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Performance-Enhancing Soft Drinks… For Four-Year-Olds

Jill

No, it’s not a joke. The latest sports drink, Spark, is being marketed to kids between the ages of 4 and 11, and contains as much caffeine as in a cup of coffee — purportedly to encourange athletic performance (another version of the drink contains twice as much caffeine and is being marketed to teenagers and adults).

Not only is caffeine probably not the best thing to be giving young children, but putting it in a sports drink implies that (a) improved athletic ability is more important than physical health, and (b) in order to perform at your peak, you have to take an enhancement drug. That’s a dangerous mindset to project onto children.

In an advertisement on its Web site for youth products, AdvoCare described an elementary school wrestler as a “high-performance athlete” and quoted him as saying: “I feel the products are helping me grow stronger, and my focus when I’m wrestling is better. I take them before and after games and practices, even if I’m just playing football for fun with my friends.”

It also seems to be putting a lot of unnecessary pressure on elementary school kids to refer to them as high-performance athletes.

Angela B. Foster, whose 12-year-old daughter, Taylor, is featured in another endorsement for AdvoCare products, said in a telephone interview that Spark was safe and helpful for not only Taylor, who practices 20 hours a week and is hoping for a college scholarship in gymnastics, but also for her 11-year-old brother, who plays soccer and runs track, and her 7-year-old sister. “We use Spark for all of them,” Foster said.

The Foster children use the teenage and adult version, with 120 milligrams of caffeine, even though it is labeled as not for use by children. “They don’t use the kids’ stuff,” Foster said. “They said it tastes too much like Kool-Aid.”

In her endorsement for AdvoCare’s children’s products, Taylor said: “I have more energy and I like them a lot. I would suggest that anyone try them!”

Nothing like sacrificing your kids’ physical health for sports — kind of the opposite of the whole point of being an athlete, isn’t it?

19 thoughts on Performance-Enhancing Soft Drinks… For Four-Year-Olds

  1. This product is just a flat out lie. The effect of caffeine is to inhibit the brain from entering the sleep state; I’ve been an athlete, maybe a high-performance one under sufficiently weak definitions of ‘high-performance,’ and it seems that if you’re turning to caffeine, you’re already out of it.

  2. One only hopes that at least schools will be smart enough NOT to stock their schools’ vending machines with this crap. Can you imagine teaching 30 high-on-caffeine fifth-graders? *shudder*

  5. Why not skip the caffein and go straight for steroids? I’m sure they’re much more effective.

    (Having said that, isn’t there a fair amount of caffein in Coke? The idea is appalling, but I’m not sure it’s any worse for kids than Mountain Dew.)

  6. Caffeine in sports drinks isn’t a non-sequitur: caffeine has been shown to give athletes a little extra energy. (Exactly what it helps with, like sprinting vs. endurance, is still being worked out).

    There’s some more information here:
    http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/caffeine.html

    I’ve seen caffeine in a few sports drinks/foods, especially energy gels, which are like a powerbar in goo form. These are used mostly by endurance athletes, like somebody racing or training for a marathon, a long bike ride, etc. You slurp them out of a packet or bottle as you run. The idea is to keep your energy up by giving yourself lots of easily-accessible calories. So, I’ve noticed that almost every manufacturer of these gels has a line of caffeine-containing flavors. I don’t know how much the caffeine helps (I suspect it does help a bit) but people definitely buy it. Personally, the last thing I want to be ingesting on a long bike ride is a diuretic!

    Anyhow, two cans of soda == 1 can of over-caffeinated energy drink. Not quite enough to go around revoking parenting licenses. What really icks me out is, as Jill said, painting little kids playing school sports as high-performance athletes that have to buy and consume large quantities of caffeinated corn syrup. Sure they need energy! They can get it by eating actual food!

    (what is drinking a caffeinated sports drink *after* games supposed to do? Get you all revved up to go home and take a shower??)

  7. Just another form of KiddieCrack(tm)… After all, why just leave it at instilling brand loyalty at an early age when you can get ’em hooked on a powerful and highly addictive alkaloid stimulant while you’re at it?

    People really don’t appreciate just how powerful a drug caffiene is. I’ve abused both cocaine and amphetamines in the past, and I now regard caffiene as being in the same class (not as strong perhaps, but probably more addictive). Two espressos gets me high as a kite.

  8. Without the GU, I never would have made it through my marathon. The problem for me was that I could not eat or drink my regular food/coffee on heavy training run days, and would get the caffeine headaches, which seriously cuts into your energy on a 16 miles run. The bonus for me was that as a heavy caffeine addict I got an extra benefit from my carb boost. They make some natural honey ones without, but they are gross. Actually, they are all gross.

  9. What a sad trend. Next thing you know, they’ll be trying to market and sell cigarettes and alcohol to kids so that they can get accustomed to them before they’re adults. Oh wait. They already do that!

  10. First of all I am disappointed that I have lowered myself to responding to this subject on a website that shows a picture of a 3 year old little girl holding a sawed off shotgun in her hand. I am simply amazed at the show of ignorance on this website. I’m not saying that any of you are bad people; I don’t feel that way at all. I do however feel that you have been misinformed and have responded with ignorance. Not knowing the facts of what you are gossiping about can have a very bad outcome if all you bash a product that is changing lives in the most positive ways.

    Spark? This is the product that you are all in an uproar about, right? Let me ask you all a couple of questions.

