Can children drink coffee: tips for parents

Fluid intake throughout the day plays a very important role in building a good nutrition for the child. After all, not only the well-being and mood of the kids, but also their health condition depends on the correct drinking regimen. That is why the majority of parents from the very early age often reflect on the beneficial properties of various beverages in the diet of the younger crumbs. Many people think that coffee is the most dangerous beverage, but there are many opinions on this issue.

Some parents allow their child to drink coffee from the very young age, others - absolutely do not accept to drink this drink, even schoolchildren during adolescence. However, how fair are these opposing opinions, and where is the truth in this matter? Can children really drink coffee or does it harm the baby’s body? At what age do doctors recommend a coffee drink? And how much can it be used by children?

Doctors specializing in various types of diseases and pediatricians in children conducted more than one study to determine the positive and negative effects of drinking coffee at a young age. Experienced experts were able to collect reliable information to provide answers to all questions of interest to parents about this.

What is useful coffee for children?

You don’t even have to argue about the beneficial properties of coffee for an adult organism! After all, coffee beans contain vitamin A - the so-called retinol, as well as vitamin D - calciferol. In addition, coffee is saturated with flavonoids and various minerals, including iodine, magnesium and phosphorus. Undoubtedly, all these nutrients are necessary for the growing body of the child to ensure its vital activity. And coffee, undoubtedly, helps to strengthen human immunity and helps a small body to cope with many processes during its maturation.

It is important to know that on the one hand coffee, in fact, has a beneficial effect on the health of the child:

1. A coffee drink helps to stimulate the activity of the human brain.
2. Memory improves, and the child begins to learn more of the necessary knowledge in a short period of time.
3. Coffee is invigorating, which means it helps to wake up in the morning with a strong and full of energy for school.
4. Coffee drink helps relieve fatigue.
5. Improved physical activity, endurance and reaction of the child.
6. Coffee helps to combat allergic attacks and asthma.
7. Coffee beans can protect against radiation and prevent the development of caries in the mouth.
8. Coffee contributes to the revitalization of the gastrointestinal tract, but on condition that there are no problems with the stomach.
9. Thanks to coffee the attention of the child improves.
10. From the morning cup of coffee the mood rises, and the child feels much more confident.

All these positive reviews seem to some parents quite convincing for a positive assessment of the influence of coffee on the growing body of the child. Parents quickly decide for themselves whether to give a child coffee. But there is another side to this drink - extremely negative for the body of children. How much do these two opposite opinions about the benefits and harms of coffee balance with each other?

Before pouring a cup of invigorating coffee to your child, parents should inquire about its harm to the child’s body. According to pediatricians, the various negative effects and adverse reactions from frequent use of a coffee beverage negate all the above useful qualities of coffee.

What harm is coffee for children?

Not every adult organism can safely carry such an active component of an invigorating drink as caffeine. And what about the children's developing organism in this case? Therefore, it is natural that the substance caffeine is unsafe for the children's developing organism. This information is confirmed by scientific research, therefore, can not cause any doubts about this. Accordingly, parents first need to think about the harmful properties of coffee and take into account the recommendations of doctors. If you regularly give your child coffee in the morning, then the drink can cause a destructive effect on the immature body and turn into negative health effects:

1. Natural and especially instant coffee in large quantities contribute to the removalcalcium from the body of the child, whereas thanks to this element a healthy organism develops and grows.
2. The impact of coffee on the hormonal state of health of an adult is considered to be positive, but for the child’s body the consequences are disappointing, and in the future parents may experience serious hormone disruptions during puberty of the child.
3. Coffee helps stimulate the brain, and affects those parts of the brain that are responsible for pleasure. With frequent use of this drink a person feels cheerfulness and strength. Brain centers, signaling the satisfaction of the whole body, gradually get used to the action of coffee, and people begin to consume it in large quantities. If the body does not receive the coffee dose on time, the body becomes depressed and the person feels weak in the body. At the same time, children who were allowed to drink coffee as a child may, over time, need stronger stimuli for the pleasure center of the brain. The most typical among them - smoking cigarettes, taking drugs and alcohol.
4. Caffeine actively influences the immature nerve cells of children.When a large amount of caffeine accumulates in a child’s body, strong excitability increases. The substance activates the mental activity of the child, gives a burst of energy for three to four hours after drinking a cup of coffee. Inexperienced parents may think that this effect has a beneficial effect on the condition of their child, but artificially induced arousal, in fact, is detrimental to the child’s body. After caffeine stops acting, the child will become moody for no reason, may cry a lot, feel lethargy, fatigue and absent-mindedness. The physical forces that the child should have planned to distribute throughout the day are spent in these three to four hours.
5. Caffeine can disrupt baby’s sleep. In this case, children begin to experience problems with fast falling asleep, sleep patterns are disturbed, and at night the child often gets out of bed.
6. Coffee beans also contain a substance called benzopyrene, which has dangerous properties and adversely affects the body's work. Benzopyrene is a carcinogenic substance that can lead to the occurrence of malignant tumors and other complex diseases.Many foods on the shelves of supermarkets already contain this substance. Therefore, it is doubly dangerous that this harmful component gets into the children's body also because of the use of coffee.
7. Coffee has a great diuretic effect, so the child can often go to the toilet. This contributes to the rapid removal of fluid, and along with the water out and minerals necessary for the health of the child, such as calcium.
8. Due to the fact that coffee affects the active work of the heart and increases the pressure in the children's body, over time, malfunctions in the work of the heart and blood vessels may begin. Therefore, do not abuse this drink and disrupt the cardiovascular system at an early age.

It often happens that parents do not even know about the negative side of the influence of coffee on the nervous system and the children's body as a whole. They watch how the child often becomes sluggish, then active, and rush to draw conclusions about adolescent distraction syndromes or increased activity. It is great if the parents come across an experienced doctor who follows the drinking regime of the child and explains the reason for this body reaction to coffee.However, even experts are mistaken; therefore, doctors may not determine the main reason at the time and prescribe strong medicines for the child, which his healthy organism does not need at all.

In order not to harm the health and proper development of the child’s body, parents should take into account all the advantages and disadvantages of coffee, and add it to the child’s diet with caution after 10 years in a circle in 1-2 days.

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