Caffeine is one of the ingredients in cola, but it's also present in a surprising number of other soft drinks. Is all that caffeine good for your children? http://www.discoveryhealth.com/DH/ihtIH/WSDSC000/325/25359.html The Buzz on Soft drinks and Caffeine By Christian Millman Centuries ago, Ethiopian shepherds noticed something odd about their sheep. Every time the hapless herds grazed on wild coffee cherries, they would be wide-eyed and awake all night. In the intervening years, the same caffeine that kept the shepherds� livestock lively has spread far beyond farmers� fields. Caffeine is now the most widely consumed psychoactive substance in the world, says Brenda Eskenazi, Ph.D., professor of maternal and child health and epidemiology at the University of California School of Public Health at Berkeley. You might immediately blame your coffee mug or teapot for caffeine�s burgeoning popularity, but you�d be overlooking an increasingly important source � soft drinks. By 1998, Americans were guzzling 15 billion gallons of carbonated beverages every year � the equivalent of 585 12-ounce cans of fizz for every man, woman and child. That represents a nine-fold increase in consumption since the 1940s and a doubling since 1975. And with 70 percent of soft drinks containing caffeine, including six of the seven top sellers, that has some scientists worried. The soft drink industry justifies adding caffeine by saying that it is included solely for its flavor. A study in the August 2000 issue of the Archives of Family Medicine challenged that claim, asserting that �the high rates of consumption of caffeinated soft drinks more likely reflect the mood-altering and physical dependence-producing effects of caffeine as a central nervous system-active drug than its subtle effects as a flavoring agent.� That begs the question: So what? If people drink a cola for the caffeine rush rather than the flavor, what�s the big deal? Well, none really, for most people, says Manfred Kroger, Ph.D., professor of food science at The Pennsylvania State University. �I personally maintain that, moderately consumed, caffeine poses no danger to the average adult,� he says. {6} Pharmacological experts define �moderate� as the equivalent of no more than three cups of brewed coffee a day. The main concern for adults, he says, is that if they choose to get their caffeine from soda, they do so at a caloric cost. A cup of coffee has only four calories. A 12-ounce can of non-diet soda has 150. But caffeine may be harmful for other groups; namely, kids and pregnant women. In pregnant women, caffeine easily crosses into the fetus where it stays in the unborn baby for a far greater length of time than it does in the mother. �When a pregnant woman consumes just two cups of coffee every day, or several cans of caffeinated soda, she will get rid of the caffeine from her system but the fetus will constantly, for the entire nine months of her pregnancy, stay under the influence of caffeine,� says Kroger. This finding is based on half-life studies made with caffeine in individuals. For this reason, and because of some studies that have shown an elevated risk of miscarriage by heavy caffeine drinkers, the Food And Drug Administration recommends that women avoid caffeine-containing foods, or use them sparingly. Caffeine can also pose risks for children, particularly teen-agers. An average 12- to 19-year-old boy now drinks 868 cans of pop every year � more than two a day. The United States Department of Agriculture says that same boy consumes 85.5 milligrams of caffeine per day, much of it hidden in soda. �I�m not sure that we would normally be giving our kids anything that would be considered a mild drug,� says Eskenazi. �I personally don�t let my son drink caffeinated beverages. At the very least, we know that caffeine has effects on heart rate, activity levels and, putting aside the potential effects that it may have on brain development, which are less clear, why would you want to give a mood-alterer to a child?� Like the Ethiopian sheep, high amounts of caffeine can also lead to insomnia in many children. When kids drink more caffeinated beverages to combat the next day�s sleepiness, they can end up jittery, irritable and find it difficult to sit still in class. Kids who are prone to migraines can also have headaches triggered by excess caffeine. Kicking the caffeine habit isn�t easy for kids, either. When University of Minnesota researchers tested children to see if they suffered from caffeine withdrawal symptoms, they found going without soda came at a price. After kids 8 to 12 years old drank either Coca-Cola or Mountain Dew for 13 consecutive days and then stopped, they performed poorly on tests requiring sustained attention. This deterioration in ability lasted up to a week after the kids went cold turkey. Whether kids are drinking more soda because of the mildly addictive effects of caffeine or shrewd marketing by pop bottlers � the industry spent more than $6 billion on advertising in the last decade � one thing is clear: Kids are drinking less milk, less juice and less water in favor of soft drinks. And that, too, can cause health problems. �When you�re drinking a large volume of carbonated liquid, you tend to reduce volume of food,� says Eskenazi. �Kids may be replacing not only good drinks with soda but they may be replacing food in general.� Because kids are drinking more soda and less milk, they may also be putting their bones at risk. A June 2000 study in the American Journal of Disease of Children found that the teen-age girls who drank the most soda were also most likely to end up with bone fractures. Girls who were physically active were even more at risk � they were five times as likely to break a bone compared with girls who didn�t drink soda. Researchers believe this happens because soda consumption replaces milk, lowering calcium intake among girls and also bone density. That same lack of bone density that causes fractures in teen-age girls can lead to osteoporosis in late adulthood. A preference for sugary drinks can contribute to the growing incidence of obesity farther down life�s road. For example, soft drinks make up 10.3 percent of the calories in an overweight teen-age boy�s diet, compared with 7.6 percent of the calories of a teen-age boy of normal weight. So how can you wean your children from soda? To begin with, clear out the soft drinks at home, says Jean Skinner, Ph.D., professor of nutrition at the University of Tennessee. Then pack bottled water or 100 percent juice in your kids� lunch. This is important because most school districts have soda vending machines � some have even partnered with local soda distributors and are splitting profits. �If children aren�t offered these beverages, except on special occasions, they will grow up liking other more nutritious drinks,� says Skinner. �The patterns that are built through childhood are very important in later years, too.� �We all know why we adults drink caffeinated beverages. That�s obvious,� adds Eskenazi. �But we need to make educated choices as individuals whether we want our kids to do the same.� How Much Caffeine Is In Your Soda? How much caffeine can you get from a soda vending machine? Here�s a look at the caffeine content of several of the most popular soft drinks, compiled by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Compare the caffeine in these sodas with the amount of the stimulant found in a cup of brewed coffee, which has 135 milligrams of caffeine. Tea has 50 milligrams per cup. Josta, 12 oz.: 58 mgs. Mountain Dew, 12 oz.: 55 mgs. Surge, 12 oz.: 51 mgs. Diet Coke, 12 oz.: 47 mgs. Coca-Cola, 12 oz.: 45 mgs. Dr. Pepper, 12 oz.: 41 mgs. Sunkist Orange, 12 oz.: 40 mgs. Pepsi Cola, 12 oz.: 37 mgs. Barq's Root Beer, 12 oz.: 23 mgs. Some caffeine-free soft drinks: Minute Maid Orange Soda, Mug Root Beer, A&W Root Beer, Sprite, 7-Up. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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