98.8 percent of the respondents agree that commercial energy drinks should not be available to minors, according to the latest survey of the Young Families Club (Ficsak), which was answered by nearly a thousand.
The organization emphasized that the extremely high caffeine and sugar content of energy drinks can pose a serious threat to the younger generation, so Ficsak is committed to initiating legal regulation of accessibility to these products. The topic of regulation of energy drinks is a common cause not only as parents, but also socially.
"Child Protection 2023 - Let's protect our children together!" launched by Ficsak. The 4th stage of the campaign is dedicated to healthy eating and parental awareness.
This aspect also guided the NGO when they launched the opinion survey questionnaire about energy drinks - they said, adding that the non-representative, but indicative results prove that society is not indifferent to the harmful effects of energy drinks on children.
The overwhelming majority of respondents agree that commercial energy drinks should not be available to minors.
To the question of where and under what conditions energy drinks can be purchased - in tobacco shops, anywhere, but only by showing an ID card proving that you are 18 years old, no regulation is required - the answers were as follows:
52 percent of those who completed it wrote that energy drinks can be purchased anywhere, but only for those over 18 years of age and upon presentation of an ID card. 46.5 percent of those who filled in would transfer the possibility of purchasing to tobacco shops. While only 1.5 percent of the respondents indicated that they do not think regulation is necessary.
The Club of Young Families trusts that the results of the questionnaire can contribute to the decision-making moving in a direction that limits the availability of energy drinks to children under the age of 18, and as a result, the future generation can lead a healthier lifestyle.
The proposal is already on the government's table
The government also agrees with the position of the Hungarians, a few weeks ago several members of the ruling party, István Hollik and Lőrinc Nacsa, announced that
they will initiate the restriction of serving energy drinks to people under 18 years of age.
The communications director of Fidesz-KDNP spoke about the fact that the consumption of energy drinks by children - in many cases on a daily basis - poses a serious threat to the health of the young generation, which he also supported with data. He recalled that in the past four years, the ambulance service recorded an average of one hundred cases a year where children under the age of 18 had to be treated for energy drinks.
Because of these and similar cases, they ask their factional association to examine their proposal, the possibility of a new regulation that prohibits the purchase and consumption of energy drinks until the age of 18, similar to alcohol.
Pediatrician Tamás Bense explained that he felt the measure was a good decision, because energy drinks are not indifferent to their effects. As he put it: he does not believe that people under the age of eighteen have a reason to stimulate their brains with energy drinks.
Tamás Bense also touched on the fact that many other widely consumed daily products also contain caffeine, such as coffee or cola, but the patients who were hospitalized due to caffeine overdose were almost exclusively energy drink consumers before the problem occurred, this with children and when examining the cases that have occurred, it is overwhelmingly true. "Adolescents almost never stop at a can of energy drink," said the specialist.
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