Energy Drinks Dangerous For Kids, Research Shows

Cramming for the SATs might get a whole lot harder once Mom and Dad hear new research that energy drinks could be dangerous for children's health.

According to a new report in the March issue of Pediatrics, 30 to 50 percent of adolescents and young adults cop to drinking energy-boosting beverages. And because the FDA categorizes them as nutritional supplements, energy drinks are allowed to bypass the 71mg-of-caffeine-per-12-ounces limit the agency has set for soda. Which explains why some varieties can have up to five times that amount of caffeine in just one can.

The dangers, researchers report, can be serious, particularly for kids who have diabetes, cardiac abnormalities or mood disorders. A caffeine overdose can result in breathing trouble, rapid heartbeat and hallucinations. Which might be why energy drinks were recently given unique reporting codes so that U.S. Poison Centers can track the prevalence of incidents directly tied to energy-drink overdose.

This bad news for energy drinks comes after this fall's ban on Four Loko, the caffeinated alcoholic drink, and recent reports that relaxation drinks are now becoming a popular beverage. Drinks like Malava Novocaine and Mary Jane's Relaxing Soda are now being sold in the U.S. and some of the options on the market are laced with marijuana. Seriously, what is so wrong with a cup of good old Chamomile tea?

Comments

[Z0mbieJesus]

11:16 PM on 02/21/2011

Right, just like our parents telling us that sugar is bad, everyone is saying that high fructose corn syrup is evil. So caffeine effects people with pre existing conditions? How is that different from anything else? Any other product that can cause harm with gluttonous use. The kids with the Four Loko drank too much, tons of kids die from alcohol poisoning every year. I understand the Straw Man method of blaming something else rather than the problem. Drinking 5-6 energy drinks a day isn't the problem, it's the fact that companies make them at all. This is why all companies have to have warning labels, because the customer always wants someone to blame. I'm fat, so it's the fast food restaurants fault. Timmy put that energy drink down, mommy has to get her four shots of expresso.

The logical conclusion is always Moderation.

[TheLateTalker]

11:49 PM on 02/16/2011

Studies have found consuming even just one can of an energy drink can change the blood and make it "sticky" increasing risks for heart attack and stroke. Energy drinks, the now 9 billion dollar industry in the US alone, entered the US in 1997, about ten years ago. Coincidentally the CDC just published a study which found in about the past decade about a 50 percent increase in strokes in CHILDREN aged 5YO to adults up to 44YO. The reason for the increase is not obesity as those numbers have held steady for the past decade according to a study published in JAMA Documented links to the research here http://pursuitofresearch.org/2011/02/11/should-we-blame-soda-or-energy-drinks-for-the-sudden-rise-of-strokes-in-children/ . In addition to parents allowing older children to drink energy drinks, not aware of the researched health risks, there are both pregnant and nursing mothers who are exhausted and turn in ignorance as well to energy drinks. One parent through my nonprofit wrote that a nursing mother she knows took her baby to the doctor because the baby wasn't sleeping and didn't realize that the energy drinks she consumed daily affected her baby through her breast milk. We don't know the long term effects of these energy drinks on the developing fetus or newborn, but with the recent frightening rise in strokes in children and young adults, it would be prudent to.

[2crudedudes]

11:37 AM on 02/16/2011

All I got out of this article was that people can OD on caffeine and that kids are abusing this drug increasingly, yet the FDA and DEA are not exactly rushing to make this illegal.

But oh no cannabis!

[anti politricks]

10:01 AM on 02/16/2011

aren't energy drinks kind of an oxymoron to the society we've created?

i thought the idea of america-as-is-today was that we have it better than at any other time in history? we have drive thrus, can commute hundreds of miles in a day, take out dinner, packaged foods and microwaves....
basically i'm saying if we live in the ALMIGHTY LAND OF CONVENIENCE, shouldn't we been oozing extra energy from our pores???

[Van Full of Candy]

01:48 PM on 02/15/2011

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[iuriggs6]

01:40 PM on 02/15/2011

Of course they are bad for kids, just like a kid guzzling down coke after coke after coke. Parents need to wake up and tell the kids to stop drinking all this crap.

During the winter holidays last year, I had my 2 kids with me (ages 4 and 7) out shopping for mommy. At a mall in the food court we found a Subway and had a decent lunch (my kids had water, I will admit I had a Diet Coke). Anyway, I watched as a kid about age 6 went back and forth to the drink dispenser about 8 times and filled his cup with Coke every time (he did not look like the epitome of fitness by the way). I can only imagine how many of those he drinks a day and how his teeth and body are reacting to it. Sad......

