My 16 year old daughter drinks these things. I say these drinks aren't good for you. She argues that they are healthier than soda. I don't know, I just think they aren't. What do you know or think?
I agree with Nikki, except I have never had one nor would I. I think they are the "gateway" to alcohol.
NOT healthy. At age 16 with proper sleep, diet, exercise and stress management she doesn't even need vitamins. If she insists, get her some emergenc fizzy packets or something benign like that which is just vitamins and no stimulants or other things. I would not back down on this with my teens.
Energy drinks are horrible for you. Have her give you research on energy drinks vs soda. My 16 year old will do "monster" drink and it's so bad... she uses her own money, I won't let my 5 year old but my 14 and 16 if they buy it, I tell them how bad. Only my daughter the 16 likes them, my 14 doesn't so I don't have to worry.
Energy drinks are scary stuff as you have seen in other responses. You can refuse to have them in your home, but she's 16 and you can't be with her every minute. I think your best defense is to present her with facts.
Wow. Where do I start? Healthier than soda? There's WAY more sugar in those things than there is in soda (thus the sugar crash is WAY worse than the sugar crash from soda, which makes you crave energy drinks...).
The caffeine content coupled with the extreme sugar highs & lows can cause serious heart problems. I ended up in the hospital after finding myself having an energy drink every day at work for an afternoon pick-me-up. Because I had a benign arrhythmia to begin with, the energy drinks pushed me over into atrial fibrillation, and I had to have my heart shocked with paddles twice.
I banned them from my house completely. My husband likes them but he's not allowed to bring them in our house because I want my kids to know that we treat our bodies with more respect than that. Might as well light up a smoke.
I know I sound like an anti-energy drink extremist, LOL, but I spent a lot of time in the hospital, not to mention medical costs, from them. So I'm biased. I know lots of people drink them and do just fine.
They are horrible, so no, our kids aren't allowed to drink them, obviously when they are older they wil make their own choices. Anytime my husband or I drinks one (which is VERY rare, usually when traveling long distance in the car), we get cranky and just feel "off"... and my husband gets bad heart palpitations and chest pain from them, (he has a mild heart murmur). They have several more amounts of sugar and caffeine than soda and even some coffees.. so yes, they are WAY worse than soda. A Gatorade or Powerade is a better alternative, but even those have a lot of sugar, but even they are better than soda.
Let her make an informed decision, so it won't just be a battle of opinion... show her the actual comparisons here and let her understand health wise, why they are not a good option. There is tons of research online:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/caffeine/AN01211
My kids are too young to really have much say in what they drink...if it's not in the house...they don't drink it. I REALLY don't like energy drinks tho'...some of them have the caffeine equivalent of 2 cups of coffee...and if someone is drinking more than one...that can be a major caffeine overdose. Apparently they're starting to find a possible link between energy drinks and heart palpitations, high blood pressure, ulcers...all kinds of nasty things. That much caffeine also acts as a diuretic - which can lead to severe dehydration. Not to mention the sugar. Anyway...just my two sense! Good luck!
No No No- My friend is 35 years old just suffered a heart attack because of (really from the doctors mouth) the amount of "RockStar" he has consumed. They are bad for your heart bad bad bad do her a favor and ween her off them
I do medical research, and in the past 3 years, endocrine research.
These drinks are endocrine disease waiting to happen.
The very things they have in them, (ginsing, tyrosine,caffeine and more...)
directly afect the adrenal gland. They will cause it to put out excessive amounts of adrenal hormones (adrenaline and cortisol) which will give the feeling of having more energy. But what it is is a release of that homrone responsible for the fight and flight response. High adrenaline causes eye pressure =glaucoma and can even cause schitzophrenia and halucinations. .....high cortisol causes heart disease, diabetes, stroke and more.
These WILL cause damage down the road. The gland will become exausted. Then they will have adrenal fatigue. This is very hard to fix, and can be a life olong problem for most once they get it.
I do not plan on allowing my son to drink them until he is at least that age, but he also has Adhd and I would hate to see what those drinks will do to him.
