Is your child having trouble sleeping, feeling restless and anxious, or experiencing mood swings? Their drink choices may be the cause.
Now more than ever, it’s easy to buy drinks that contain stimulants – chemicals that speed up activity in the brain. Many are labeled as energy drinks or mention “focus” or “power.” Some use youth-oriented advertising themes. Others seem kid-friendly with catchy brand names, fruity flavors, and brightly colored labels with animals and cartoons.
Caffeine is the most common stimulant in these drinks. It may be added in its synthetic form, or found naturally in other drink ingredients. Whatever the source, companies are not required to include the caffeine amount on the label. This makes it hard to protect children from the adverse effects of caffeine that have been reported by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Food and Drug Administration and others.
To be safe, experts recommend that children and teens avoid all drinks with caffeine and other stimulants. Read on to learn more.
What kinds of caffeine-containing drinks are most often consumed by kids?
- Sweetened coffee drinks
- Sweetened tea drinks (such as black, green, and matcha tea)
- Energy drinks and energy shots
- Certain carbonated soft drinks (such as soda)
- Hot chocolate/cocoa
- Chocolate milk
FACT: An estimated 23% of young children (2-5 years old), 46% of school-age children (6-12 years old), and 68% of teens (13-17 years old) consume drinks with caffeine daily.
How can you identify drinks that contain caffeine and other stimulants?
Check the ingredients list for the following (note that some drinks may contain more than one type of stimulant):
- Bitter orange (also known as synephrine)
- Black or green tea (and their extracts)
- Caffeine
- Chocolate
- Cocoa
- Coffee
- Guarana (seed and extract)
- Guayusa
- Matcha
- Theobromine
- Yerba mate
To learn more about an ingredient, you can contact the company directly. Other resources include the National Library of Medicine and the Food and Drug Administration.
FACT: Compared to adults, children are more sensitive to the effects of caffeine that can harm their growth and development.
What should you do if you think your child has consumed too much caffeine?
Because a caffeine overdose can be dangerous (and potentially fatal), get help right away if your child has symptoms such as a racing or irregular heartbeat, rapid breathing, uncontrollable shaking or tremors, and/or reporting feeling of severe anxiety.
FACT: The rate of emergency department visits for caffeine related illnesses doubled between 2017-2023 for children 11-18 years old.
Visit our website for more information about healthy hydration.
This article was written Jamie Benedict, Ph.D, R.D.N., L.D. If you have a suggestion for a topic for the Insider, write to rethinkyourdrinknevada@unr.edu and receive a free, healthy drink recipe book.
