Do You Know How Much Caffeine Your Kids Are Getting?
June 25, 2009 by Karlynn Johnston
Filed under Super Natural
Tuesday June 23, 2009You get up in the morning and you get your first jolt of caffeine. Now that you’re awake, you have a little more. And then later in the day, another refresher.
If this sounds like someone you know, it could very well be – your kids.
They don’t have to be coffee or tea drinkers to be getting their fix. There are plenty of products out there that will sell it to them. Take those so-called energy drinks that can be easily gulped down. Or caffeine-laced chewing gum. There’s even a spray designed to deliver a fix straight into their throats.
Caffeine is in a lot of foods and drinks, of course. The problem comes when there’s too much of it and the consumer isn’t aware of it.
The gum, for example, contains about 50 milligrams of caffeine, roughly the same as a cup of tea. But kids may be tempted to chew an entire pack – and that would deliver enough of a jolt to equal five espressos.
To make matters worse, the spray doesn’t even list how much caffeine each shot delivers.
That alarms some experts. “A lot of these energy beverages and gums are clearly being marketed to children,” worries U. of T. Nutritional Sciences Professor Ahmed El-Sohemy. “Children are generally more sensitive to caffeine than adults, mainly because they tend to be smaller.”
Everything should be taken in moderation of course and while the claims of a caffeine danger for your kids may sound exaggerated, the researcher believes there’s cause for concern.
“It is a real danger,” El-Sohemy insists. “For some, even a small amount of caffeine, even what you would find in a cup of coffee, might cause some symptoms of caffeine intoxication.”
All the products caution about use by kids under the age of 12. It’s recommended children that age or under should have no more than 85 milligrams of caffeine a day. But not everyone heeds the warning.
The effects of too much of this good thing can include increased heart rate and elevated blood pressure. And that has already led to some medical troubles in the recent past.
“A 13-year-old boy was hospitalized and later on his parents discovered that he had over a short period of time consumed two packs of caffeinated gum,” the professor explains.
Many parents aren’t even aware of the risk but some think action should be taken. “They should be outlawed for children,” concurs mom Jane Savage. “Absolutely, they shouldn’t be sold to anybody under 19, just like cigarettes.”
Health Canada is considering putting warning labels on the products and discouraging guardians from letting their kids buy or consume them. But for now it’s buyer, user – and parent - beware.
Health Canada: how much caffeine should you be taking in a day?
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