Energy Drinks and Children

Monster. Red Bull. Amp. Full Throttle. Rockstar. They're all the rage. The younger crowd love their energy drinks and it's gotten almost a cult following. Does drinking energy drinks make you cool? Apparently so if you're around 12, but the facts may have Mom and Dad thinking twice about supplying them. Believe it or not, caffeine is a drug. It is a central nervous system stimulant and is considered the world's most widely used psychoactive drug. A psychoactive drug is a chemical "that crosses the blood–brain barrier and acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it affects brain function, resulting in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, and behavior". Caffeine is in a variety of things that we consume everyday like coffee, soda and chocolate and is relatively harmless at low levels. At higher levels though, things start to look a little different. High levels of caffeine can result in increased heart rate, insomnia, palpitations, anxiety, hypertension and bladder instability. Caffeine also can be addictive if used regularly.

Experts recommend that kids age 13-19 consume no more than 100mg of caffeine a day and for kids younger than 13 it is not recommended at all. To give you an idea, a 12oz cup of coffee has 100 to 400mg of caffeine in it. An energy drink has 50 to 500mg plus an addition of a lot of sugar and even some "herbal" stimulants in some. To make matters worse, whereas coffee is sipped which introduces a slow steam of caffeine into the body, energy drinks are cold and can be guzzled which can shock your child's body with an immediate dose of caffeine. In the past 4 years, emergency room visits involving children and energy drinks have doubled and of all of the poison control calls involving energy drinks more than half were for kids under 6 and more than half of those were recommended to seek immediate medical attention. Energy drinks have really started to make an appearance on the news and people are starting to look closer at them. Some people are calling for age limits on these drinks.

Talk to your child about the dangers of consuming energy drinks and find out the reasons why they feel they need it. If they are tired during the day, then they may need more sleep. If they do it because everyone else does, then let them know that is not a good reason for putting their health in jeopardy. Water is always the best option.