Pushing caffeine on kids is big money for some companies.
Not too long ago, a number of convenience stores had a very small space designated for drinks with extra caffeine. People interested in those types of beverages – mostly teens and young folks in their 20s – knew exactly where to look for them.
The other day I went into a large supermarket and saw three aisles filled with these types of drinks, most of which I was unfamiliar with. I would imagine if a person stocked up on and consumed those types of beverages on a regular basis, they might never have to sleep. And it wasn’t just youngsters and young adults tossing these beverages into their carts. There were a number of people choosing these drinks who had to be in their 40s and 50s.
I understand that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is now investigating the safety of added caffeine to various foods and beverages, and especially as it relates to their effects on children. An example is a new product called Alert Energy Gum from Wrigley, which includes as much caffeine as one-half cup of coffee in a single piece.
It’s one thing for adults to choose foods and beverages with increased caffeine content, but I’m not too crazy about these types of products being marketed toward kids. Among the products that have seen increased amounts of caffeine added to them in recent years are candy, nuts, jelly beans, chips and trail mix. Social media strategies have been used to promote these “energy” foods.
How do you feel about foods with extra caffeine being marketed to kids? Is this something that the FDA should be looking at, or should it be strictly the parents’ responsibility to know and approve of what their kids are consuming?
What ever happened to us parents having responsibilities? We all set around crying that the Government is taking away our rights, but I also see us giving them up. Take a stand as a parent and make adult judgements.
FDA is TOO POLIYICALLY motivated & influenced!!
our gov FDA for sure is a big failure. They have not even found a way to stop pigs from dieing from the versus. so for about 1/2 of yearly production has died. If this thing is not stopped soon, what will pork price be ??
When I was a kid, a disease was killing all hogs in southeast, gov came in with bulldozers and guns dug a large hole put all the 500+ hogs on farm in hole and shot them. This really had to be done. For many years if you bought a hog at stockyard sale, hog was killed before he was taken by new owner.
our education system has failed to educate these parents who are not guiding their children, our gov has allowed news to lie to us so people see all the hype news on this stuff, labels are not telling of contents of package– there is no way for any of us to eat or know if food is non-GMO or organic, last time I looked into organic certification for my garden, did not matter if all test were past, all that matter was I would not pay the price (forgot how much but somewhere between 5k to 13k paid then) for certification. As for organic food, have you seen any planes or helicopters spraying for any bugs or weeds ??
There was a Roundup test done on 3 different farms different places, next year they found Roundup ready weeds 13 miles away from those fields so do you ready believe organic can be grown ??
Most of the stuff you see on supermarket shelves is processed garbage anyway. We are no longer consumers of food, but food-like products. Unless you’re pretty much a vegetarian who eats nothing but organic, non-GMO, natural food, you’re a walking heart attack waiting to happen. The people in our country are fat, unhealthy, and riddled with diseases we didn’t have 10 years ago because we’ve grown up being kept in the dark about how our food is made. Watch the documentary Food, Inc. – please – if you value your life. You’ll be shocked, disgusted, and most of all, awakened to what it is these big food companies are doing to us, and how our own government is allowing them to poison us to death.
Certainly don’t expect the FDA to do anything, you should see what they are approving on the medical sides, scary stuff. Yes parents should be involved and regardless of whether proper warnings are added to the labels or not, it is really a matter of educating parents on the effects to their children and the parents actually paying attention. Side effects include distressed rapid heart rate, high blood pressure, dehydration, to name a few. And then there are young adults with no one to monitor them other than self. It is not just the caffeine, it is taurine and other additives. And in labeling many contain guanana which is nothing more than “natural caffeine” which is just as dangerous. You wont take your kid to Starbucks, but a few energy drinks… no prob. Parents need to pay attention!!
I suspect the pharm companies are in hopes of selling more tranquil drugs to children.