How old should you be before you drink coffee?

[flynnaus]

This from Dr. Karl on Can We Help (ABC) On Fri night:

How old should you be before you drink coffee? … asks Jacques, QLD

I would say when your brain is fully cooked, when you’re in your early twenties. Now the half life of coffee, say the time for 100mgs to turn into 50mgs after being taken out by various processes in the body, ranges from 3 hours to 100 hours. 3 hours in a thin male who smokes cigarettes and up to one hundred hours in an unborn baby floating around in the mother’s uterus. When a human hits puberty suddenly they need to have more sleep and so from puberty to early twenties you need 10 hours sleep not 8. And the trouble with caffeine it makes you anxious when you’re a teenager. So in general don’t have full strength coffee until you’re in your early 20’s but people have them when they’re 13. It’s a remarkably safe drug.

[Dimal]

Re: How old should you be before you drink coffee?

Geez...

I was probably around 7 or 8 y.o. when I had my first "real" coffee and was hooked right then and there. Dont know what Dr. Karl would make of that :-?

Mal.

[Coffee2Di4]

Re: How old should you be before you drink coffee?

My husband makes our seven year old daughter very week teas and has done so since she was five years old or so. However, the rule in our household is...

No coke or coffee until the children turn at least 13 years of age, at the very least - much older, if I can help it. All Id need is their already high levels of activity and energy to be ramped up further again!!!

And, besides...Im too selfish to share!

I didnt start drinking coffee or tea until I was about 15 or 16 of age or so I dont think, and it was only instant anyway. I dont know how I would have reacted at that age to real coffee but, lets face it, there was no chance of it happening anyway and the far north of Western Australia! I wouldnt be surprised if I went back to Port Hedland and they didnt even know what an expresso machine was in this day and age - unless it was amber coloured and had a picture of a black bird of some variety on the can, it wasnt worth drinking, apparently!

[GrindOnDemand]

Re: How old should you be before you drink coffee?

... It’s a remarkably safe drug...

Now thats a ripper of an oxymoron Dr K ... :

Thankyou Dr Flynn, for impecabble up-to-date research findings. ;D

So ... whats a safe drug?

"How old should you be before you..."

... ingest/inject any drug?

Everything is safe, so the experts tell me ... in moderation.

http://www.meyou.info/d/129-1/can+of+worms.gif

:

[flynnaus]

Re: How old should you be before you drink coffee?

Sarcasm aside Tony, Im a little sceptical of this and Dr. K doesnt always get it right.

Consider that Coke and tea also contain small amounts of caffeine, then there is all those guarana-based so-called energy drinks which contain as much caffeine as coffee (or more)

I guess safe drug is a relative term not to be distinguished from safe quantity. Given tea is a drug how much would you need to consume before ill-effects are experienced. Also, some people can handle drugs better than others.

Then again, we only have Mals word that he is the full quid after starting at an early age. His wife or son could be ghost-posting for him ;D

[GrindOnDemand]

Re: How old should you be before you drink coffee?

... then again, we only have Mals word that he is the full quid after starting at an early age. His wife or son could be ghost-posting for him   ;D

... and Errols cloudy lineage? ;D

[Bill]

Re: How old should you be before you drink coffee?

But Dr. Karl never said in that post that coffee does any damage to the growing brain. All he said was that teenagers need more sleep, and caffine affects their ability to sleep. Easy solution then - drink coffee in the morning instead of at night time. If its not affecting your ability to sleep, then whats the problem? Personally I can drink coffee just before I go to bed and still sleep soundly - it doesnt really affect me - I mustve built up a tolerance to it by now.  

[22a]

Re: How old should you be before you drink coffee?

My partner was at a cafe last week which had a sign on the wall:

"All unattended children will be given espresso"

[Sarg]

Re: How old should you be before you drink coffee?

Dr K doent profess to know all but im sure he knows enough.

Caffine is a drug that is addictive (but oh so tasty) and can cause many undesirable symptoms when witheld from a person who is addicted. Why would any child need that? I had my first coffe in my early 20s and wouldnt have wanted it any earlier. Caffine affects people in different ways which is another thing to concider. My wife cant sleep and gets very edgy with normal coffee so its decafe tea and coffe for her. I on the other hand can have one at lunch and fall asleep with my boy when I put him down.

Dr Karl is on JJJ every thursday at 11 doing talk back for an hour why dont you ring him and ask.

[fishinglizard1972]

Re: How old should you be before you drink coffee?

Compared to everything else thats in kids food caffiene is probally better given its natural. My son only goes balistic with flavour enhancer 631 or 635, its quite amazing to watch the change in him if he eats something with it in it. Fanta no probs ,Swhepps lemonade goes off the charts. caffiene too scared to try it, although he did like the decaf I made him. Me personally I didnt have a black asprin till the salty sea dogs told me it was the only way to go to sea in moring after a big night.

[Dimal]

Re: How old should you be before you drink coffee?

Then again, we only have Mals word that he is the full quid after starting at an early age. His wife or son could be ghost-posting for him ;D

LOL.... ;D

Typing from the ether at the moment :..... My Mums parents are/were Dutch (since passed) and both came from a culture where drinking great coffee was considered the norm. At my introduction to the beverage, I wasnt permitted a full cup, rather a demitasse filled about halfway and topped up with milk. Whether the caffeine had any affect, I dont know but I sure got the taste for decent coffee and it has remained ever since,

Mal (via my writer)