The recent research from the Australian Bureau of Statistics had informed us that we are still getting fatter. In the Australian adult population 54% of us are overweight or obese, and more alarmingly, nearly 25% of our kids are also battling the bulge.

Making healthy food choices for our children is constantly promoted as the way forward, and that includes drinks.

The variety of drinks on offer is huge. Options include energy drinks, sports drinks, juices, canned drinks, iced coffees and yoghurt drinks. But which is really the best to go for?

Perth nutritionist Jo Beer says that these days many ‘functional’ drinks are becoming popular – rather than just being a rehydration tool they have added benefits such as vitamins and minerals as well as health giving probiotics.

Many of them are also designed to be user friendly – convenient, portable, resealable and can even be frozen. “However”, says Jo,”it is best to check the labels before you buy as some of these drinks can do a bit more harm than good”.

Fashionable energy drinks such as Red Bull and V can contain high levels of caffeine which can make children anxious and disturb their sleep pattern. Coupled with that they are loaded with sugar – one has as much as 12 tsp of sugar (Coca cola and Pepsi have 10tsp, iced coffees and chocolate milks have as much as 12tsp)!  High sugar content in these drinks can slow absorption of water into body making them unsuitable for rehydration purposes so no good if you are using these for an after sports lift. 

Canned drinks are also not the best choice as apart from the high levels of sugar and additives, they can decrease calcium absorption due to high levels of phosphorus and increase risk diabetes type 2 plus obesity.

Protein drinks are also a popular choice - if you are an elite athlete! They come at a high price and added micronutrients such as amino acids, L carnitine and creatine that are permitted in these powders are not suitable for children

Fruit juices from juice bars can be high in sugar and do come in large sizes which means lots of calories. Other healthy drinks such as Ribena are thought to have lots of vitamin C form the berries, but it is a fruit drink– which contains only 5% fruit – the rest is just sugar.

So what do you choose – apart from water?

Nutritionist Jo Beer recommends yoghurt drinks with probiotics.
Probitoics are living organisms such as lactobacillus acidophilus that are added to yoghurts and yoghurt drinks and can provide added health benefits.
These include boosting the immune system, inhibiting the growth of harmful bacteria, promoting good digestion, increasing resistance to infection and they can help treat diarrhoea, particularly in children.

Local WA producer Mundella offers Bounce a 250ml yoghurt drink in vanilla, mango and strawberry. At less than 200 calories per serve this is an excellent option providing ¼ of a child’s daily calcium needs and nearly 1/3 of their potassium needs but with only 1% fat. Not only that it is a good source of other vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin C and folate as well as being gluten free.

“These yoghurt drinks provide a variety of nutrients as well as being a great post sport revitaliser providing energy as well as rehydration” Jo says. “Recent research published in the British Journal of Nutrition has found that milk based drinks are actually better than water or sports energy drinks for rehydration after exercise. The study suggested that the naturally high electrolyte content of milk and skim milk in particular helps restore the body’s fluid balance after exercise”.

So when you are trying to find that healthy snack or drink for your kids try Bounce and be part of their healthy future.