[HerrMonk]

12:27 PM on 02/15/2011

We probably need the government to step in and save us from ourselves...

...that's probably the solution for everything.

[eric14]

12:02 PM on 02/15/2011

Stupid consumerist symptoms of a self-destructive culture.

These drinks are legal.............. Alcohol is legal...................Tobacco is legal.

Pot is illegal.

[anti politricks]

09:58 AM on 02/16/2011

always a pleasure eric!

bad for you = legal
good for your mind, society, environment, & just about everything else = illegal

[eric14]

11:41 AM on 02/16/2011

Thanks anti politricks. Good to hear from you.

[tvhatic]

09:40 AM on 02/15/2011

Besides becoming dependent to caffeine, there is no danger from these drinks to children. Caffeine has been studied for decades and is one of the safest naturally occurring “drugs” around. Moderate use has been found recently to be good for healthy individuals.

To truly overdoes on caffeine one would have to consume >150mg / kg bodyweight. These drinks contain ~200 mgs. So within about 4 hours a single 80lb child would have to consume 27+ of these drinks. Not saying its impossible, but its very unlikely.

This is more likely that parents and teachers do not like having children hyped up on sugar and caffeine when they need them to behave. But hey they just will give them some amphetamines to treat them for that Adhd.

[purenergy]

05:09 AM on 02/15/2011

Liquid amphetamines, yummy.

[Nikhil Verma]

05:07 AM on 02/15/2011

I would never recommend drinking these to anyone !

[IgnoranceKills]

12:11 PM on 02/15/2011

Good for you.

I love them, and I'm in excellent health.

[chobbs25]

11:36 PM on 02/14/2011

The article should be titled dangerous for EVERYONE. There is absolutely no need for these things and it amazes me how people can rely so much on these.

[IgnoranceKills]

12:12 PM on 02/15/2011

I love them. I'm in excellent health.

I bet if you gave me a breakdown of what you eat on a daily basis I would find some dangerous consumption. Does that mean there's no need for what you eat?

Why is everyone so concerned with what everyone else is eating/drinking/consuming? Worry about your own.

[edgeninja]

10:37 PM on 02/14/2011

I'm not sure why a kid would need to drink energy drinks. I suspect a lot, if not most of the energy drinkers under 18 are mixing them with alcohol.

[Intellocracy]

10:51 PM on 02/14/2011

I disagree. As a teenager who's involved in a lot of AP courses many drink energy drinks to deal with the sometimes ludicrous amount of homework we receive. Also, what's with this apparent vilification of alcohol? I don't partake in it and I do understand the effects of the substance but I disagree with the stark punishment.

[edgeninja]

10:59 PM on 02/14/2011

I'm sorry, but if you need MULTIPLE energy drinks to finish the homework for your AP courses, you shouldn't be taking AP courses.

Also, where in my comment did I vilify alcohol?

[chobbs25]

11:38 PM on 02/14/2011

Sorry kid but that's a terrible excuse, if you go on thinking that way you are going to use that excuse your whole life because you will "never have time".

[travisp]

10:05 PM on 02/14/2011

Drinking pot's a lot healthier than smoking it, and it's a lot better for you than caffeine or novacaine!

[chobbs25]

11:39 PM on 02/14/2011

and need we say alcohol...marijuana should be legal period.

[Sol76]

01:03 AM on 02/15/2011

It is a healthier way to consume it than smoking but I doubt that it could taste anywhere near as good as coffee.

[purenergy]

05:11 AM on 02/15/2011

I don't know which I like more, my marijuana or my coffee...two great taste that taste great together!

[hippy26ish]

09:31 PM on 02/14/2011

this article was just silly to me. why would an adolescent need to drink this? i remember (gee, that just officially confims im old) when i was younger, i had oodles of natural energy. there was no need for any of these drinks. now that im older, i do find i have become a fan of these quick pick me up. mainly the 5 hour energy drink. but thats because im old and need energy to study and work and have obligations

[realitytrumpsbull]

11:26 PM on 02/14/2011

When I was a kid, it was Coca-Cola. Sugar, and caffiene, breakfast of champions. Well, kept you going 'til about 10AM, then it was sugar crash city.

[purenergy]

05:12 AM on 02/15/2011

Its not energy they use the drink for, its focus.