By Amudha Eswari,
You would have seen a lot of advertisements showing that the energy drinks would increase the performance of those who consume it. Do you know that these energy drinks have 14 times more caffeine than a normal cola drink? Giving a cup of energy drink to your child is equal to giving 7 cups of coffee at the same time. A lot of us drink more than 7 cups of coffee per day and have no side effects. So, does this mean that the energy drinks will not cause any problem? Adults will have the tolerance level to consume a lot of caffeine without any side effects. But, this is not the case with children or adolescents.
Energy Drinks And Your Little Boy/Girl’s Heart
If the energy drinks had only caffeine, it is not much of any issue. But, there are a lot of other chemical compounds which in combination with the high dose of caffeine would cause serious heart problems in your child. In addition to caffeine, these drinks might have taurine, guarana, gnseng, yohimbine and L-carntine. These compounds would increase the pressure and the heart rate. At the same time, the blood flow in the coronary arteries would reduce making the heart work more for blood. At the same time, the high amount of caffeine would release more calcium to the heart causing changes in the electrical impulse in the heart. This can cause arrhythmias. This can lead to acute or chronic heart problems in children.
The early signs of the kid’s heart being affected by these drinks are vomiting, headache, heart palpitation, unexplained anxiety, high dizziness and the feel of not being well without any identifiable source of infection or fever.
Harming Your Kid’s Liver
Any toxin would first affect the liver. The high caffeine would increase the risk of liver ailments. When consumed with any other anti-inflammatory medicines, it would cause damage to the liver. The niacin that is found in almost all the energy drinks can harm your kid’s liver.
Energy Drink And Neurological Health
High taurin accumulation in the body can cause heart failure, fatigue in the muscle and other nerve related problem. These drinks can cause insomnia, depression, anxiety and nervousness and sometimes cause death when consumed in high dosage.
Abusing Health Drinks
Energy drinks stand alone as a bad drink for children and young adults. Think of its action in the body when consumed with pain killers or alcohol. Death, neurological problem, kidney failure and liver damage are common in the kids who abuse the drinks and mix it with alcohol or other sedative medicines.
All these risks are undertaken by your child for almost nothing. There is no scientific proof that your child can become very excellent in sports or would have high stamina just by drinking these drinks. These drinks provide very little assistance in improving the physical performance. Though a lot of drinks promote their products stating that all their ingredients are printed on the can and are approved, it is better to stick with high protein diet and good exercise schedule to increase the stamina than to go for these drinks.
