Kids and Caffeine;
Experts Disagree on the Effects of Excessive Amounts of Caffeine on Kids

Copyright 1998 ABC News
February 16, 2000

DIANE SAWYER, co-host:

Lord Byron wrote that fame is the thirst of youth. But that was then. Writing today he might have said caffeine is the real thirst of youth. If you've noticed a frenetic quality among the young people you know, well it might have something to do with what they're drinking. As Arnold Diaz reports, it's what's in their soda and there's more of it than you think.

Unidentified Boy #1: It's awesome.

Unidentified Girl #1: It makes me jumpy.

Unidentified Girl #2: It's got the highest caffeine content. I love it.

ARNOLD DIAZ reporting:

(VO) They're talking about Mountain Dew, one of the fastest-growing soft drinks on the market.

Unidentified Boy #2: It makes me hyper whenever I drink it.

Unidentified Girl #3: When I drink this, I get very happy.

DIAZ: (VO) It's loaded with caffeine, the most popular stimulant drug in the world.

Unidentified Girl #4: Caffeine.

Unidentified Girl #5: We like caffeine.

DIAZ: (VO) Mountain Dew sponsored this ski race at Hunter Mountain, New York. Some of the kids lapping up the free samples said it's the caffeine buzz that makes it so appealing.

Unidentified Boy #3: It makes you go crazy.

Unidentified Girl #6: It's very exhilarating.

DIAZ: (VO) Mountain Dew, with its slogan, "Do the Dew," has 55 milligrams of caffeine in a 12-ounce can. That's 50% more caffeine than Pepsi, 20% more than Coke. And Mountain Dew isn't even the caffeine king of soda. That distinction belongs to Jolt, which boasts that it's got twice the caffeine of the leading soft drinks. C.J. Rapp created Jolt.

Mr. C.J. RAPP: We're in the soft drink business. Soft drinks were never intended to be health food. We're in the treat business.

DIAZ: (VO) Rapp makes no apologies for loading Jolt up with 72 milligrams of caffeine, the maximum amount allowed by the Food and Drug Administration.

Mr. RAPP: Jolt, I think, is very much in touch with today's lifestyle. I think that the occasional exhaustion kicks in and people just need something to help them get through the day.

Girl #5: We're in high school. We have a lot of stuff to do so you got to stay awake. We need to drink caffeinated drinks.

DIAZ: (VO) Four out of the five most popular sodas contain caffeine. And kids are drinking more soda than ever before. While scientists disagree over whether that poses a health risk, they do agree that it can produce dependence.

Mr. FRANK ESGROW: I don't try to stop drinking Mountain Dew because I'm hooked.

DIAZ: (VO) At the Esgrow home in Port Washington, New York, brothers Frank and Max Esgrow down Mountain Dew by the gallon.

Mr. MAX ESGROW: I can go through a two-liter, you know, fast, if I'm not thinking about it.

DIAZ: (VO) Max says he drinks at least four liters of Mountain Dew a day, sometimes more. That's as much caffeine as five cups of coffee.

Mr. M. ESGROW: On the weekend it flows like water.

DIAZ: (VO) Twelve-year-old Frank says he has to have it.

Mr. F. ESGROW: I would think about it, you know, about the negative effects. But I would probably still drink it because, like I said, I was hooked. So, it's kind of hard to stop.

DIAZ: (VO) Americans drink more than 50 gallons of soda on average a year. The top drinkers--teen-age boys, who drink an average of three sodas a day, triple the amount from just 20 years ago.

Dr. JOHN HUGHES (ph): It appears their bodies become physically dependent on the caffeine.

DIAZ: (VO) University of Vermont psychiatry professor Dr. John Hughes says, like adults, kids can become dependent on caffeine, and sometimes it only takes as little as 100 milligrams a day. That's about one cup of coffee or a couple of colas.

Dr. HUGHES: Some children, when they go a couple of days off of caffeine, have a withdrawal syndrome of headaches, drowsiness, fatigue.

DIAZ: (VO) Max Esgrow says he's been there.

Mr. M. ESGROW: I've gone, I think, three days without it at a time. And that's just hell--migraines and a bit of the shakes.

DIAZ: (VO) Representatives from the National Soft Drink Association declined to talk on camera about kids and caffeine, but recommended Dr. Herbert Muncie, head of family medicine at the University of Maryland Medical School.

DIAZ: Well, if you stop it suddenly and withdrawal symptoms occur, is that something that we'd want to happen with our children?

Dr. HERBERT MUNCIE: If you simply stop, within at least 24 hours at the longest, the withdrawal symptoms are gone. And while they're unpleasant, they're not medically harmful, and they've clearly not been shown to interfere with children's true behavior or performance in school.

DIAZ: (VO) But a 1998 University of Minnesota study found that when kids abruptly stopped taking high doses of caffeine after 24 hours, it could have detrimental effects on attention and performance, particularly at school, for up to a week.

Mr. MITCHELL SCHARE: I would want to caution caffeine usage in young children.

DIAZ: (VO) Hofstra University psychology professor Mitchell Schare says large doses of caffeine can cause children to behave as though they have hyperactive disorders.

Mr. SCHARE: The symptoms that we would typically see in children are bouts of uncontrollable energy, difficulty calming down, sitting peacefully.