NO WAY! They are really bad for children (adults too acctually), and can cause dehydration if consumed during or right before exercise.
Not when they lived with us we didn't. Now that they are both in college, I know they drink them. More our son than daughter. Yuck!
No. I don't allow soda or energy drinks. I don't think they are good for children.
Twice the sugar and caffeine. Not healthy at all. I do not allow my kids to drink them though I have no problem with an occasional Gatorade or like it. They usually prefer an iced tea anyway. My brother used to dinrk a lot of Monsters and Red Bull every day, along with Mountain Dew-another no no in my house. His teeth are horrible from all that sugar and he has gotten a "beer" gut (and he does not ever drink).
The companies that make energy drinks are smart. They promote the "good" things in energy drinks but never mention the bad ingredients.
I would suggest you and your daughter read the label. The servings in each container are typically 2. So she is getting double of: caffeine, sugar, calories, etc. Reading the label together she may see how they aren't good for her. Especially if she is active in sports. Gatorade is better, water, or my son and daughter use Performance.
Hope this helps.
NO! Stop it if you can. There are many other drinks that are NOT harmful.
Are you talking about things such as Red Bull, Monster, etc?
We (daughter is 17) drink them occasionally but not on a daily basis. I don't think they are good for you and I personally will not drink them often. and neither will my daughter. My daughter told me once that I needed to lighten up on my consumption of them because they were bad for you.
I do know a lot of kids do drink them.
We drink a lot of water, vitamin water, sparkling water, etc. Our family does not drink soda often at all either.
They're not good for you and neither is soda. They aren't healthy. However, at 16, they have their own money and aren't always under our supervision. I know, I have a 16 year old. Luckily she's very health conscious and a good consumer, so she knows energy drinks and sports drinks aren't appropriate for her.
at 16, you can't tell her you won't allow it b/c it'll send her rushing to the nearest drugstore to prove she's an adult and you're not the boss of her. the drinks are horrible for you and dangerous if consumed too much/quickly. i'd print an article or something for her to look at it and just say that she shouldn't drink so many b/c it's bad for her. emphasize your legitimate concern rather than telling her no. she's old enough to make up her own mind and if you're her ally rather than a stern parent in this, she's more likely to make the right decision.
My kids are young so absolutely not...but my 16 year old nephew drinks them, we don't like it but he has weight lifting and wrestling practice at o'dark-thirty so if he asks for one I stop and get him one. He gets good grades and ALWAYS is in at least 1 sport...he also is in marching band and has a band on the side. He is a good kid and drinks them in moderation. We have expressed our concern for the un-healthy aspect of them but I do not think he really cares...ahh, to be young again!
First off a 16 year old is not a kid... she's 16. She's capable of holding down a job and making at least basic decisions about what she consumes... I LOVE me some Red Bull, my husband is convinced it causes cancer because when he smells it, it makes his mouth water! Haha! But it's at least equally as bad as Dr. Pepper... but definelty better than alcohol so if you're worried about energy drinks over vodka, count yourself among the lucky!! JMO.
I have never drank one, neither has my husband. It just doesn't appeal to us. I imagine they are like Mountain Dew and I HATE that stuff. My GD hasn't shown any interest in them - she drinks fruit juice, water, tea, and milk. I don't think I will allow her to drink them if she ever asks.
no, no, absolutely not!
No, I don't think they are healthier than soda, and they may be worse. The amount of caffeine and other stimulants in them causes a vicious cycle of ups and downs, and also drains your adrenal glands and puts you in a bad way. She's young and her body can probably handle it w/o too many obvious side effects, but it *will* catch up with her!
No. We don't allow it. Our boys aren't 16 yet, but our oldest is 14. He's extremely health conscious, though, so I'm hoping he won't drink them when he's older. We don't drink them either, so at least we're setting a healthy example. I know all that can go right out the window when they are in college trying to juggle work, school, studying, etc. I can remember living on Dr. Pepper and No-doze . . .
