A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that nearly two-thirds of American children aged 2-19 have caffeine in their diet.
On any given day, kids consume an average of 19.4 milligrams of caffeine, which is about two-thirds of what’s in a can of Coke, according to the report released Thursday.
CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Céline Gounder said on “CBS Mornings” that health experts don’t know how much caffeine is considered to be too much for children. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children shouldn’t consume any caffeine.
Researchers also found that sodas aren’t the only way caffeine is getting into kids’ diets.
For kids aged 2-11, goodies like brownies, cookies and pastries — called “sweet bakery products” in the report — were the top source of caffeine.
“It’s the chocolate that has the caffeine,” Gounder said.
The baked goods were followed by flavored milk, candy, soda and tea, respectively, for that age group. For those aged 12-19, soda was the top source, followed closely by sweet bakery products and then tea, coffee and candy.
Gounder noted that caffeine can affect how some children sleep.
According to a 2021 study in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, 3% of kids aged 13-15 who consumed a low amount of caffeine got less than six hours of sleep a night. That increased to 24% for those in that age group who had a high amount of caffeine.
“Some of this also depends on timing, if they’re having the caffeine in the evening,” Gounder said. “So it’s not just you don’t want to have coffee in the evening. If you’re a kid, you may not want to have that cake and cookies in the evening either.”