Do Four-Year Olds Really Need a Kick Start?

By Linda Orlando

A new product line targeted at children is starting to generate a lot of negative buzz among health care providers and parents. The company is AdvoCare, and the product is KickStart Spark, which the company describes as a "smart energy drink" that provides "focused and long-lasting energy that’s just right for children." The problem is, the ingredients in the drink that give children a kick start include several stimulants, including the same amount of caffeine found in a cup and a half of coffee. And the company says the drink is designed for children as young as 4. A second formulation created for teenagers and adults contains twice that amount of caffeine.

According to the company’s marketing materials, KickStart Spark gives kids long-lasting energy, helps them focus, and it’s sugar-free because it’s made with the artificial sweetener sucralose. AdvoCare says that the KickStart line is "designed to complement children's diets and thereby provide them with a sound foundation for daily living and an active lifestyle." The AdvoCare website shows colorful pictures of happy elementary school kids including a tough little wrestler and a dainty little gymnast, saying that the Spark drink can help a child "develop fully as a high-performance athlete" and help fulfill the nutritional needs of children "in a sport that is physically and mentally demanding." Executives with AdvoCare International of Texas say that Spark was not developed to enhance children’s athletic performance, but instead is designed to boost their overall good health. So one has to wonder—why are the kids on the AdvoCare website dressed in full sports regalia? Sidney Stohs, the senior vide president for research and development at AdvoCare, says that Spark is "not just a caffeine delivery system; it has many more nutritional properties." In an amazing coincidence, AdvoCare is the nation’s leading company providing direct marketing of dietary supplements for athletes.

Many AdvoCare customers say the KickStart products are great, but pediatricians and youth sports experts say that giving caffeine to kids not even old enough for kindergarten is a chilling indicator of just how far our society has come in terms of pushing children to succeed at all costs—even if it means risking their health. Professional athletes are closely scrutinized for using stimulants to build muscle and boost endurance, and yet AdvoCare has no problem encouraging parents to give stimulants to small children. "That's scary," says Dr. Mary L. Gavin, a pediatrician at Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware. "The effects of caffeine have never been tested on kids. Marketing to kids is a major concern." According to Gavin, the small amount of available research on caffeine in children shows that high doses can make children more emotionally unstable, hyperactive and irritable, and less attentive in school. "Their little bodies handle it differently, and they don't need it," Gavin says. "It's a stimulant. The likelihood that a child is going to have side effects is much higher at that age." She adds, "Once you get into that attitude of performance-enhancing, it becomes win at all costs, and I can see it pushing kids to other supplements." Elisa Odabashian, a senior policy analyst with Consumers Union, voiced the thoughts many flabbergasted consumers have had upon hearing about KickStart Spark. "What are we coming to? What kind of society are we spawning here where everybody has to be artificially stimulated?"

Frank Uryasz, president of the National Center for Drug Free Sport, says that all young athletes should take steps to avoid caffeine and other stimulants, not seek them out. "I am concerned that they are gateway substances," Uryasz said. "I think it develops a mind-set especially among young athletes that they have to take something—a powder, a pill, a liquid—to improve their performance, when actually study after study shows that almost all of these products add no value to a young person's athletic performance." The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages caffeine consumption by children, because of numerous studies that demonstrate the adverse behavioral effects caffeine has on adults, including insomnia, headaches, and nervousness. In fact, federal guidelines for pharmaceutical drugs containing caffeine say they must have warnings saying, "Do not give to children under 12 years of age" and "Limit the use of caffeine-containing medications, foods or beverages while taking this product because too much caffeine may cause nervousness, irritability, sleeplessness and, occasionally, rapid heartbeat."

AdvoCare, based in suburban Dallas, does not sell its products in stores, but rather through person-to-person multilevel marketing. The company gives about $500 a year in free products to the families of children who endorse its products, one of whom is 12-year old Taylor Foster. Taylor’s mother Angela believes that Spark is safe and helpful for Taylor, who practices gymnastics for 20 hours a week. Taylor’s 7-year old sister also drinks Spark, as does her 11-year old brother, who plays soccer and runs track. The Foster children all use the teenage and adult version, with 120 milligrams of caffeine, because they say the version for younger children "tastes too much like Kool-Aid," according to their mother. In her AdvoCare endorsement, Taylor boasts, "I have more energy and I like them a lot. I would suggest that anyone try them!" Taylor’s mother believes the KickStart products are really good products and she regularly recommends them to other parents. When asked about the potentially harmful levels of caffeine, she said cheerfully, "I think you would get more caffeine in a chocolate bar." Dark chocolate, the most caffeinated type of chocolate available, has about 20 milligrams of caffeine per one-ounce bar. KickStart Spark for children ages 4 to 11 has 60 milligrams of caffeine.

According to Andrew Shao, vice president for scientific and regulatory affairs at the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a Washington trade group for the supplements industry, "Our policy is we're not aware of any safety issues with sports nutrition products in kids. However, other than, say, a multivitamin, it's really not a good idea for prepubescent kids to use sports nutrition products, especially stimulant-containing products like caffeine-containing products." Shao, who holds a Ph.D. in nutritional biochemistry, added: "Do we really need kids using performance-enhancing products? Kids should be kids."