1 in 5 kids drinks high caffeine energy drinks

There is growing concern about the numbers of children using high energy drinks with one recent statistic stating that one in five schoolchildren have at least one high energy drink every single day.

The drinks with their high caffeine content have been linked to raised anxiety, sleep difficulties, palpitations, shakes and stomach and concentration problems in school and at home.

The recent study surveyed the drinking habits of 2,500 11 to 18 year olds at a Public Health England conference. The results whilst not surprising were nonetheless alarming. The campaigning group The Amy Winehouse Foundation said the report showed that a higher proportion of consumers came from poorer and more deprived areas of the country. The charity went on to say, “You don’t expect to see kids in Starbucks with huge cups of coffee, but they can go into a supermarket and buy these drinks loaded with caffeine and sugar.”

The group continued to criticise the manufacturers who targeted children with the products sweet taste, bright packaging and sports sponsorship message.

In March some of the leading high street retailers banned the sale of products such as Monster and Red Bull to anyone under the age of 16. Waitrose went further and demands to see ID before it will sell the drinks. Waitrose announced that “These drinks carry advice stating that they are not recommended for children, so we’re choosing to proactively act on that guidance, particularly given the widespread concerns which have been raised about these drinks when consumed by under 16s,” Simon Moore, Waitrose’s director of corporate social responsibility, said in a statement. Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Lidl, Coop, Asda, Aldi and Tesco followed with their own bans on selling the drink to children.