ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 10, 1997 TAG: 9704100010
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.
SOURCE: DAVE CURTIN KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
More and more caffeine-powered soft drinks are being marketed at kids. A scientist asks, ``What's our thinking behind that as a society?''
The neon green- and-red can screams ``Fully loaded.''
Surge, a caffeine-powered citrus soft drink geared for youth, is the latest go-go juice on the market. Made by Coca-Cola, it's cold, it's cool and it's hot.
Surge is among a growing number of caffeinated drinks - everything from Coke, Pepsi and Mountain Dew, to bottled iced coffees and teas - being marketed to and consumed by young people.
But parents and nutritionists are becoming increasingly concerned about the growing availability of caffeine products to children and teens.
``It's unusual that we have a drug product that's aggressively marketed to children,'' says Roland Griffiths, a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. ``Caffeine is a drug and it's regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. What's our thinking behind that as a society?''
Why is caffeine put in soft drinks for young people?
``It's a preference that some people have,'' says Mart Martin, a spokesman for Coca-Cola in Atlanta. ``And it's a flavor enhancer. We offer Sprite for a caffeine-free alternative.''
With 55 milligrams of caffeine, a 12-ounce Surge has about as much caffeine as a 16-20 ounce cola (depending on the brand) and about half as much caffeine as two Excedrin tablets. An 8-ounce cup of coffee has 135 milligrams of caffeine. A 7-Eleven Big Gulp cola has more than three times the caffeine of a Surge. Indeed there is nothing new about stimulants in soft drinks. Coca-Cola was promoted at the turn of the century as a combination of caffeine and cocaine until the untreated coca leaf was removed.
What's new is the way soft drinks are marketed to adolescents and teen-agers.
Historically, soft drink companies have been low key about advertising stimulants in their drinks, Griffiths says. Now they tout it. ``It's always appeared on the label by FDA requirement in very small print. Now they're shouting it out in the very name of the product,'' Griffiths says. ``Soft drink manufacturers are quite blatant as to advertising psychomotor stimulants in their products.''
Coca-Cola's Martin denies the company promotes the caffeine in Surge. He says the company's ad campaign promotes Surge's ``energy-giving carbohydrates.''
``Every ingredient in all of our products has been deemed safe,'' Martin says. ``The fact is, there's four times the caffeine in a cup of coffee. It comes back to what consumers prefer, and that's why we offer a variety of choices.''
But Griffiths says we're seeing a marketing trend.
``Coca Cola has not appealed to the pharmacology stimulant in its products in modern times. Clearly the name, Surge, suggests a stimulant,'' Griffiths argues.
Research on the impact of caffeine on children is inconclusive.
A 12-ounce cola will have the same effect on a 40-pound child as two cups of coffee will have on a 150-pound adult, according to the Agricultural Extension Service at the University of Tennessee.
A 1994 study by Dr. Gail Bernstein, director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota Medical School, showed a mixed picture.
``It showed on some tests of attention that kids did better after taking caffeine doses,'' Bernstein says. ``But it also showed some kids reported they were more jittery and nervous after taking caffeine. So it was a double-edged sword. I think we need more scientific data before I would form strong opinions about it.''
She is now analyzing data from her most recent study on whether kids suffer caffeine withdrawal, but results will not be public until the end of the year.
Should caffeinated soft drinks, like Surge, be targeted at kids?
``A resounding no,'' says Wendy Gregor, a dietitian and member of the Colorado Springs Dietetic Association. ``For every glass of pop a kid drinks, they're not drinking a glass of milk. If they continue to drink soda, they're getting more phosphates and they're not getting their calcium.''
LENGTH: Medium: 82 linesby CNB