"I know it's a drug, but I think it's a fairly innocuous drug." "With teens these days, there are so many issues, and that's not one of them," says Ms. But her high-school-age daughter now often starts her day with a cup of coffee. Nancy Heermans, a Washington lawyer with three kids, says her elementary-school-age daughter doesn't drink caffeine - maybe one or two sodas a week. By the time their children are teens, parents often find it difficult to keep them away from soft drinks and coffee. Celente of the Trends Journal thinks these new products may well go the way of Clear Pepsi.īut the fact that many kids want the stimulant effect of caffeine is unmistakable. Soft-drink industry analysts say caffeinated waters - and a sister beverage, caffeinated orange juice, for people who want a boost in the morning but don't like coffee or tea - are too new on the market to assess their viability. He finds a beverage like Sunkist orange soda, which has contains caffeine but has an image as a kids' drink, more insidious. All that we could get away with," the page shouts from a loud purple background with psychedelic illustrations.Īt least consumers know what they're getting, Barker says in defense of his product. "Krank20 is WATER with CAFFEINE, LOTS of caffeine. Barker says the target market is 15-to-50-year-olds - young people into extreme sports, students, truck drivers, Wall Street traders - but the company Web site is clearly aimed at the younger end of the crowd. His company - whose motto is "Ingestible Fluids to Enhance Yer Hyperactive Lifestyle" - sells Krank20, one of the new caffeinated waters on the market. Rather, he's hoping to tap into the market of people looking for a legal rush.
in Springfield, Mass., doesn't sound too worried about caffeine dependency.
Terry Barker, marketing director of Interstellar Beverage Co. "There's at least one preliminary report on children getting physically dependent on caffeine, and that very shortly will become apparent in other studies." "We know that adults get physically dependent on caffeine," says Roland Griffiths, an expert on caffeine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. It is no longer believed that caffeine stunts growth, but some researchers are still concerned about how this mood-altering drug affects children. Indeed, representatives of major soft-drink companies are always sure to point out that caffeine is added because it's a flavor, not because it's a stimulant. Some scientists who study caffeine even draw parallels to the use of nicotine in cigarettes, which the tobacco industry long argued was added as a flavor enhancer and not for its drug-like effects. Nutritionists also warn that little is known about the stimulant's long-term effects on children, and urge parents to exercise caution. "Every young kid likes to be like an older person, and now that it's harder for them to move into alcohol, kids are going to soda and other caffeinated beverages."Ĭaffeine has no nutritional value and can make a person jittery and dull the appetite. "Caffeine is the drug of choice for kids in the '90s," says Gerald Celente, editor of the Trends Journal. And then there are the gourmet coffee bars, where the sweet, frosty frappes, in particular, appeal to younger palates. In suburban Boston, a disgruntled mother speaks of her elementary school-aged son who stayed up all night drinking Pepsi with his pals at a slumber party. Though there are no statistics for recent years showing an increase in caffeine consumption among kids, anecdotal evidence suggests it could be on the horizon.īefore sporting events, parents report, adolescents will down a Mountain Dew or a Jolt for the rush. Old standbys like Coca-Cola and Pepsi - and their higher-caffeine cousins Mountain Dew and Jolt - have been joined by new high-caffeine drinks with names like Surge, a citrus soda, and Water Joe, a caffeinated-water product.Ĭaffeine is in, and young people are a big marketing target. Then check out the beverage aisle at the grocery store. Drop by a Starbucks coffee shop any day after school, and you're likely to find a gaggle of teens, sipping frothy lattes and soaking up the ambience.
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