Coffee drinks can have both beneficial and detrimental effects on the body. The degree of benefit or harm received is largely determined by the age of the person drinking coffee. That is why many doctors set a “bar” indicating at what age children can drink coffee.
There are several recommendations to minimize the side effects of drinking caffeinated drinks in children and adolescents aged 7-14 years. They relate to the frequency of use, as well as cooking recipes.
Can children drink coffee?
There is a widespread theory that coffee drinks have a negative impact on children's health. Interestingly, this opinion is not shared in some states.
Studies conducted by Brazilian scientists found that experimental participants who drank a coffee mix with milk daily had lower levels of depression. This figure is half that of children who drink black coffee or refuse the drink.
According to research, it has become known that 75% of people 5-14 years old drink coffee drinks daily.
Australian parents regularly give their children invigorating coffee cocktails. At the same time, babies grow and develop fully. Such data were obtained by comparing their health and psycho-emotional state with their peers who never drank coffee.
In America, many schools officially allow the sale of lattes in the cafeteria. In addition, American schoolchildren consume large amounts of caffeine along with chocolate and soda.
In Scandinavia, most children try coffee cocktails for the first time before the age of 7, and when they become teenagers, they begin to drink it regularly. Despite this fact, people living in Scandinavian countries are considered to be among the healthiest and most psychologically resilient in the world.
With milk
If your baby shows an active interest in coffee, it is recommended to offer him a cocktail diluted by half with milk. This can be explained by the fact that the milk component reduces the strength of the drink, which is why the gastric mucosa will suffer less from the irritant. The same applies to the psycho-emotional system: when drinking a less strong liquid, the child’s condition will be more stable.
Before giving such a milkshake, you need to make sure that you are not allergic to protein.
If your baby feels unwell after drinking coffee, he should be shown to a specialist.
Is it possible to drink coffee at night?
Coffee is an invigorating drink, which in most cases is consumed to wake up quickly in the morning. But many people eat this drink throughout the day. In this regard, the question arises: is it possible to drink coffee at night?
To answer this question, it is recommended to remember the effect that caffeine has on a person, or more precisely on his nervous system:
- Excitation;
- Activation of brain function;
- Active waking up;
- Energy charge;
- Eliminate drowsiness.
All of the above characteristics of caffeine are useful for a person in the first half of the day. But in the evening, and especially at night, drinking caffeine can cause difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep.
Scientists (neurologists, cardiologists and therapists) strongly advise against drinking coffee before bed. This can lead to the following consequences:
- Nervous overexcitation;
- Insomnia;
- Decreased quality of sleep (frequent waking up during the night, difficulty falling asleep, etc.);
- Broken state after waking up, because the sleep was bad (superficial).
If you still want to drink this drink late in the evening, then you need to do it 4 hours before bedtime and add milk or cream to it.
At what age can you drink coffee?
Most Russian pediatricians do not advise preschoolers and schoolchildren under 12-14 years of age to drink coffee drinks. If parents really want to please their child with new taste sensations, giving a coffee cocktail is allowed at 10-12 years of age. At the same time, the volume of the drink should not be too large: you should not offer your baby more than 1 cup per day. If a younger child is interested in coffee, he can be given a cocktail of the main ingredient and a similar volume of milk.
At what age can you regularly give your child coffee with milk? The cocktail, half diluted with the milk component, can be offered to children from 10 years of age. It is optimal if you add a spoonful of granulated sugar to this drink.
Is it possible to drink coffee during pregnancy?
Pregnancy is a certain period in a woman’s life that requires adjustments in her life and the abandonment of certain habits. Many coffee lovers, having learned about pregnancy, are puzzled whether they can continue drinking this drink.
Many obstetricians and gynecologists from various countries advise completely giving up or sharply reducing (to 1 cup per day) the use of this invigorating drink. And the reason for this is caffeine, it has a bad effect on pregnancy and the development of the baby. It is recommended to keep in mind that caffeine is found not only in coffee, but also in tea and chocolate.
If a pregnant woman drinks 3 or more cups a day, then there is a high risk of developing subsequent complications:
- Miscarriage in early pregnancy:
- Impaired fetal development in the first trimester of pregnancy (detection of congenital defects and developmental pathologies);
- Early birth;
- Birth of a baby with underweight.
If the lady is not sick and there are no pregnancy complications, then the doctor may allow you to drink 1 cup of coffee in the first half of the day, more than once a day. But in order to know exactly the amount and frequency of consumption of this drink, it is recommended to consult a gynecologist who is managing the pregnancy.
Quantity
According to doctors, babies can drink weak coffee, but with some reservations:
- For the first time, children should be offered a coffee drink from 1 mug over a period of 30 days. Gradually the volume can be increased to 1 weekly serving.
- If a 7-year-old child wants to drink a coffee shake, he should dilute the strong liquid with the same amount of milk. At this age, you should not consume more than 1 serving per month.
- At the age of 10 years, a coffee mix mixed with a milk component can be drunk three or four times a month.
- Teenagers 12-14 years old are allowed to drink the cocktail twice a week. But such a drink should not contain large doses of caffeine.
