Tasty cans of caffeinated sugar water.
Caffeine is a necessary evil for most adults. After all, we don’t get enough sleep and we get up too early, so that means that for most people (i.e., me), a caffeine drip is a necessary component of being a functional human being. Children are less likely to need a pick-me-up since they have bedtimes and whatnot. Still, children are drinking caffeine younger and younger, with 75 percent of children consuming caffeine, starting as young as 5 and drinking as much as 3 cans of soda a day.
“Caffeine is not some boogie man, but at some point for all of us, too much caffeine is a problem,” said William Warzak, a psychologist in the department of pediatrics at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. “We just don’t know where to draw the line for kids. The take-home point is that parents need to be aware of what their children are eating and drinking.”
The Food and Drug Administration doesn’t have guidelines for caffeine use in children. Adults are limited to 300 miligrams per day, the equivalent of 3 cups of coffee or 3 caffeinated marshmallows. The Canadian government recommends that children from 7 to 9 be limited to 62 mg of caffeine, with limits rising to 82 mg for children up to age 12.
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