Caffeine And Your Teen ... blog by Shelley Carppe

I'm not a coffee addict, or a coffee snob. Apart from my habitual "first thing in the morning" instant coffee (delivered to my bedside table each day by my much better half, in order to avoid the above scenario), I can easily swap it out for a herbal tea, water, (or wine!) as my mood dictates. 

But what about our teens? How much is too much - can we risk the gremlin syndrome by denying them coffee, in the interests of their health?

NZ has no 'ideal' standard for caffeine intake in teens, although they do recommend children under 12 avoid caffeine altogether.  

In the US, the recommendation is 100mg per day.  There's around 90mg in one cup of instant coffee, and about 125mg for a double shot cappuccino. But here's the kicker - one Monster energy drink has 160mg of caffeine.  Red Bull, V, even Mountain Dew contains 54mg of caffeine in a can. Not to mention the sugar content - 13 and a half teaspoons of sugar in a Monster can!

As we know, caffeine has some bonuses - it's a natural stimulant that helps us stay alert, awake and can calm the nerves. Like most things that we enjoy, moderation is the key. 

Too much coffee and it all goes bad: dizziness, anxiety, restlessness, tremors, irregular heartbeat, irritability and trouble sleeping.   If your teen has a morning coffee, a lunch time cappuccino, and grabs a Monster on the way to sports practice, they're getting close to the recommended ADULT dose of caffeine for the day of 400mg, which is well above what anyone would recommend for teens. 

"Back in my day" (cue eye-rolling from the teens) coffee wasn't really consumed by teenagers - nowadays it's normal to see high school students grabbing takeaway coffees on their way to school. And then there's the places we forget that caffeine can be hiding - like in dark chocolate, tea, milo, and even kombucha.

As previously mentioned, moderation is the key - discuss the negative effects of too much caffeine with your teens, help them make healthy choices, lead by example - and if at all possible, get them to avoid coffee/caffeine after lunch, as sleep is a precious commodity for our little gremlins, and we want to keep them warm and fuzzy if we can!