Are energy drinks bad for kids, preteens? e.g. monster, rockstar, red bull?!

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

"The potential harms, caused mostly by too much caffeine or similar ingredients, include heart palpitations, seizures, strokes and even sudden death"

Yahoo actually had a news story on their front page about this. The source link is the article, if you're interested.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110214/ap_o…

Personally, believe they really aren't ideal for anyone to drink. They increase your pulse and your hate rate. If your body is unable to cope with the additional work that it's being forced to do then that leads to disaster. On the reverse side, not everyone is effected the same way but the same ingredients and just like other caffeinated beverages the person who drinks it may have no adverse effects at all.

It's really bad in general for your heart. One energy drink is like a giant cup of strong coffee. It's filled with huge amounts of sugar and caffeine, with a little added flavor to give it a nice taste. They should not be given to anyone who doesn't want to shock their heart, let alone small children. Their hearts aren't as tough as adults, and as children tend to over indulge on sweet things, it could be dangerous letting them drink energy drinks. Too much can cause a heart attack in the worst case.

Plus, even mild side effects aren't good for children and teens. Teens require massive amounts of rest as they are growing so rapidly. Do you really want to give a teen or growing child insomnia, or give them the jitters while they're trying to sit still in class and learn? Just seems dumb to me, personally.

When I was 9, we drank squeeze-its and capri suns in our school lunches. Not healthy really, but definitely not heart attack inducing danger.

The study based its recommendations on research that discovered certain drinks contained as much as 14 times more caffeine than the average can of cola. This is the same as drinking seven cups of coffee.

Researchers tested 28 different energy drinks on the market and the conclusion is pretty astonishing.
Energy Drink Effects

Energy drinks seem to be promoted from one of two perspectives. One line of promotion veers towards a sports focus, indicating to the consumer that these drinks might enhance physical stamina. Then there is the ‘morning after’ approach, which offers up energy drinks as a means of coping with the after-effects of a big night out, or a way to give yourself a boost if you’re feeling tired or jaded.
WLR says . . .

Children and young people are extremely susceptible to advertising and peer pressure. A clever marketing campaign can very effectively harness their attention and affection towards a particular product and, subsequently, their cash.

However, whilst the image of an individual drink might captivate, most young people don’t wade their way through the ingredients list on a bottle or can before they buy it. Even if they did, would they be aware of the energy drink caffeine content and what it means?
Energy Drink Facts

An adult who has built up a certain tolerance to caffeine might be able to drink a number of cups of coffee over the course of a day without any ill effects. However, a child or adolescent drinking the equivalent of seven cups in one go is certainly cause for alarm.

Whilst we have become accustomed to hearing about the high amounts of sugar in fizzy drinks and the scary things that certain brands can do to grubby coins, caffeine content has, until now, largely been overlooked.

It is only relatively recently that it has become more of an issue that needs addressing, as an increasing number of energy drinks are released onto the market and their popularity rises.
Are Energy Drinks Bad For You?

The marketing behind many of these drinks has tapped into the adolescent psyche and they are extremely popular with young people. But this sudden rush of caffeine can have detrimental effects on behaviour and concentration and it seems that many schools have already realised the potentially harmful consequences.

So much so, that a number of schools around the country have now banned them, citing bad behaviour and an inability to concentrate after consuming the drinks, amongst the reasons. In some cases, it is individual brands of drink that have been banned.

This is going to make it an ongoing battle between the marketing executives and the schools, as Head Teachers must stay on top of trends and new launches in the energy drink market.

For little kids it is also really bad to give drinks with sugar because of their teeth. It increases the number of attacks on the teeth through a day (drinking sugared stuff is like having an extra eating moment), and you see kids have much more teeth problems than a generation ago (compared to the first FLUOR utilizing kids).

NRC Handelsblad

i think yes, and that's just my opinion on it, but researches show that 1 energy drink has the same amount of caffene of 5 coke cans. so, yeah they are bad for them.

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