Energy Drinks.

[Guest]

We had a very worrying incident yesterday in playgroup. A child became quite pale & was trembling so much so that he could not hold a cup with out spilling it. Contacted his mum who instantly left home to collect him. In between mum arriving & my phone call I was informed by a staff member that the child was seen drinking a blue energy drink before the session started. I asked mum and she denied it but burst into tears. The child was taken to the doctors and checked over & mum was told he had over heated.

The energy drinks in our local shop do not carry any warning such as not suitable for children. I would of thought it was common sense not to allow a 4 year old child to have these. However I am concerned about the the amount of affine and stuff that goes into them, has any one else ever had such an incident?

[Shiny]

A few years ago through a large amount of stress at work with two jobs and children I started drinking an energy drink at about 11am. This would give me a boost as I hadn't had time for breakfast and I would then work right through lunch without eating. At about 2pm I would have another one and feel fine and go on to eat my dinner at 5.30pm. I can here you all taking a large intake of breath and tutting, I know, what was I thinking.

 

Anyway this went on for a few months with no ill effect, until one day I only had one energy drink at 11am and not another for the afternoon. I honestly thought I might faint. Didn't have any lunch and just drank water in the afternoon. I had the serious shakes, sweating, dry mouth, hot flushes and felt very strange indeed. I thought maybe I was coming down with something!!! A few weeks later I skipped my energy drink again and the same symptoms again. So I decided that maybe I should stop drinking the energy drink. After a few days of feeling like hell, I went to the doctors, constent headache, feeling sick, very/overtired. The doctor told me I had become addicted to the energy drink, and my body was relying on the glucose and caffiene!!! It took me about 3 weeks to stop feeling ill.

 

I now eat a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner and feel great. But if my big body does that, what effect must it have on a little body??!!

 

The drink I was talking about has a warning on it. NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN UNDER 2 YEARS OF AGE!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest]

did a google search, quite a lot written about dangers to children.

 

HERE

 

article on cbbc newsround HERE

 

I banned Ribena ( I know this isn't an energy drink as such) from preschool after some got spilt on the floor. You would think, well that's not a problem but what scared me was that the drink stained so much that after trying a range of cleaning products it was still visible 4 YEARS after it was spilt, just makes you wonder what it does to your insides.

Also made child hyper!!

 

Peggy

[narnia]

i believe Ribena states on the bottles/cartons/pouches that it's not suitable for under threes, but I wonder how many parents would know this?

[Inge]

I believe the reason it is not suitable is the sugar content and effect it has on teeth. Main ingredients being water, sugar and fruit juice comes in at 5%, which is processed and made of concentrate. Hence the staining , concentrated blackcurrant...Ribena

 

and the claim about vitamin C

 

Inge

 

back to power drinks, they really should carry a warning for everyone not just children, as said can be addictive

[Marion]

I have a friend who is a chemist (not the dispensing type) who told me that some of the ingredients are banned in other countries because they are considered "dangerous".

[Guest]

YOU SHOULD ONLY ALLOW PARENTS TO BRING WATER OR FRUIT JUICES FOR THEIR CHILDREN- END OF STORY. PARENTS NEED THERE HEADS CHECKING SOMETIMES!! IF YOU EXPLAIN TO THEM WHEN THEIR CHILD FIRST STARTS/IS ENROLLED, WHY YOU DO NOT ALLOW SUGARY DRINKS THEN U ARE GIVING THEM A BIT OF AN EDUCATION TOO. AND THEN MAYBE THEY WILL THINK TWICE BEFORE GIVING THEIR CHILDREN THESE DRINKS OUTSIDE OF THE SETTING TOO. THESE HIGH ENERGY DRINKS ARE BLOODY EXPENSIVE TOO - WATER IS FREE!!

[catma]

Aren't they are really to replace lost fluids and glucose after energetic exercise, a friend of mine who is a fitness expert told me to only drink the hypotonic ones. Can't remember exactly why but something to do with the calorie content.

 

Cx

[Emmawill]

We also had a little boy walk into pre-school drinking a large bottle of Lucozade sport which we quickly took off of him oonce mum had one but he had already drunk half of it. this little boy is quite how shall we put it politely very lively anyway but this sent mad he was bouncing off the walls for the whole of the session (so were we after 2 1/2 hrs of him!!!!) had a word with mum and he hasn't brought one in since although his lunch box is another story!!!!!

We did wonder if this was the reason that he was so lively anyway.