When Drinking Coffee is Safe For Kids?

Womenscorner Desk
August 23, 2020

The case for drinking coffee today may be stronger than ever before. Recent studies have found daily coffee consumption reduces risk of death due to heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, respiratory disease and kidney disease. It's also been connected with a reduced risk of depression, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, cirrhosis and type 2 diabetes. On a day-to-day basis, coffee can improve memory, mood, energy levels, reaction time and athletic performance.

This is a drastic departure from the messaging of the late '70s and early '80s, a time period where coffee consumption was widely demonized due to poorly designed studies which didn't account for high-risk behaviors some heavy coffee drinkers engaged in. "Earlier studies didn't always take into account that known high-risk behaviors, such as smoking and physical inactivity, tended to be more common among heavy coffee drinkers," the Mayo Clinic writes on the topic.

That period spawned several myths about coffee consumption. For example, the idea that coffee can stunt your growth or that a morning cup of coffee is dangerous for pregnant women. While these fears have since been debunked, the hard evidence of coffee's incredible health benefits brings about a new question how early is too early to start drinking coffee?

With the bevy of health benefits we know now coffee confers, it's understandable that a young person may be interested in drinking it. Heck, some parents may even feel the urge to introduce their own kids to the beverage for its protective effects. However, there are definitely some risks to consider when it comes to young children and early adolescents consuming coffee.

Caffeine is a drug. Like any drug, everyone handles it differently. Caffeine's impact largely depends upon body weight, and since kids and young adolescents are smaller than adults, caffeine typically impacts them more significantly. Common side effects of caffeine consumption include difficutly sleeping, nervousness and increased heart rate. More serious side effects, such as those that would be associated with a caffeine overdose, include extreme restlessness, heart arrhythmia, seizures and even cardiac arrest. Such cases are extremely rare, but the risk does exist if someone downs extreme amounts of caffeine. Obviously, if a young person tries coffee and experiences undesirable symptoms, they should stop immediately as should any adult.

Source : Google