How old can you drink coffee for children?

If parents drink fragrant coffee for breakfast, it is quite natural that the kids have a desire to try an invigorating drink. At what age can you offer it to a child, how can such a drink affect the body of children, and when it is absolutely impossible to give it to children?

Due to the presence of caffeine and other active substances, the product notes the following effect:

1. Exciting effect on the nervous system. Due to this effect, a cup of coffee enhances activity and concentration, eliminates fatigue.
2. Excretion of fluid and some useful substances from the body. Diuretic impact affects the absorption of minerals and vitamins.
3. Increased metabolic rate.
4. Effect on the brain site responsible for breathing. Due to this effect, coffee relieves asthma.
5. Protection of the body from the harmful effects of the environment due to the high content of antioxidants.
6. Activation of the digestive tract. It speeds up the digestion process, normalizes bowel function, activates the secretion of gastric juice.
7. Reducing the risk of caries.

With moderate and reasonable use of coffee can have such a positive effect on the body:

• Intensify the work of the brain.
• Improve memory.
• Eliminate the feeling of fatigue.
• Increase attention.
• Helping to wake up faster in the morning.
• Improve physical activity.
• Reduce the harmful effects of radiation.
• Normalize digestion.
• Improve mood.

Despite its beneficial properties, coffee has the following negative effects:

1. The use of this drink helps to eliminate calcium from the body. This threatens with problems in the formation of bones and deterioration of the heart.
2. Because of the excitation of the central nervous system worsens sleep and affects the behavior of the child. The nervous system due to frequent use works unbalanced. Periods of cheerfulness alternate with times of loss of strength.
3. Affects the balance of hormones that can damage adolescent puberty.
4. There is a diuretic effect, while with the urine the child loses minerals that are important for his body.
5. Affects the work of the heart, increasing the frequency of contractions, which in children is already higher than in adults. Because of this, use at an early age can adversely affect the cardiovascular system.
6. Coffee is addictive. If you constantly drink it, and then refuse, you get depressed mood, fatigue, irritability, fatigue.

Drinking is not recommended for:

• Increased pressure.
• Peptic ulcer disease.
• Liver disease.
• Kidney disease.
• Enuresis.
• Tuberculosis.
• Vision problems.
• Insomnia.

Regular consumption of flavored drink is recommended at least from 14-16 years of age. It is possible to try coffee in a weak form a little earlier (from 10 years of age), but at the same time it should be drunk no more than 1-2 times a month.

From the age of 14-16, 1-2 cups of coffee per day are acceptable. In this case, doctors do not advise to drink it daily, because the body gets used to the active substances of this drink.In addition, it is desirable to dilute it 1: 1 with milk or cream.

• Do not give your child instant coffee, as compared with the drink from the grains, there are no useful substances (acids, vitamins) in it.
• It is best to prepare a drink from light or medium roasted beans or from ground coffee.
• It is not necessary to take heavily roasted grains for the drink that you offer to the teenager, as they have an additional bitterness.
• It is not recommended to prepare a green coffee drink for the child, since its effect on the nervous system is more pronounced.
• Serve with milk to reduce the negative effects on the stomach.
• Having offered it to the child for the first time, carefully observe the reaction of his body to a previously unfamiliar product. If the child has nausea, trembling of the extremities, severe pallor, rapid breathing, headache or other negative symptoms, contact your pediatrician immediately. Such a reaction may indicate the presence of individual intolerance or hidden diseases.
• Coffee is not the best drink for breakfast. Do not give it after dinner. The best time for an invigorating drink is morning snack.
• If a child younger than 14-16 years old is interested in coffee and constantly asks to try, offer him a drink from chicory or coffee from barley. These are harmless versions of drinks with similar tastes that lack caffeine.
• If you want to treat your child with a non-caffeine coffee, its amount should still be limited, because besides caffeine, such a drink also includes other active ingredients that should not be in excess in the children's body.

On whether to give coffee to a child, see the transfer of Dr. Komarovsky.