LONDON — Ever been ID’d when buying a can of Red Bull? That’s what the future may hold for teenage consumers of energy drinks in England.
U.K. health secretary Wes Streeting announced a consultation on banning those under the age of 16 from purchasing energy drinks that contain more than 150 milligrams of caffeine per liter. Energy drinks that currently breach that limit include those sold by the likes of Red Bull, Monster and Prime.
Ministers say a ban would prevent issues associated with young people consuming energy drinks, such as disrupted sleep, increased anxiety and lack of concentration, along with poorer school results.
But why is it that those ages 15 and under are being targeted by ministers? Deborah Gater, assistant professor in chemistry at Northeastern University in London, says it’s because caffeine can have a more disruptive effect on young, developing bodies.
Explaining how caffeine disrupts natural sleeping patterns, Gater says caffeine, which is also found in tea, coffee and soft drinks such as Coca-Cola, tricks the brain into thinking it is not tired.
In simple terms, Gater says the caffeine molecule is “structurally like” the chemical adenosine, which is what gradually builds up to indicate to your brain that it is time for sleep. Caffeine confuses the brain’s adenosine receptors and “gets in the way” of the chemical from binding properly, deceiving the brain into staying alert for longer.
If your body begins to get used to regular caffeine use, it can “mess with your sleep-wake patterns,” Gater adds. This then has a impact on things like a person’s ability to control dopamine levels and the way the nervous system regulates itself, which can, in turn, make it hard to concentrate and can also cause anxiety.
For children, their smaller body size makes these effects more pronounced, adds Gater.
A 12-ounce can of Prime Energy contains 200 milligrams of caffeine, compared with 114 in the same size serving of Red Bull. Scientists say a can of Prime Energy is equivalent to drinking two shots of espresso, with the average cup of coffee containing at least 80 milligrams of caffeine. Coca-Cola and similar soft drinks have between 35 and 45 milligrams of caffeine in a 12-ounce can.
Pediatricians, according to a report by The New York Times, recommend that children under the age of 12 avoid caffeine entirely, and that those from 12 to 18 should consume no more than 100 milligrams per day.
“The issue with kids, particularly, is twofold,” says Gater. “Kids, in the main, are smaller than adults. Particularly when you’re talking about 10-, 11- and 12-year-olds, if they’re only 40-50 kilograms (88-110 pounds), then in terms of milligrams of caffeine per kilo of bodyweight, a cup of coffee that is just a nice hit for an adult is going to completely overwhelm their system in terms of how much caffeine is floating around.
“And then the secondary thing is, because they’re still developing and they’ve got all these receptors interacting and sending signals to each other, nobody is quite sure what the long-term effect is — or even necessarily the acute effect — of giving small children with developing brains and bodies large quantities of caffeine.”
Despite the effect of caffeine intake on pubescent teens not being entirely understood, high school-aged children in the U.K. are commonly purchasing energy drinks. In the government consultation on the ban, ministers cite research showing that, between 2013 and 2018, one-third of children aged 13 to 16 consumed one or more high-caffeine energy drinks each week.
In the U.S., the use of energy drinks among adolescents has been described as “widespread.” According to research from 2014 shared by the National Library of Medicine, nearly two-thirds of American teens reported having used energy drinks.
European countries such as Latvia and Lithuania have already banned the sale of energy drinks to children, and the U.K.’s Labour government wants England to follow their lead.
Assistant professor Dina Rabie, a behavioral economist on Northeastern’s London campus, says there are clear benefits to such bans. She says when hyper schoolchildren become disruptive in the classroom and elsewhere, the damage that causes reaches far beyond the individual.
“It is not just the person drinking who is being affected,” she says. “There are external effects on others and, in that case, there could be external costs.”
Rabie stresses, however, that applying a ban is not enough to prevent the consumption of energy drinks appearing attractive to young people. She argues that schoolchildren should be taught about the harmful effects energy drinks can have so they are not incentivized to take up drinking such products as a social rite of passage when turning 16.
“It is really important that with the ban comes the education about what the ban is for,” Rabie continues.
“It is important for the kids to know why this is not good for them. It is about being aware that this has lots of negative effects on you and on others. It is important to do this so that when the person becomes 16, they don’t just go and drink and show off that they have more energy to their classmates. Without that awareness campaign, this policy could backfire.”
Major supermarkets in Britain have already voluntarily stopped sales of the drinks to young people but the proposal, if it is implemented, would make it a legal obligation for retailers to check consumers are old enough to purchase cans of Red Bull, Monster and similar products.
British ministers are no strangers to considering potential bans in the name of public health. Former Conservative prime minister Rishi Sunak wanted to outlaw smoking in future generations and the current Labour government is set to bring in a blackout on junk food advertising aimed at children.
Such interruptions to the way markets operate are a “paternalistic” form of governing, Rabie says, but she argues that it can be justified if a certain type of consumer behavior “poses some risk” to the nation’s wellbeing.
A ban could, she suggests, lead to better options for consumers. It could force producers of energy drinks to create alternatives that do not have as many associated health risks.
“Energy drink companies may start to come up with healthier solutions,” she says. “Companies could respond by protecting young people and by offering substitutes — drinks that are lower in sugar and lower in caffeine.”