repeatedly warned<\/a> of the dangers and disruption energy drinks can cause, with kids coming into school “bouncing off the walls” having had energy drinks for breakfast. <\/p>\n“We are talking about three, four shots of espresso in one of these things. Loads of sugar. So an absolute nightmare,” he said in a video posted on X last year. <\/p>\n
Excessive consumption is linked to headaches and sleep problems.<\/p>\n
Too much caffeine can cause a rapid heart rate, abnormal heart rhythms and seizures too. <\/p>\n
Although rare, there have been some deaths linked to excess caffeine. <\/p>\n
Under current labelling rules, any drink, other than tea or coffee, with over 150mg of caffeine per litre requires a warning label saying: “High caffeine content. Not recommended for children or pregnant or breast-feeding women.”<\/p>\n
Young people have smaller bodies and their brains are still developing, which can make them more sensitive to caffeine, say experts. <\/p>\n
For most adults, up to 400mg of caffeine a day, or about four cups of instant coffee or five cups of tea, is safe.<\/p>\n
“By preventing shops from selling these drinks to kids, we’re helping build the foundations for healthier and happier generations to come,” said Mr Streeting. <\/p>\n
Prof Steve Turner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said a ban was the “next logical step” in making children’s diets more healthy.<\/p>\n
And Prof Amelia Lake from Teesside University, who has studied the drinks’ impact on young people’s lives, said they had “no place” in the diets of children.<\/p>\n
“Our research has shown the significant mental and physical health consequences of children drinking energy drinks.<\/p>\n
“We know these drinks are part of youth culture and associated with sports, gaming, music and more, but there is a lack of clear signalling about their health consequences.”<\/p>\n
But Gavin Partington from the British Soft Drinks Association said manufacturers had already led the way with self regulation. <\/p>\n
“As with all government policy, it’s essential that any forthcoming regulation is based on a rigorous assessment of the evidence that’s available,” he added. <\/p>\n
Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are also considering a ban. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The government is planning a new law in England to stop anyone under the age of 16 buying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-110144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}