Sports and Energy Drinks for Kids – Healthy?

Written by: Dr. Marcia Whalen

Recently, the Academy of American Pediatrics published a clinical study on the risks of sports and energy drinks for children and adolescents.  Marketing for these types of products largely targets our youth and emphasizes inappropriate uses for both. As both of these products can actually be very bad for our kids, we wanted to share with you some of the important information from this report.

First, it is important to understand that sports and energy drinks are two different types of beverages.  Sports drinks such as Gatorade, All Sport, and Powerade, are flavored beverages that often contain carbohydrates, minerals, electrolytes, and sometimes vitamins or other nutrients.  Energy drinks such as Monster, Rockstar, and Full Throttle, typically contain stimulants such as caffeine and guarana with varying amounts of carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, sodium and other minerals.

Young athletes can benefit from using sports drinks to replace water and electrolytes that are lost through sweating during exercise.  They are best used for any competitive endurance or repeated bout type of sport (such as a tournament) and should not be consumed as part of a daily diet.  Excessive, regular consumption of carbohydrate containing beverages increases overall daily caloric intake without significant additional nutritional value.  Frequent consumption adversely affects the appropriate balance of carbohydrate, fat, and protein intakes needed for optimal growth, development, body composition, and health.  Routine ingestion of sports drinks should be avoided or restricted as they can lead to excessive calorie consumption, increased risk of being overweight, as well as dental erosion.

Drinking energy drinks or any beverage with substantial caffeine can also be very detrimental to physical development of youth and adolescents, including potential development issues for neurologic and cardiovascular systems, in addition to the risk of physical dependence and addiction.  Because of the stimulant content for most of these drinks we find that they are never appropriate for youth and should be replaced with water as often as possible.

Ensure as part of each yearly checkup that your pediatrician or family doctor routinely talks to you and your kids about the use of sports and energy drinks.  We often find that parents may be unaware of their use.