Based on various studies about things like acetaminophen toxicity, effects of screens on nervous system and eye health, effects of eating ultra processed foods, etc. we know that anything that harms kids tends to harm adults, just less acutely. I think realistically energy drinks are just not healthy for humans. But it's interesting how we moralize harms to kids while enabling them for adults.
Is there actually any evidence that caffeine is bad for kids? From the article, it looks like the impetus for this change is concern from teachers, not from scientific research regarding the impact of high doses of caffeine on children under 16.
> Is there actually any evidence that caffeine is bad for kids
It's complicated as there can be beneficial effects as well. The issue is likely with the dosage as typical tea drinking hasn't seemed to cause any issues and us brits have been drinking tea for a long time. I've heard anecdotes of extreme coffee drinking (multiple espressos over a short time) causing heart palpitations, but that's not common as excessive coffee tends to make people jittery (c.f. Futurama episode where Fry drinks 100 coffees).
Energy drinks have high levels of caffeine and high levels of sugar and tend to be chugged, so they're likely to excessive doses.
I think just about every school in the land has one or two kids in each year who spend their lunch money on Monster/Red Bull (Caffeine is addictive - they cannot help it).
Sadly, there is often only enough money for caffeine or food: So you end up with children who are living off Sugar & Caffeine. They look as healthy as you'd expect.
This legislation is as much about preventing such scenarios as it is about the effects of the energy drinks themselves - (not that it'll work, but that's a another point entirely)
As for the tea/coffee points - I don't think any school allows access to a kettle - it is already a moot point.
This doesn’t solve the underlying issue: heavy marketing towards minors, using all available channels. Sure, heavy sugary/caffeinated drinks are bad for minors, but regulating this at the sales level feels like playing cat/mouse game with the industry.
I think what most commenters are missing is the fact that we now live in an age where it is trivially easy to heavily market to kids on social media like tiktok etc.
I think this is similar to why we ban sales of cigarettes to the under aged. It's just common sense no?
To those who advocate for zero drug prohibition, can we imagine a world where there was no drug prohibition and kids could be marketed fentanyl on TikTok at will?
Obviously this is an extreme, but it's an example of the kind of problems our society now faces?
(For some reason the catastrophic problems China had with opium in the late 1800s springs to mind).
The alcohol industry is very comfortable with age limits. The more the better (e.g. beer and wine at 18 but liquor at 21).
The reason is that they understand that this enshrines alcohol as a maturity symbol. It ensures that you're seen as immature for not drinking.
An alcohol lobbying group around here made posters with a huge foaming glass of beer and the text "over 18? Prove it!". Nominally it was about showing ID, but I think youth got the intended message, and it wasn't about showing ID. Alcohol advertising is forbidden, but profit finds a way.
I see no reason to think energy drink restrictions will be different.
Maybe a good thing. Less developed systems with the various ingredients, sugar, etc .. given the problems adults have had it… I think this could be a good thing
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[ 4.1 ms ] story [ 32.9 ms ] threadIt's complicated as there can be beneficial effects as well. The issue is likely with the dosage as typical tea drinking hasn't seemed to cause any issues and us brits have been drinking tea for a long time. I've heard anecdotes of extreme coffee drinking (multiple espressos over a short time) causing heart palpitations, but that's not common as excessive coffee tends to make people jittery (c.f. Futurama episode where Fry drinks 100 coffees).
Energy drinks have high levels of caffeine and high levels of sugar and tend to be chugged, so they're likely to excessive doses.
Found this review is likely relevant and in my view, the sleep disruption is a red flag for a healthy lifestyle: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7177467/
Sadly, there is often only enough money for caffeine or food: So you end up with children who are living off Sugar & Caffeine. They look as healthy as you'd expect.
This legislation is as much about preventing such scenarios as it is about the effects of the energy drinks themselves - (not that it'll work, but that's a another point entirely)
As for the tea/coffee points - I don't think any school allows access to a kettle - it is already a moot point.
Or data on the amount of kids under 16 actually doing this thing?
I'm not necessarily in favor of prohibition, but drinks—at least sugary ones—are engineered to be addictive. And no, diet doesn't cut it.
I think this is similar to why we ban sales of cigarettes to the under aged. It's just common sense no?
To those who advocate for zero drug prohibition, can we imagine a world where there was no drug prohibition and kids could be marketed fentanyl on TikTok at will?
Obviously this is an extreme, but it's an example of the kind of problems our society now faces?
(For some reason the catastrophic problems China had with opium in the late 1800s springs to mind).
The reason is that they understand that this enshrines alcohol as a maturity symbol. It ensures that you're seen as immature for not drinking.
An alcohol lobbying group around here made posters with a huge foaming glass of beer and the text "over 18? Prove it!". Nominally it was about showing ID, but I think youth got the intended message, and it wasn't about showing ID. Alcohol advertising is forbidden, but profit finds a way.
I see no reason to think energy drink restrictions will be different.