While many mums and dads are actively not allowing their kids to drink strong coffee, many Aussie adolescents, and children even younger, are getting a regular caffeine fix. And that's not a good thing.

With more and more links being drawn between caffeine and addiction, sleeping problems, obesity and poor bone health, many youth health professionals are reiterating the fact that there is no reason for caffeine being in a child's diet.
Caffeine sources

The main sources of caffeine are tea, coffee, cola drinks and, increasingly, energy drinks. Australian research from 10 years ago found that 27 per cent of boys aged eight to 12 had consumed an energy drink in the two weeks before the survey.

Back then, these sugary pick-me-ups were new to the market. Today, they are everywhere.

More recent research, albeit from the caffeine-loving US, found that 75 per cent of kids aged five to 12 consumed caffeine daily, from an average of three cans of fizzy drink a day.

What these fizzy and energy drinks are doing, say these studies, is creating an unhealthy lifelong caffeine habit.

An ongoing study from the University at Buffalo found kids who drank more than the recommended amount of caffeinated drinks had an increased likelihood of poor diets, which included lots of junk food.