The needs of people vary as they age, more so when it comes to health and nutrition. Because of consumerism, however, the lines that separate what people of various age groups should ideally consume are diminished; there are kids who end up eating and drinking foods and beverages that are not yet recommended for them.
The Committee on Nutrition of the American Academy of Pediatrics has released a report that advices teens to refrain from consuming sports drinks, such as Gatorade and Powerade, unless they are actually engaged in sports activities, as shared in a feature on Time.com. In addition, the nation’s pediatricians suggested that teens do not consume energy drinks, such as Java Monster, Red Bull, and Full Throttle, at all. The report was published in the journal Pediatrics.
The observation that kids seem to drink sports and energy drinks more often, because sodas were being removed from school vending machines across the country, prompted the investigation. More kids are said to be drinking sports drinks in school lunch rooms.
Dr. Marci Schneider, a member of the nutrition committee and an adolescent medicine physician in Greenwich, Connecticut, shared: “The question was, are there appropriate times when kids should be drinking these, and times when they shouldn’t be drinking them?” While sports drinks are beneficial to athletes following intense practice or workout sessions, Dr. Schneider said that “outside that setting — and honestly most of our teens and children are way outside that setting — they don’t need sports drinks… Water, not sports drinks, should be the major source of hydration for adolescents.”