Whether used to stay awake or for an additional boost to help with their sports, many children and teenagers turn to so-called energy drinks.  But are they safe to use or could they be harming our health and quality of life?

Recently, the debate has surfaced as to whether children under 16 should be allowed to drink energy drinks. Waitrose has decided to ban the sale of caffeine energy drinks to under 16s, but should all supermarkets follow in their footsteps and ban them too?  And should the government step in and also strongly discourage parents from purchasing them for their children?

The UK has the second highest energy drink consumption in the world - we consume over 8 litres of energy drinks per year on average. There has been a rise in children purchasing energy drinks which are cheaply available at most corner shops and supermarkets.  Sales of energy drinks have risen over the past few years.

Apart from the obvious problem of children consuming dangerous levels of addictive caffeine, many teachers have complained that energy drinks cause children and teens to become hyperactive and misbehave at school. Energy drinks might also cause children to be distracted and not focus.  There is also concern that there will be further consequences for this, for example, the addictive nature of caffeine may mean that the future generation will struggle to work and find jobs. Doctors are also worried that if children become reliant on energy drinks, they may underperform and struggle without them. 

Hyperactivity is not the only problem with energy drinks - energy drinks are associated with sleep problems and can lead to a disruption in sleeping patterns.  The drinker does receive a “high” shortly after drinking, but then the inevitable low comes – lethargy and restlessness rather than healthy sleep – the way to ameliorate is often to have another to take you out of the feeling of fatigue.

As well as containing high levels of sugar, most dangerous is the amount of caffeine contained in each drink, proven to have bad effects on health and wellbeing.  A 16-year old boy died last year after collapsing at school in South Carolina, USA after he drank three caffeine drinks.  An autopsy concluded that he was perfectly healthy before his death and had no prior problems. The energy drinks were the only reason pointing to his death, and show that even when drinking somewhat small amounts, there are still huge risks.

Of course, energy drinks do have benefits.  For example, they can help when training for sport or when people are feeling unmotivated. They can help you focus and be more alert because they as they contain caffeine which is a stimulant. They can also provide you with electrolytes and sugars which the body needs to replenish. However, the drinks contain much more sugar than the body needs and in conjunction with the excess of caffeine, they become dangerous. The benefits of energy drinks may be helpful for adults, but for a developing child, they can be toxic.

Doctors are adamant that energy drinks should never be used by children, and instead recommend that if children want to be energised they should get lots of sleep, eat a well-balanced, healthy diet, looking at fresh fruit and complex carbohydrates for their energy stores.

A keen supporter of the movement to ban energy drinks for under 16s is Jamie Oliver, who has been promoting his campaign online.  He argues that children cannot legally smoke or drink alcohol, so why should they be allowed to have potentially deadly energy drinks? He wants all supermarkets to enforce the rule that energy drinks cannot be bought by under 16s.  This week he begged parents to tweet the Health Minister, Jeremy Hunt, using the hashtag #notforchildren to support a ban.

George, 14, who sometimes uses sugar energy drinks for sport, told me “energy drinks make me feel energised and help me with sport. They also help me when I am tired. The risks, however, are very off putting and I would reconsider drinking them again in the future.”

To conclude, there are many proven reasons why energy drinks should not be used by children and it is likely that soon they will be banned by the government for under 16s to purchase.

Corey Hamilton Lane

Hampton School