Energy drinks are everywhere teens are: checkout counters, gas stations, vending machines and social media feeds. Teens and young adults are the single largest group reaching for these drinks. Yet the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children and adolescents drink none at all.
Despite that guidance, an estimated 30% to 50% of adolescents consume energy drinks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Pilar Bradshaw, M.D., F.A.A.P., of Eugene Pediatric Associates explains why a drink marketed for focus and energy can be far riskier for a growing body than the label suggests.
“The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that teens drink zero energy drinks, because the caffeine and the metabolites present in a lot of these drinks are not regulated the same way sodas are, and they can have very significant medical effects,” she says. “The dose of energy molecules is variable, not regulated in any way and very difficult to know before you drink it.”
Healthy Kids: Energy drinks pose dangers to kids and teen (KMTR)
Why energy drinks aren’t just strong soda
Unlike sodas, energy drinks are not regulated for caffeine content. Depending on how a product is marketed, it can be sold as a food or as a dietary supplement, which changes what the manufacturer has to disclose on the label, according to Barnstable County public health officials.
A single can may hold anywhere from 50 to 500 milligrams of caffeine, while a typical cola has about 35 milligrams. For comparison, the guidance cited by Johns Hopkins Medicine is that teens ages 12 to 18 get no more than 100 milligrams of caffeine a day, roughly one small cup of coffee, and to avoid energy drinks entirely.
The hidden heart risk
The danger Dr. Bradshaw worries about most is one families cannot see coming. Children with an undiagnosed heart condition are especially at risk.
“A lot of the time, children with heart conditions don’t know they have a cardiac condition until there’s a problem,” she says. “Energy drinks can trigger those problems to present themselves, sometimes in a dangerous and dramatic fashion.”
“Energy drinks can trigger a child’s heart to have an arrhythmia, to beat very quickly, to have high, high blood pressure,” she says. “These are things that are difficult to tell from looking at your child from the outside.”
Research backs the concern. A 2025 systematic review cited by county health educators linked energy drink consumption to a faster heart rate, elevated blood pressure and arrhythmias, and in some cases more serious cardiac events, particularly in people with an undiagnosed heart condition.
The toll on sleep and mental health
“In this day and age, where we’re becoming really aware of mental health in young people, we have to remember that energy drinks can have a powerful negative effect on sleep,” Dr. Bradshaw says. “They can make anxiety and depression a lot worse.”
That tracks with what pediatric specialists report. Because of their developing brains and smaller body sizes, children and teens are more sensitive to caffeine than adults, and regular use is tied to trouble sleeping along with higher levels of aggression, anxiety and depression.
A pattern that can outlast the drink
“We know bad habits are something you can build as a child,” Dr. Bradshaw says. “If a kid gets used to using energy drinks on a regular basis, that’s a very strong predictor of future use of alcohol and other substances.”
The variability that makes these drinks hard to dose also makes them easy to overdo. A teen who mixes brands over the course of a day can climb toward a caffeine load their body is not built to handle.
“Some kids will drink multiple types of energy-containing beverages in a day, and they can build up to toxic levels in their bloodstream quite quickly,” she says.
When a teen drinks energy drinks regularly, Dr. Bradshaw wants families to ask a harder question: “Why do they need that? Why are we so tired?” she says. “That’s not normal.”
Steps for parents
You do not have to turn a beverage into a standoff. A few small adjustments can shift your teen’s awareness and open the door to a better conversation:
- Read the can together: Show your teen where the caffeine content is listed and point out that one energy drink can exceed a full day’s safe limit for their age.
- Stock healthy alternatives: Keep water, milk and 100% juice within easy reach, and treat energy drinks as off the list rather than a sometimes treat.
- Ask what the drink is doing for them: If your teen leans on a can to get through the day, take a closer look at their sleep habits, stress level and schedule.
- Loop in your pediatrician: A regular checkup is the right place to sort out whether ongoing fatigue has a cause worth treating.
Dr. Bradshaw says that last step matters more than parents may realize.
“It’s helpful to talk to your child’s doctor if you notice they’ve become reliant on energy drinks to get through the day, because it might be covering up an underlying problem: not getting enough sleep, a mental health issue, or a thyroid or other condition that needs to be diagnosed,” she says. “Caffeine’s really not going to fix that.”
This segment is sponsored by Eugene Pediatric Associates.
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