The latest must-have for teens: Caffeine

Even preteens are guzzling energy drinks and gourmet lattes, but experts question the effects on developing bodies and minds

 

By Jay Powell
Star Tribune

 

The Caribou Coffee shop manager in Oak Park Heights recalls her amazement last fall when a boy who looked to be about 8 years old ordered a cappuccino.

He was an especially young example of a growing trend: preteens and older kids guzzling java and caffeine-laced energy drinks.

"I'd think it would stunt their growth," said the Caribou manager, Beth Haverman, who tries to steer her youngest customers toward caffeine-free drinks.

"When I was a kid, my parents would never let me drink coffee -- and I didn't want to."

Caffeine won't stunt growth, experts say, and it does have some benefits, including heightened alertness. But it also can cause jitters, dependence, sleeplessness and higher blood pressure. It's the most widely used mood-altering drug in the world.

In recent years, the U.S. thirst for gourmet coffee has dripped down from yuppies to college students to teenagers and even to some grade-school kids.

Today's youth, with more spending power than ever, increasingly fuel the $22 billion coffee industry and the $3 billion energy-drink industry.

Aggressive marketing is helping to shape young tastes amid a widening array of caffeine-based products.

"It's hip and trendy," said Robin Vought, a band teacher at Oak-Land Junior High School in Lake Elmo.

Vought added: "So kids who are trying to keep up with their peers not only need the clothes and jewelry and brand names on everything, they have to walk into school with a cup in their hand."

Labels offer mixed messages

There's little research into the effects of caffeine on developing minds and bodies, or on how easily children might get hooked on caffeine. But that doesn't worry the young.

On the slopes of Wild Mountain near Taylors Falls, 12-year-old Brady Telstad chugged a can of Red Bull Energy Drink before a long day of snowboarding. He said he has been drinking coffee since age 5 and got a cappuccino machine for Christmas.

When he wearily left the mountain, Telstad, a seventh-grader from West Lakeland Township, exclaimed: "I would have never lasted without that Red Bull."

The energy-drink industry is targeting young consumers with product names such as Monster, Full Throttle and Amp -- and is making claims that some researchers question.

Red Bull appeals both to athletes and those concerned about their weight. Promos on the can promise improved performance under stress, better concentration, quicker reaction speeds and a revved metabolism.

Although top-seller Red Bull does not offer a warning, labels on some other energy drinks caution that children, pregnant or nursing women, or those sensitive to caffeine should refrain.

The 16 oz. Monster Energy can advises consumers to limit themselves to three cans a day. It doesn't specify whether children should drink even less.

Monster is touted as "a wicked energy brew that delivers twice the buzz of a regular energy drink." It contains caffeine, the stimulating herb guarana, ginseng, sugars and more.

No U.S. laws stop stores from selling such products to children, though a few countries have not approved the products, pending more research on the interaction of caffeine with ingredients such as ma huang, ginseng and guarana.

From energy drinks to specialty coffees, legions of kids are gulping far more than recommended daily limits of caffeine, experts say.

"I would be concerned about long-term effects," said Dr. Michael McGinnis, chairman of the Committee on Food Marketing and the Diets of Children and senior scholar at the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences.

Caffeine isn't the only concern. Lattes and other drinks loaded with whipped cream, chocolate, caramel and more can pack up to 500 calories each and supplant nutritious food, said Dr. Roger Clemens, a food scientist and a professor with the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy.

"The concern really is the calories that they're consuming and the absence of exercise," Clemens said.

Kid klatches

In the past 20 years, the spending power of children younger than 18 has soared to about $200 billion a year, McGinnis said, with children younger than 12 spending about $30 billion.

"The top four products that kids under 12 report that they can buy on their own without parents' permission are all food and beverages," McGinnis said.

Kids shell out about $2 for each energy drink, and plenty more for frothy coffee beverages.

"They want the lattes," said Caribou employee MaryBeth Peller at a Stillwater shop that packs in teens and preteens. "They want the holiday specials. They want the mochas. Coolers are big."

The sun wasn't up yet Thursday when four high school girls sat by a Caribou fireplace with drinks, text books and a beagle puppy. Among them was Sina Mc- Cune, 17, who often totes home a sugary coffee drink to placate her 12-year-old sister.

"I usually go to Dunn Bros. for friends and talking," McCune said. "I go to Starbucks to study homework, and I go to Caribou to chill."

Her friend, Carrie Adamic, 18, of Stillwater, said she acquired her taste for the brew a year ago. "I drink coffee straight up," Adamic said. "I think as you get older, you want coffee to stay awake."

Adamic, who works at a clothing store after school, is like many teenagers who start their frenetic days before dawn and end them late.

A caffeinated lifestyle

Red Bull, created in Austria, hit U.S. store shelves in 1997 and has driven sales by sponsoring extreme-sports events such as snowboarding. Other energy drink-makers followed with similar strategies.

Michael Coles, CEO of Minnesota-based Caribou, said he knows some preteens are drinking coffee, and he has received a few e-mails from kids as young as 10 who love his products. But there's nothing wrong with that, he said, as long as kids drink them responsibly.

"Certainly, nobody should come in and have five or six lattes," Coles said.

Experts agree that moderation is key.

Caffeine in big doses can induce sweating, high blood pressure and heart palpitations. Those palpitations won't necessarily hurt someone with a healthy heart, but they are a warning to back off the caffeine, said Jamie Stang, director of the maternal and child nutrition training program in the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

"The idea that it's affecting the body to the point that it causes your heart to palpitate means it's affecting other systems as well, so it should be a warning sign that you've hit an overload level," Stang said. "At that point, it's going to be affecting your kidneys and liver and everything else."

Teenagers should consume no more than 100 milligrams of caffeine a day, some experts say -- the equivalent of about two cans of soda. A 12-ounce gourmet coffee drink, however, can contain about 190 milligrams of caffeine.

Vought, the band teacher, won't let her own teenagers drink coffee and said other parents should take a hard look at how much caffeine their kids are pounding down.

"Their bodies are so messed up anyway with their hormones," she said. "Anytime you introduce a foreign substance, it plays with nature."