ABA Slams Report Highlighting “Concerns” About Children’s Caffeine Consumption

12 Feb 2014 ---The American Beverage Association (ABA) has lashed out against a report that highlights concerns about the coffee and energy drink consumption in children and teens in America. The new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that nearly 75% of kids have caffeine every day, through the consumption of soda drinks and increasingly, coffee and energy drinks.

But the American Beverage Association has responded to this study to say that its research shows children and adolescents are in fact consuming less caffeine than in previous years.

The original study, entitled: “Trends in Caffeine Intake Among US Children and Adolescents”, published this month by The American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP), highlighted the fact that around 73% of children and adolescents consume caffeine on a daily basis.

To research their findings, the investigators analysed caffeine intake among 22,000 US children and adolescents aged between two and 22 years, using 24-hour dietary recall data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999 – 2010. The researchers also determined the proportion of caffeine that was attributable to a variety of drinks, including soda, coffee, energy drinks and tea.

The report did accept that overall caffeine intake had decreased among children between two and 11 years of age between 1999 and 2010, and it noted that the contribution of caffeine from soda – the main source of caffeine during this period – had dropped from 62% to 38%.

The main concern, said the authors of the report, was that coffee now accounts for around 24% of caffeine intake among this age group, up from 10% in 1999. Energy drinks also now have a 6% share of the caffeine intake for this group, compared with zero back in 1999.

“In a very short time, energy drinks have gone from basically contributing nothing to 6 per cent of total caffeine intake,” said the study’s lead author, Amy Branum.“Energy drinks have more caffeine that soda – that’s their claim to fame and that’s what they are marketed for,” she said.

While the AAP believes these findings raise concerns regarding the role of energy drinks and coffee as significant contributors to caffeine intake among children and adolescents, energy drink suppliers and the American Beverage Academy have dismissed the findings.

Catrin Hughes, technical manager for Best-in energy drinks, produced by UK-based food and drink wholesaler, Bestway, explained that all its energy drinks are labelled with a warning that the products are not recommended for children, and that this label has been in place for a number of years. She noted that despite the warning label, “we are not able to control shopkeepers selling the drinks to children.”

And American Beverage Academy consultant Dr Richard Adamson, a former director of the Division of Cancer Etiology and scientific director of the National Cancer Institute, said: “The most recent data demonstrates virtually no caffeine consumption from energy drinks among children under 12 and extremely low consumption for adolescents aged 12 to 18. Furthermore, findings from this study reaffirm that overall, consumption of caffeine from soft drinks by this group also has decreased.”

A statement by the ABA also notes that: “Caffeine has been safely consumed, in a variety of foods and beverages, around the world for hundreds of years.”

The AAP is not the only group to be voicing concerns about caffeine consumption among children. Last year the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its intentions to undergo an investigation into products that contain added caffeine, particularly those aimed at children and adolescents such as jelly beans and gum.

The FDA has not yet set caffeine recommendations for children and adolescents, but the AAP recommends against the inclusion of any caffeine in a child’s diet.

By Sonya Hook