It is necessary to completely abandon the aromatic mix if the baby is diagnosed with pathologies of the liver, cardiovascular system, kidneys, if he suffers from tuberculosis, insomnia, stomach ulcers, high blood pressure, or blurred vision.
Also, due to the active diuretic effect, such cocktails should not be drunk if you have enuresis.
At what age can a child drink coffee?
Coffee is one of the most favorite drinks, consumed on average 3-4 cups per day. Coffee, however, contains high amounts of caffeine, and excessive consumption can be harmful to your health. This applies to adults and even more so for children. At what age can children drink coffee?
Coffee is a drink that contains caffeine. Caffeine is a substance that, taken in low doses, can provide benefits to the body.
First of all, caffeine stimulates the nervous system, activates the heart and cardiovascular system, increases alertness of reflexes, muscle energy and the ability to concentrate.
Contraindications
Age restrictions are based on the established harm of coffee for children. The main negative feature of this drink is that it greatly excites the child’s nervous system. Because of this, aggressiveness and irritability increase. If you constantly drink coffee drinks, the child’s body begins to suffer from sleep disorders, and heart pathologies may appear.
Also, caffeine cocktails contribute to the removal of calcium from the body, which is why vitamin and mineral complexes begin to be absorbed worse, the skeletal system weakens, intracranial and blood pressure increases, and memory deteriorates.
The drink can also cause addiction. The fact is that it activates the brain lobes responsible for receiving pleasure. Constant consumption of cocktails helps to obtain positive emotions and a surge of strength. This effect on the body makes you want to drink another portion of the invigorating drink.
Harm of coffee for children
The harm of the drink for children is obvious. Caffeine is a weak but effective diuretic that promotes the intensive release of calcium ions from the body, and during the most active period of growth in a person’s life, which is why children should not be given caffeine-containing products.
The natural acidity of Arabica has a rather aggressive effect on the young, not fully formed epithelium of the stomach. Coffee has a significant impact on hormonal imbalances.
It is believed that excessive consumption of caffeine-containing drinks sometimes arouses aggression in a teenager and can provoke destructive instincts. At this age, we can talk about addiction - the emotional background of a teenager is too unstable. Therefore, it is better to minimize the consumption of the drink or eliminate it completely.
Insomnia or any overly excitable state is a clear reason to stop taking the drink, regardless of the strength of your habits. In addition to coffee itself, you should absolutely avoid consuming energy drinks.
Carbonated drinks with coffee and caffeine actually have the same effect, only enhanced due to oversweetening and a lot of “junk” substances.
Classic coffee is harmful due to lack of concentration.
Consequences
If coffee is given to children regularly, they may suffer from side effects. Among them are:
- increased breathing;
- the appearance of headaches;
- the appearance of vomiting;
- increase in limb tremor;
- increase in body temperature;
- pressure surges.
The body’s side response may be different for each person, so treating children with such a drink should be done under personal supervision.
Toxicity of the drink for the baby
The body of a baby differs from an adult not only in physiology. The main difference is that it has not yet matured and continues to develop according to its own special scenario. So at what age can you drink coffee so as not to interfere with this development? First you need to find out the benefits and toxicity of this drink.
The following characteristics of a drink made from natural ground grains have been well studied:
- stimulation of the nervous system;
- increasing the speed of metabolic processes;
- acceleration of thought processes;
- increasing the degree of concentration;
- stimulation of the excretory system (diuretic effect);
- acceleration of heart function;
- increase in blood pressure, etc.
A healthy person feels a surge of strength and vigor from a cup of drink, he is able to concentrate on work, concentrate, and banish sleep and lethargy. What can happen to a child, especially preschool and primary school age? Coffee is a catalyst for many internal processes, and in a baby their course is even better than in an adult. Therefore, an increase in the functioning of the nervous system, increased motor activity and performance can give bad consequences, which are expressed in the following:
- overexcitation of the nervous system, which can provoke hyperactivity, difficulty sleeping, anger, and reduce stress resistance;
- removal of necessary substances from the body due to the diuretic effect. Loss of calcium is especially dangerous;
- addiction, which in the future can lead to excessive consumption of coffee, and this is harmful to health;
- stimulation of the heart, which can cause increased heart rate and chest pain.
This is why children should not drink coffee. But babies are also different. There are phlegmatic people, there are choleric people, there are those who have suffered from dystonia and low blood pressure since early adolescence. In this case, it is not prohibited to give coffee to children. Such a child will be more active, better able to cope with lethargy and lethargy, and will stimulate the functioning of the cardiovascular system. His mood will lift. But often children should not be given coffee.
What's the best way to make coffee for kids?
Coffee for children should be prepared only from natural beans. Their soluble analogue is not suitable for these purposes. The natural product should be light or medium roasted. Also, babies are not advised to drink decaffeinated coffee, as it has a negative effect on cardiac activity and the condition of blood vessels due to the presence of a large number of carcinogens.
Green coffee should not be offered to young children and adolescents, as it is a semi-finished product that reduces appetite. Such drinks can provoke the active development of an allergic reaction.
