Sports Drinks and Energy Drinks: Not for Kids

The American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Nutrition and Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness published their “Clinical Report – Sports Drinks and Energy Drinks for Children and Adolescents: Are They Appropriate?” 

In today’s blog I am going to merely quote summary statements from that report.  The full text is available free on line and I encourage you to use the reference at the end to access, print and read the full text.  The details and references are stunning.

“Sports drinks and energy drinks are significantly different products, and the terms should not be used interchangeably.”

“Rigorous review and analysis of the literature reveal that caffeine and other stimulant substances contained in energy drinks have no place in the diet of children and adolescents. Furthermore, frequent or excessive intake of caloric sports drinks can substantially increase the risk for overweight or obesity in children and adolescents.”

“With children and adolescents, careful consideration is necessary when selecting a beverage to hydrate before, during, or after exercise and outside of physical activity to prevent excessive sugar and caloric intake that may encourage dental erosion, overweight, and obesity.”

“Children and adolescents should be taught to drink water routinely as an initial beverage of choice as long as daily dietary caloric and other nutrient (e.g., calcium, vitamins) needs are being met. Water is also generally the appropriate first choice for hydration before, during, and after most exercise regimens. Children should have free access to water, particularly during school hours.”

“Sports and energy drinks are not indicated for use during meals or snacks as a replacement for low-fat milk or water.”

“The actual caffeine content for many energy drinks is not easily identified on product packaging or via the Internet. The total amount of caffeine contained in some cans or bottles of energy drinks can exceed 500 mg (equivalent to 14 cans of common caffeinated soft drinks) and is clearly high enough to result in caffeine toxicity. …

Additional concerns regarding the use of caffeine in children include its effects on the developing neurologic and cardiovascular systems and the risk of physical dependence and addiction.  Because of the potentially harmful adverse effects and developmental effects of caffeine, dietary intake should be discouraged for all children.”

“For most children and adolescents, daily electrolyte requirements are met sufficiently by a healthy balanced diet; therefore, sports drinks offer little to no advantage over plain water. During or after participation in short training or competition sessions, athletes generally do not need supplemental electrolyte replacement.”

“Low-fat milk is a good option for use as a post-exercise protein-recovery drink.”

“In general, the use of amino acids in energy drinks in place of traditional dietary sources is not supported by the scientific literature and, therefore, is discouraged for children and adolescents.”

“Given the current epidemic of childhood overweight and obesity, we recommend the elimination of calorie containing beverages from a well-balanced diet, with the exception of low-fat or fat-free milk, because it contains calcium and vitamin D, which are particularly important for young people.”

Want to learn more, check out this link to read the full report:http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2011/05/25/peds.2011-0965

Call us to find out more: 530-878-2358

Sports Drinks - How to Dissolve Your Teeth

 This is about those wonderful fruity flavors.  In order to create the flavors in today’s beverages, those tangy and/or fruity flavors, the makers use fruit juice as their base or they add organic acids that come from organic juices.  Reading the label you will usually find citric, ascorbic, or malic acid; often several.  Also, there is commonly a fruit juice concentrate which will have high amounts of organic acids.

"Organic "systems are designed to maintain stability.  In other words, if nature establishes a fruit with a certain acid level, there is also a "buffering" system that holds that acid level constant.  This reserve system is huge so that living systems can resist significant insults from the outside world and still survive.  For example:  Comparing a glass of Coca Cola (inorganic) with apple juice (organic), the apple juice will require 8 times as much base (antacid) to upset the balance and neutralize the apple juice compared to the Coke.  It is this lasting power that makes it possible for sports drink acids to do so much damage to teeth.

The other crucial ingredient is how we use these drinks ... sipping.  Sports literature expounds the value of maintaining hydration during physical activity.  This has translated into sipping patterns to maintain hydration during sports.  Large bottles (lots of calories) are at game side for frequent gulps during game breaks.  The athlete is bathing her teeth in acid attack.  This frequently translates into a sipping style of hydration every day for many of us, especially our youth.  Athletes in sports that allow a hydration pack on their back are bathing their teeth continuously with enamel dissolving acids.

The most alarming example I witnessed was a patient of mine.  For 13 years this bright and personable boy had been a cavity free patient in my practice.  He is quiet, studious and has a real creative talent with computers.  He developed a habit of coming home from school, doing his homework and then his computer graphics and programming.  He was bathing (sipping) his teeth in organic acids (sports drinks and other beverages) all afternoon and evening several days a week.  In the short period between 2 regular cheek-ups his teeth deteriorated so severely he needed several crowns. And it was not cavities nearly so much as he just dissolved the enamel off of his teeth.

My simple rules of thumb.

Hydration - nature designed us to use water.

Electrolytes-we get plenty of them if we eat “real food.”

Calories.  We get enough in our meals so be careful about snacking.  Our bodies store plenty of glycogen to get us through long periods of exercise and exertion.

Next week:  Sports Drinks becoming energy drinks with dangerous implications.