我能给孩子喝运动饮料或能量饮料吗?

You've probably heard a lot in the news lately about sports drinks and energy drinks. But do you know what the differences between them are? 它们对孩子安全吗? I'll help you figure out those questions on today's Scope. I'm Dr. 辛迪的假面.

什么是运动饮料?

It seems sports drinks and energy drinks are everywhere. 但往往, kids and their parents have a hard time figuring out which is which when you need one over the other, 如果你有任何一个? So sports drinks are called that because they're usually associated with people who do sports, like all those athletes in the commercials endorsing them. Sports drinks have carbohydrates, electrolytes, and minerals. They are meant to replace water and salts lost during intense exercise. They come in a variety of fun and refreshing flavors, but they also come with a lot of sugar and extra calories.

If your child is an athlete who really works up a sweat, then sports drinks might be a good idea. They are not good for kids to use as a substitute for water if they're just hanging out with friends. With sports drinks, the main drawback is too many calories in a bottle. For the average child who is not doing a lot of physical activity, 120 calories in a 20-ounce bottle is easy to drink. If you look on the label of that 20-ounce bottle, it's actually two and a half servings. Kids need a good balance of carbs, fat, and protein for growth and development. If they're not burning off those carbs with physical activity, then it's just like drinking a soda.

什么是能量饮料?

那那些功能饮料呢? 它们的成分与运动饮料相似, but they get their name from stimulants such as caffeine, 瓜拉那, 氨基乙磺酸, and other herbs that help give the drinkers more energy. While some kids think these are healthy alternatives to soda, they're really not. 美国.S. Food and Drug Administration limits the caffeine content in sodas because they are food, but there is no regulation for energy drinks because they are considered dietary supplements.

Many energy drinks have more than three times the caffeine in them than soda. Drinking energy drinks has been linked to behavior and thought process problems, 抑郁症, 物质使用, 心脏和肾脏衰竭, 癫痫发作, 甚至死亡. Neither of these beverages are good choice all the time. Actually, there's really no good time for energy drinks in kids, to be honest. 对大多数孩子来说，喝水是更好的选择. 实际上, there are studies that show a better sports drink for athletes is actually low-fat chocolate milk. 这太棒了?

_{更新日期：2024年7月16日
最初发布日期：2018年6月18日}