Energy Drinks Europe: Staged approach for 3-18 years

Andreas Kadi, president of Energy Drinks Europe (EDE), said the trade group welcomed the clarity of the placing lactating women alongside non-pregnant women as opposed to pregnant women in terms of limits as well as assertions made on the interaction with other ingredients and alcohol.

It said it approved of the cautious approach toward children given their bodies were still developing.

“However, children and adolescents encompass an age range of 3 to 18 years. Considering the available knowledge and evidence about caffeine metabolism, we raise the question if a staged approach for setting a daily caffeine intake which is of no concern would be possible for older adolescents.”​

He suggested this could be split down to 3 mg/kg body weight for the age group 3–12 years, 4 mg/kg bw for 13–14 years and 5 mg/kg bw for 15–17 years – with the 5.7 mg/kg bw for over 18s still standing.

It also said that it had expressed doubts about the “methodological deficits” ​of the Zucconi intake report in the past, which for it meant that the findings for children were not representative and caffeine intake data may overestimate consumption.

EDE made reference to a number of studies which may add to the debate on impacts on the cardiovascular system and hydration status.

Like FDE, it said greater clarification of what was meant by a ‘single session’ was needed.