Parent Pushes Energy Drink Ban
Prince George, B.C. – Even though energy and sports drinks aren’t available at Prince George elementary schools, one parent says that doesn’t go far enough.
Prince George District Parent Advisory Council member Dennis Fudge would like to see the drinks banned from all schools period.
“Unfortunately there are a handful of parents that give this to kids to take to school and to drink as a snack.”
For example, Gatorade.
“It’s popular and for some reason parents think that to give kids Gatorade, that’s going to give them a boost of energy and help them to stay awake in class,” he says. “But Gatorade is designed for athletes who do strenuous exercise.”
Fudge says Gatorade not only has 80 calories per 12 ounce drink, but is loaded with sugar which can lead to tooth decay.
“One of the biggest concerns with the energy drinks is teeth decay. Two things that cause teeth decay are sugar and ph. A lot of these energy drinks are even lower ph than Coca-Cola and higher in sugar.”
He says other drinks are a concern as well, including Powerade, Monster, Rockstar, and RedBull.
Fudge says Rockstar for example contains not only high levels of caffeine (even adults are advised not to drink more than one can a day), but also other potentially harmful ingredients like Ginkgo Biloba.
“This herb is said to fight mental fatigue and improve memory,” he says. “Yet the research regarding these claims is conflicting. A new National Toxicology Program study links ginkgo extract to thyroid and liver cancers in mice.”
But even if the School Board won’t ban parents from sending these drinks to school, he hopes to at least raise awareness about the issue.
“I’d like them to act but I’d like to at least raise the awareness. Some parents don’t even realize that these are adult drinks that shouldn’t be given to kids.”
Prince George School Board Chair Tony Cable agrees the above drinks are bad for kids, but says banning them from all schools would be difficult to enforce.
“You get into the issue of are your going to check every students lunch when they bring it to school? And where do you draw the line? Do you ban Powerade, Coca-Cola, Sprite? Do you ban chocolate bars and chips?” he asks. “There are so many things that could be of a concern, you just have to hope parents are doing the best they can and making the best choices they can for their kids.”
Comments
Pretty hard to dictate what a family can or can not put in their childs lunch. Quite often the child is eating and drinking the same food, beverage as the adults.
There is little doubt that these drinks are bad for both parents and children.
Perhaps if the Schools put on a health food program indicating what is good and bad for children, maybe showing the amount of sugar in various drinks and listing them, then sending the results of the program home to parents you could at least show the downside of these drinks. Problem with a health food program is, that if the results cause harm to the manufacturer and cannot be proven, you have left yourself open to libel.
Parent education is a big one, glancing in the grocery carts of parents in grocery really opens your eyes and shows you where the problem really is. Parents do their children a disservice by feeding them this terrible stuff, however nothing is ever done about it, and they set them on the road to obesity at a very early age.
Gatorade is not an energy drink,
it helps restore electrolytes, and it does….
wha then need to get rid of is all those high caffeine drinks like Monster, Rockstar, and RedBull….
sounds like another example of one person trying to rule the world…
bcracer. I doubt if very many kids in school need to be restoring their electrolytes.
I agree with your one person world rule statement.
So how do they monitor the “no peanut ban” ?
“But Gatorade is designed for athletes who do strenuous exercise.”- lol, looks like there is a still a sucker born every minute. Did you see a commercial with Crosby drinking gatorade? Gatorade is sugar, oils and sodium…it has no recovery benefit for you, I or any ‘athlete’. It’s about as beneficial as the Vitamin Water people are buying.
Chocolate milk! Better than Gatorade, any day!!
There was a study done in an American college. Even one energy drink elevated blood pressure in the affected group for up to two weeks.
Not something I would want to take.
What is with trying to ban everything? We all know this stuff is bad for you and I will never drink it. If you don’t like it don’t buy it! Simple as that.
How about this, you worry about what your kids eat and drink and I will worry about mine. Don’t tell me what to give my kids to eat or drink.
you don’t want your kids drinking gatorade then don’t send it with them, don’t be telling me what my kids can drink! when I was a kid we mixed up koolaid powder with a cup of sugar and half a gallon of water, I bet this guy would ban that too.
Teachers would like to see all the kids docile, how about start popping ritalin like a morning vitamin before sending your kids to school. Lol,sounds like teacher need another $1,000 for message therapy.
Yes maverick, that’s exactly what the teachers want..kids zoned out on drugs..just like you are at work probably..
Teachers don’t prescribe drugs.. Not surprised you didn’t know that.. Guessing you keep your kids drugged up %100 of the time so they are docile just like you like em ;)
What the heck….If I was a teacher, I would smoke a big fat joint in the morning, try to teach your ignorant fat Red Bulled and Rockstared up Dorito munching child to the best of my ability, attempt to deal with their every minute of the day problems, go home, smoke a big fat joint, and enjoy my first world life in a beautiful country.
CHEERS !
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