CAFFEINE FOR KIDS

IT HAS been announced that, from March, most of the major supermarkets will ban the sale of so-called energy drinks to the under-16s.

About time, too. A single 500ml can of these drinks can contain as much as 20 teaspoons of sugar and 160mg of caffeine — that’s more caffeine than you would get from two espressos. Little wonder these drinks have been linked to poor behaviour in schools.

Now, the under-16s won’t be able to buy any drink from supermarkets that contains more than 150mg of caffeine per litre.

But why did we ever allow children to buy these drinks in the first place?