it was written that sugars are declared as part of carbohydrates so to find out the amount of added sugar in the milk powder, we have to find the ‘carbohydrate per serve’ number on the milk pack (o.O)

So I hurried to the kitchen, took Ethan’s current growing up milk and read the labels. My eyes scrutinise every single detail until I found Carbohydrate. Look under ‘Per serving’ and OMG.. “28.0”!

I checked with the table above and Owh Mai Gawd!!!!!!!!!!!!! 9-14 teaspoons of additional sugars per day! PENGSAN! That means when my anak is ding ding dang dang hyper active at home is because he is sugar high kah?!! No wonder he doesn’t nap! (>_<)

Argh! *Pulling hair in distressed* So now I know if I see carbohydrate means sugar. Do you know that Sucrose, Glucose Syrup Solid and Corn Syrup Solid are ALSO added sugar? Darn these people, why can’t they just use layman terms and label those added sugar as just SUGAR?!!!

Now what do I do? Is there such a thing as children growing up milk with no added sugar? I kenot lah keep feeding Ethan 9-14 teaspoons of additional sugars per day! He’ll lose his teeth in no time like that! Elo, I’m in no way conspiring with the tooth fairy okay? I don’t want Ethan to be donating his teeth like nobody’s business! He still needs his milk badly as it is still the most important source of nutrition for his growth and development but he doesn’t need those added sugar… :(

So if my fairy God mother is listening, grand me a tinkle and tell me is there any growing up milk out there with no added sugar? Pweety please… before I need to make dentures for Ethan (=_=)

By the way, you can also check the sugar content of your child’s growing up milk through the Sugar Calculator at www.semakgula.com.my *grumble grumble grumble… @_@ *

Tags: Added Sugar, milk

About the Author: Merryn Tan

25 Comments + Add Comment

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reanaclaire April 1, 2011 at 6:22 am

never mind Merryn..cos he is a growing kid.. whereas old like me, shouldnt take sugar la.. little bit ok.. otherwise diabetes.. not hyper active! hahaha..

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ken April 1, 2011 at 6:38 am

wah so much ah.. i didnt know that.. but they're young la.. it's okay i guess? :)

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wenn April 1, 2011 at 6:43 am

kids r super active so sugar is their source of energy.

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Merryn April 1, 2011 at 6:43 am

Claire – He's a growing kid alright but I don't think he needs that much added sugar in his diet. It wont be a good start..Ken – Top those added sugar from his growing up milk with his other meals and snacks and I think I'll get a heart attack by just getting the TOTAL amount of added sugar he is consuming in a day! >_<

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Pete April 1, 2011 at 8:08 am

Wah, so much sugar, no wonder my 3 year old son also hyper active…..pengsan!

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Alice Law April 1, 2011 at 8:15 am

My anak's one 11 tsp= 4tbs+/day,it's against recommended dosage of sugar for children wor(3tsp/day), home come the ministry of health still approve this formula milk?!!(scratch head)=_=

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Merryn April 1, 2011 at 8:19 am

Alice.. I scratch for you your head and you scratch mine ok? very mind boggling this issue.. somemore my anak drink more than 3 times a day!!

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Mummy to QiQi April 1, 2011 at 8:52 am

i can't seem to check my pediasure. when i key in those info. It says, "Oops! The value you have entered is invalid as this calculator can only be used for calculating added sugars in growing up milk powder."

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Tekkaus April 1, 2011 at 8:57 am

Wow….I have yet to check mine ler. Wait….I wanna go see. :(

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Vickylow April 1, 2011 at 5:46 pm

Thanks for sharing. Hmmm wat type of milk to give?? Breastmilk haha oh I saw my fren give EcoMil Quinoa http://www.whynotorganic.com.my/ProductDetails.as… to her hyperactive girl.

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Lil' Dahling April 1, 2011 at 6:51 pm

WHAT? Thanks for the info Merryn. Aiyoh now I can't wait to go home and check my children's milk powder. How come MOH can approve? Always like that one lar. Cannot trust them anymore.

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stevevhan April 1, 2011 at 7:36 pm

news really helps us a lot, i mean this is a thing that we usually don't know. At least we will be able to identify what's right and wrong when it comes to milk.Are you familiar with NIDO's commercial of kris aquino?this is the main content of the ad!