    Have you ever heard of Advocare?
    Do you have any idea what the company is about?
    Have you ever seen for yourself what the ingredients of Spark are?
    Have you tried it for yourself?

    I personally was very skeptical when I first heard of this 5 years ago. I was skeptical because I knew nothing about nutrition or health. I was one of these people that drank a Dr. Pepper with every meal and did mind if my kids did either. So I was ignorant to the facts. It was very easy for me to point fingers and ask how crazy these people must be to give kids nutritionally sound products to help them perform better. Instead of feeding our kids junk fast food and sodas. How crazy these people must be right?

    Well I tried Spark and many other products that Advocare offers and I can honestly say that this company, their beliefs in good nutrition and family values, eating healthy, exercising and combining nutritional products to live a longer and happy life has changed my life and views on health forever. I lost 20 pounds in 30 days and have maintained that weight now for 5 years. My five year old daughter has been using these products since she was in the womb. My wife was taking Advocare’s products that are doctor recommended and safe for women who are pregnant. She did not take products that contain stimulants or caffeine while she was pregnant. But her doctor did recommend she use these products from Advocare while she is pregnant. Since my daughter was born she has used several of Advocare’s products including Spark. My daughter has NEVER been to the doctor for anything other than a check up. She has never missed school for being sick, she has not had a cold or even a fever even though she does go to daycare which we all know is a breeding ground for illness. She is top in her class and at five years old can speak two languages, tell time, read and write and many other things that I would say puts her in an elite class.

    So you are all asking about this child who is a wrestler and at four years old is considered to be an elite athlete. I can tell you that Advocare’s products did not make this child an elite athlete nor does Advocare endorse that their products make you something you are not. That comes from parenting and personal growth. I can however attest that Advocare’s products do work, they are safe and I will never stop using these products. I have not had a cold or been ill since the day I put these products in my body. So yes, I believe in them and will endorse them forever.

    By the way I’m not sure if you know this or not, I’m sure you don’t since everything that you are gossiping about is he said, she said information but Spark is the only Mental focus, energy drink on the market that is sugar free, has vitamins, and does not give your body that fading feeling that all other energy drinks do when they wear off.

  12. …seriously. I was just about to ask the same thing.

    and p.s., Michael, it’s not a very good idea to insult the blog that you’re commenting on, and then trying to sell us stuff. It makes us think you’re an asshole, and then we delete your comments. Also, basing a post off of a New York Times article is a small step above “gossiping.”

  13. No, Advocare does not and has never paid for an endorsement. It’s just something that I’m passionate about. I’m sure you can relate to being passionate about something. But when something hits the news that could affect something that I’m so passionate about I want to make sure that people have the facts. Just like when the FDA banned ephedra. This was a product that was helping over weight people by the thousands lose weight and live a happier life. But because some stupid baseball player with a heart condition over dosed on a product that had warnings on the label that if you misuse it you could die, they decided it was unsafe. Well the fact it that the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture weight loss med’s were losing too much revenue because people were realizing that nutritional products are safer and more effective than OTC medicines. So the FDA put a stop to it. 120 people over a 20 year time frame died from the use of ephedra, all who had current heart problems. So that’s why the FDA says they banned it. Well why have they not banned cigarettes yet? We’ll never know. Money!!!

    I will say that I am proud to say that I do use Advocare’s products but I’m also proud that in the 12 years the company has been around they have never had a medical claim against them nor has anyone ever been hurt by their products. That is something that no other nutrition company can say for themselves.

  15. No, Advocare does not and has never paid for an endorsement. It’s just something that I’m passionate about.

    Hmmm. Do you have any relationship to Advocare at all? Like, do you own it or work for it or was it founded by your son? I’m having a hard time believing you’re just an extremely enthusiastic energy-drink consumer.

  16. Did anyone else go to Advocare’s website and check out their child endorsers. Because there’s no joke about Tuff Hardman that’s appropriate to make, since the kid looks to be about 8. But Tuff Hardman has to be the worst. name. ever.

  17. Eek. I’m triple-posting! Sorry. But Advocare’s website is revealng. It encourages you to become a “member” and then to earn money by selling Advocare products to your friends. There’s a slightly cultish vibe about it.

    You know what’s sad? “Spark” claims to help kids focus. I bet that’s true for some kids: a lot of people with untreated ADD self-medicate with caffein. That’s what I did as a teenager. It didn’t work very well, but it was better than nothing. And coffee is a lot less stigmitized than ritalin.

  18. I would like to second what Michael has said. I find it very disappointing that I have to lower myself. I have been giving my young daughter a health product containing the organically produced energy compound known as (S)-N-methyl-1-phenylpropan-2-amine since she was in the womb as well.* Just a cup of apple cider vinegar each day, a plate of long grain brown rice, a diet free from refined sugar and white flour, and a heaping teaspoon of (S)-N-methyl-1-phenylpropan-2-amine. She is energetic, and her dental bills have dropped considerably.

    As a gesture of friendship toward Michael, I have taken all I know about the pharmaceutical industry, diluted it homeopathically, and sprinkled it on this blog comment. Feel free to print it out, chew it up, and swallow it. I guarantee you it will be every bit at efficaeous in preventing colds as is your favorite nutritional supplement.

    *It was not her mother’s womb. She had been hiding for several days. She is still grounded.

  19. Huh. I can’t figure out why my links aren’t working lately. That’s the wrong website. Instead, go to “advocare.come” and then click on “become a member.”

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