Health and Fitness.

10 Reasons Energy Drinks are Dangerous for Kids

On July 18, 2011, in Health & Fitness, NonDiet, by kenmyers

If you ask the question “are energy drinks good for kids”, the majority of people would respond, ‘No’, but did you know that they can actually be dangerous? Listed below are ten reasons why energy drinks can be dangerous for kids to drink.

1. Caffeine. Some brands have up to five times more caffeine than regular soda. Would you give your child five cans of soda to drink at once?
2. Overdoses. Overdoses on caffeine can cause hallucinations, breathing problems, seizures, diabetes and rapid heartbeat. All of which can lead to hospitalization.
3. Staying awake. Many people use energy drinks to stay awake. This is not a healthy practice for anyone, much less children. Instead, we should be teaching kids about proper rest, and instilling good habits when they are young.
4. Lack of nutrition. Drinking chemical drinks like this or soda takes away from the nutritious drinks that kids should be having such as milk, juice or water. There is no nutritional value in energy drinks and when they fill up on these they do not have room for or lose interest in nutritional drinks.
5. Caffeine is a diuretic. Diuretics cause dehydration. Dehydration is very dangerous in kids. Because of their smaller size, a child can get dehydrated at a much quicker rate than adults. When a child is severely dehydrated it is often necessary to hospitalize them in order to get IV fluids into them.
6. Warning labels. A majority of the energy drinks have warning labels on them indicating a multitude of situations where it could be dangerous for an adult to consume the beverage. If it is dangerous for an adult than it is absolutely dangerous for a child. Some labels even state specifically that they should not be consumed by children.
7. Lack of awareness. There are some energy drinks like Red Bull that also have herbal supplements in them. Unless you are extremely conscious of the ingredients in energy drinks and the effects they can have on children it is not wise to let your children ingest these.
8. Sugar content. We all know to be mindful of our sugar intake, especially in children with the rise of childhood obesity and diabetic onset. There is at least one energy drink that contains 31 grams of sugar per serving with one can being 3 servings. That is a total of 23.25 teaspoons of sugar! I don’t think anyone out there would hand their kids a spoon and a bowl of sugar and say have at it.
9. Not enough information. There have not been enough studies done to show the effects these drinks have on children.
10. It can be addictive. Caffeine can be addictive. When taken in such large amounts on a frequent basis, children can become addicted to the caffeine they are ingesting. If you think your kids are hard to manage when hyped up on caffeine, wait until they have to go through withdrawal.

The fact of the matter is pediatricians do not recommend energy drink consumption by children. Read the label and education yourself on what your kids are eating and drinking.  After all, our children are our most important commodity.

Tagged with: energy drinks

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