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prince n princess mu April 1, 2011 at 11:21 pm

this is very informative..

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ChloeRuoyi April 1, 2011 at 11:22 pm

I read this in the newspaper yesterday too. It's an ad by a particular growing up milk powder brand (on the next page) that claims to be the ONLY milk that is sugar free. You can refer back to the ad and buy that brand if you are overly concerned :)As for those kotak UHT milk, only those flavoured ones like strawberry or chocolate are sweetened. The plain ones are still ok wat :)

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mNhL April 2, 2011 at 1:48 am

Anmum essential (no added sugar). I saw that advertisement and checked my kid's growing up milk too. I was shocked too. The Anmum essential ads is just next page to this semakgula ads.

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ChrisAu April 2, 2011 at 8:58 am

dat also explain why my Nicole was so hyperactive…. btw, no more breast milk ?

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Kristie April 2, 2011 at 12:49 pm

I think anmum just came up with a sugar free or less sugar formula milk.

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A Mom's Diary May 10, 2011 at 6:35 pm

The sugar calculator is grossly misleading as it assumes carbohydrates in excess of 11g (natural sugars present in milk per serving) are all added sugars, which is NOT TRUE. All sugars are carbohydrates but NOT all carbohydrates are sugars. Long-chain polysaccharides (acting as source of energy), dietary fiber, prebiotics, etc are all carbohydrates.Food regulatory authorities classify the simple monosaccharides and disaccharides as sugars, not the complex polysaccharides that act as a sourse of energy, and depending on the grade, glucose syrup solids/corn syrup solids contain 60-90% complex polysaccharides, so they are NOT totally sugars.

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Syaima' Azure May 16, 2011 at 8:54 pm

Maybe you would like to see the comments from a food technology expert for this issue?please visit <a href="http://www.pripsa.blogspot.com.www.pripsa.blogspot.com.<br />Hope you will get some clear picture. Not every claim from a company is accurate coz it might be only beneficial for their business growth…

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Rita May 20, 2011 at 10:52 am

i think its also not correct to say carbohydrats is equals to sugar. also why is the sugar calculator only counting sugar in growing up milk? what about the rest of other foods? cause sugar is not only in milk, and children don't only drink milk, they eat other foods too.

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Zeti May 21, 2011 at 8:01 am

hey Merryn – came across this story about anmum and the no added sugar claim that I thought u mite b interested in since u posted the story on sugar in milk. http://www.marketing-interactive.com/news/26444 apparently the ad its against some health regulation on the 13 spoon of sugar for the other brands,..this leaves me even confused. So which is it??

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Victoria June 16, 2011 at 11:12 am

I don't want to worry you all over again.. but carbohydrates are either complex or simple sugars. The simple ones are the kind in formula – and are very harmful to baby, causing lots of nutritional problems, and can lead to diabetes, etc.

It's very wrong to say kids "get their energy from sugar" and it's "ok because they're young." High sugar intake = bad health later on (not adulthood, but even in teenagers and younger). Sugar IS harmful to kids, especially babies. I urge you to try to no sugar formula!!

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Rose June 24, 2011 at 12:02 am

you know, i suspect maybe most doctors would know about this, coz one of the pediatrician i consulted before asked me how big is rosemary and when i said close to 2, he said; you should then cut down her milk servings to maximum twice a day and focus more on solid food. Do you think they might actually know all the while that these milk contains high sugar? hmm….

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  Merryn June 24, 2011 at 11:04 pm
  
  when ethan was younger i ody dun like the fact that his milk is very sweet, but they said it is of natural source. that time bodoh mah.. ppl say natural, we oso think natural.. now… start to google here n there for better understanding…
  
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Rose June 24, 2011 at 12:03 am

by d way, no wonder also they say breastmilk is the best! sigh…

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About Me

Home is where MY heart is.
I am a mother to two boys; Ethan and Ayden and a wife to Darling William. I'm a stay at home mum who blogs to break the monotony of life and to avoid feeling jaded. Would love to get to know all the Super Mommies and Daddies and Babies or Singles out there with the hope that we can learn more from each other. Most of all, I am a happy person, and I hope YOU are too.