Yeah, but keep in mind, the author of the article isn't saying daily intake is okay because of the artificial sweeteners.
I read it to mean, the kids are going to drink pop 4-5 times a week. We give them artificially sweetened pop so that it's "healthy".
Contrasting this again with candy: if a parent said "I give my kids candy every day with their dinner, but I make sure it has sucralose in it", I'd still find it odd, because candy shouldn't be a daily occurrence.
I read it as that all of quantity, sugar content, and caffeine content are concerns, so the parents have:
1. Limited overall quantity of soda permitted to less than is typical for the age range,
2. Limited most of the consumption within that limited quantity to caffeine-free options,
3. Limited most of the consumption within that limited quantity to sugar-free options.
I don't see anything to suggest that sugar-free soda is perceived as positively "healthy", only that it is a mitigation of one of the sources of unhealthiness (as is the caffeine-free limitation), but that other concerns exist, hence the overall quantity limitation.
I read it to mean, the kids are going to drink pop 4-5 times a week. We give them artificially sweetened pop so that it's "healthy".
Contrasting this again with candy: if a parent said "I give my kids candy every day with their dinner, but I make sure it has sucralose in it", I'd still find it odd, because candy shouldn't be a daily occurrence.
And yet, for some reason, soda is.
It really is very strange, don't you think?