The sources of caffeine consumed by kids, teens and young adults have become more varied during the past decade, but overall intake has not increased, an analysis by federal researchers shows.
Between 1999 and 2010, 73 percent of people ages 2 to 22 consumed at least some caffeine on a given day, including 63 percent of children ages 2 to 5, according to the analysis in the March issue of Pediatrics.
The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages caffeine consumption by young people and said in a 2011 statement “stimulant-containing energy drinks have no place in the diets of children and adolescents.”
Using nationally representative health and nutrition survey data, researchers report:
The portion of caffeine intake from soda declined from 62 percent in 1999-2000 to 38 percent in 2009-2010.
Coffee accounted for only 10 percent of caffeine intake in 1999 -2000 but grew to nearly 24 percent of intake in 2009-2010.
Energy drinks, which did not exist as a category tracked by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1999-2000, represented nearly 6 percent of caffeine intake in 2009-2010.
“If soda intake had not decreased over that time, then we certainly would have seen an increase in caffeine intake,” said Amy Branum, a health statistician with the National Center for Health Statistics and co-author of the report, the first to examine caffeine trends among teens and kids since energy drinks became widely available.
Energy drinks’ contribution to caffeine intake among young people represented “quite a difference in a relatively short amount of time,” she said.
Although caffeine is considered a “safe” substance by the Food and Drug Administration, “because of the relative lack of empirical data on children and adolescents, we just don’t know whether or not that’s true at that age or what the impact is over the long term of higher caffeine consumption,” said Jennifer Temple, director of the Nutrition and Health Research Laboratory at the University of Buffalo. Temple, who is researching the effects of caffeine intake in kids and adolescents, was not involved in the new study.
Excess caffeine consumption can increase heart rate and blood pressure, hyperactivity and anxiety, the new study said. And “case reports of caffeine toxicity and deaths among adolescents and adults reflect the potential dangers of excess caffeine or energy drink consumption,” it said.
But caffeine also has some effects that are “thought to be more positive,” such as increasing alertness and energy and reducing fatigue, Temple said.
For healthy adults, the FDA has cited 400 milligrams a day (the amount contained in about three 8-ounce cups of brewed coffee) “as an amount not generally associated with dangerous, negative effects.”
The agency has not set a safe level for children.
In May, citing concerns about the growing number of food products with added caffeine, including waffles, jelly beans, gum and nuts, the FDA said it would begin to investigate caffeine’s potential side effects on kids and adolescents.
Among other study findings:
Among kids ages 2 to 5, tea overtook soda as the largest contributor to caffeine intake in 2009-2010. Tea, in fact, was the second largest contributor to overall caffeine intake for all ages and remained relatively stable during the decade.
Among 19- to 22-year-olds, coffee edged out soda as the primary source of caffeine, growing from 14 percent of intake to 34 percent. Energy drinks went from 0 percent in 1999-2000 to 10 percent.
Among all age groups, ages 12 to 16 had the greatest intake of caffeine from sodas in 2009-2010 (46 percent) down from 65 percent in 1999-2000.
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