So the government have announced plans to ban the sale of energy drinks to anyone under the age of 18. I personally think they are correct to do so as the following drinks (which are between 440ml and 500ml) contain:
Monster Energy The Doctor - 160mg (of caffeine), 52g (of sugar)
Monster - 140mg, 48g
Red Bull - 151mg, 52g
Relentless 160mg, 24g
As comparison a cup of black tea is 50mg (220ml), an expresso is 80mg and a Coca Cola is 32mg. Cannot believe some kids are pounding drinks which are the equivalent of 5 cans of coke before they even start school!
I am not all for this nanny state, I think adults should be able to buy what they choose (although lets not open the pandora box of what strain they will put on the NHS by inhaling 8 cans of this a day) but I think we need to protect young kids from getting their hands on this stuff which might not affect them now but could slide into a very unhealthy habit in the future. I personally couldnt imagine allowing my son to drink this rubbish at 14/15 years old and younger, although I appreciate its harder to police once they turn 17/18.
Surely these drinks are energy drinks and what need does a child have for those? We are talking about 9am - 3pm at school and then coming home to veg, even if some have a part time job like I did, it still doesn't warrant the need to consume this! It makes me wonder what these kids will do when they reach working age and have to do 9-6 job (possibly commute etc).
My DH is a manager in retail and has worked 2 under 21s in just the past 3 years which have had extremely poor health due to energy drinks. One girl said she drank the cheap tesco version of red bull every day (which was about 28p a can) excessively and has been diagnosed with a heart so weak that it meant she eventually had to give up her job as her health was so poor. She got a heart murmer which the Doctors have said was 100% down to the abuse of energy drinks (they ruled out it being there in the background or inherited etc...). Another boy was just 18 and he had a similar diagnosis. Both were extremely addicted and felt like they could not function without these drinks so I realise these are extreme examples!
What does everyone else think? Its similar to sugar tax but I think this is a way more effective move by banning it from the vunerable instead of expecting every consumer to take a hit in the pocket.