Caffeine simply isn’t good for kids

Most kids don’t drink coffee until adolescence, but there are many sources of caffeine available to them before then: soda ( 38 mg in a 12- ounce can of Pepsi), bottled iced tea ( 60 mg in an 18.5- ounce bottle of Lipton Pure Leaf), energy drinks ( 80 mg in a can of Red Bull) and even Hershey’s Kisses ( 1 mg in each candy).

Should parents worry about how much caffeine their kids are consuming?

Caffeine is a natural stimulant in coffee and tea and chocolate, but a drug nonetheless. Besides sparking mental alertness, it also increases heart rate and blood pressure and keeps you awake when maybe you should be sleeping. It can cause agitation, stomach upset and heart palpitations.

And those are only the immediate effects. Scientists don’t know what caffeine’s long- term effects might be in children.

“What does it do to an eightyearold’s cardiovascular system? Or her brain?” says Judith Owens, director of the Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders at Boston Children’s Hospital. “There’s really no reason for kids to have caffeine.”

And yet, kids are eating and drinking products containing caffeine. Results from annual surveys conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 73 per cent of Americans from age two to 22 consume caffeine on any given day. In the first survey year, 1999- 2000, 63 per cent of it came from soda, but that declined to 38 per cent in the last survey year, 2009- 10.

Over that same time frame, the proportion of caffeine coming from coffee increased to 24 per cent from 10 per cent, and caffeine from energy drinks grew to 6 per cent from nothing.

How much is too much? Health Canada makes caffeine recommendations: A 45 mg limit for kids age four to six, 62.5 mg for age seven to nine and 85 for 10- 12. For adolescents, the recommended limit is 2.5 mg per kilogram of body weight.

Caffeine does reduce sleepiness, Owens says. This might be handy for a high school student tackling a mountain of homework. But later, there’s a downside.

“You’ll have more trouble falling asleep and more sleep disruptions through the night,” Owens says.

A study of 191 Ohio middle schoolers reported higher caffeine intake was associated with shorter sleep duration at night, increased wakings at night and increased sleeping during the day.

Some researchers say energy drinks are a gateway to other drugs. Students might graduate from using an energy drink to sharing a roommate’s Ritalin for a better boost.

“The earlier kids use caffeine, the more likely they are to smoke and to drink alcohol,” Owens says.