TOP nutritionalist wants new laws to stop kids guzzling high-caffeine energy drinks.
Glasgow Universitys Professor Mike Lean wants shops to be BANNED from selling products like Red Bull, Monster and Relentless to under-16s.
Even the energy drink manufacturers accept kids shouldnt be drinking them but research shows they are.
Professor Lean blasted: Children going into a shop to buy alcohol is forbidden because its bad for them and theyre not permitted to drink it.
If were serious about recognising the potential hazard for children, then we should be putting obstacles in the way of children getting them.
The food and drink boffin hits out on documentary BBC Scotland Investigates: Caffeine Nation.
BBC investigators attended last months Fort William Mountain Bike World Cup and discovered sponsors Monster had been handing out free cans to under-16s.
Monster contains around 160mg of caffeine per can.
Eleven-year-old Ewan Farr was at the event with his dad Gavin.
The schoolboy said the drink made him hyper. Gavin said: At an event like this they are giving them away free.
Theres a very strong association with the brand.
Theres no doubt they are going for the cool factor. All you need to do is see the kids queuing up inside. Monster has now launched its own probe into what happened. Managing Director Guy Carling said: We do not sample our products to persons under-16.
I have asked our marketing and personnel departments to investigate to find out if and why our policy was violated.
Industry guidelines recommend under-16s should not consume drinks with caffeine of 150mg per litre or more.
But the European Food Safety Agency has found more than two-thirds of the UKs 10-18-year-olds HAVE drunk them.
Gavin Partington, of the British Soft Drinks Association, said: Our guidelines stipulate that they should not be sold to or consumed by children.
Source The Sun