Unidentified Girl #7: It's like an addiction.

DIAZ: (VO) And another concern has been raised for teen-age girls.

Unidentified Girl #8: We all drink it in high school because we're hyper and it gives us caffeine.

DIAZ: (VO) Caffeine leeches small amounts of calcium from the bones. A 1994 Harvard Medical School study found soft drink consumption increases the risk of bone fractures. But Dr. Muncie says there's no conclusive findings about any of these potential risks.

Dr. MUNCIE: From a medical perspective, there's absolutely no evidence that the caffeine is harmful to the kids, either in terms of their behavior, their activities or their health.

DIAZ: (VO) In a written statement, the National Soft Drink Association points out, "all ingredients in soft drinks are approved as safe." But surprisingly that's not the case in Canada, where it's illegal to add caffeine to non-cola sodas, a policy now under review says Health Canada's John Salmanen (ph).

Mr. JOHN SALMANEN: Certainly it is known that caffeine can cause a variety of effects--insomina, irritability, rapid heart rate.

DIAZ: That means if you buy Mountain Dew in Canada, you can only get it caffeine free. Why is caffeine added to some sodas in this country? The Soft Drink Association says it's not put there for the buzz, it's for the flavor. If that's the case, we wondered, can kids really taste the difference?

Unidentified Teacher: Each cup has a different number.

DIAZ: (VO) Four hundred plus middle schoolers took part in a nationwide taste test Consumer Reports magazine conducted for 20/20. The kids were given unmarked samples of Mountain Dew and the caffeine-free version sold in Canada or Sunkist Orange and its Canadian caffeine-free equivalent.

Teacher: If you like one over the other, answer your question.

DIAZ: (VO) The kids were asked to pick which sample tasted better, not knowing one had caffeine, the other didn't. The tests were done six times to see if they'd consistently pick the same sample. How did the kids think they did? Do you think it makes a difference in the taste to have caffeine?

Unidentified Girl #9: Yes.

DIAZ: (VO) It does? Do you think you can tell the difference?

Unidentified Girl #10: Yes, definitely.

DIAZ: (VO) They thought they could, but the results showed, on average, more than 80 percent of the kids sometimes picked the caffeine version, sometimes the caffeine free. In other words, they couldn't tell the difference. The National Soft Drink Association would not comment on our test results, but a number of researchers have questioned whether caffeine is added to soda just for flavor.

Mr. SCHARE: Clearly the beverage industry knows of caffeine. It's not simply, I would say, a flavor enhancer, but probably there's more of an issue there also of the stimulant qualities, making a person feel good.

DIAZ: (VO) The maker of Jolt says, 'What's the big deal?'

Mr. RAPP: There's much bigger issues, far more important that are confronting teen-agers and college students today, so anyone that truly takes issue with caffeine ought to lighten up a little bit.

DIAZ: (VO) But the trend to add caffeine to beverages so popular with kids worries Michael Jacobson, head of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer watchdog group.

Mr. MICHAEL JACOBSON: It's not something to be put into soda pop, consumed so widely by kids. But at the very least, list the amount of caffeine, highlight its presence.

DIAZ: (VO) Right now, if caffeine is added to a product, the label has to tell you it's there. But three years ago Jacobson and 30 other scientists petitioned the FDA to require labels to list the exact amount of caffeine.

Mr. JACOBSON: Consumers may be consuming much more caffeine than they wish or they may wish their kids were consuming.

DIAZ: (VO) The National Soft Drink Association told 20/20 additional labeling requirements are unnecessary. But Max Esgrow's mother, for one, disagrees.

Unidentified Woman: I'd be interested to know how much caffeine is in Mountain Dew as opposed to coffee.

Mr. F. ESGROW: Can you bring another two liter in here because we're out of them.

Woman: Why not help the parents out a little bit, you know?

CHARLES GIBSON, co-host:

Think about this--the Food and Drug Administration requires over-the-counter medications that contain caffeine to carry a warning against giving them to children under the age of 12. But that caution is not required on any food product, including soft drinks. You can learn more about kids and caffeine on our Web site, abcnews.com. And we'll be right back.

(Commercial Break)

GIBSON: Coming up tomorrow on "20/20 Downtown"--the changing face of Viagra. Your grandfather may take it, but he's not the only one. Young healthy men say it's spicing up their sex life.

Unidentified Man #1: You're Superman, you're a porn star, you can go all night if you want to.

GIBSON: (VO) But is it safe? Some surprises tomorrow at 10, 9 Central.

SAWYER: And coming up on "20/20 Friday," you'll want to check with your dentist about this. The water that's sprayed in your mouth seems clean, but wait till you see what could be in it.

DIAZ: That came out of a dental line?

Unidentified Man #2: That's correct.

SAWYER: What Arnold Diaz found will really make you squirm in the dentist chair. That's "20/20 Friday" at 10, 9 Central. And that's our program for tonight. Thank you for joining us. I'm Diane Sawyer. Good night to all of you and I'll put the coffee on for the morning.

GIBSON: Bright and early, we'll be there. I'm Charles Gibson. Don't forget "Nightline" after your local news. And from all of us at 20/20, good night.