What Are the Effects of Caffeine on Teenagers？咖啡因對青少年有什么影響？

胡楊

Caffeine is a drug that naturally occurs in the leaves and seeds of many plants. Its also produced artificially2 and may be added to certain drinks and foods.

咖啡因是一種天然存在于許多植物的葉子和種子中的藥物。它還可以人工生產，或用于添加到某些飲料和食品中。

Its common for teens to reach for energy drinks before a soccer game or to turn to coffee to help them pull an all-night study session. But， drinking too much caffeine could be bad for a teens health.

對于青少年來說，在足球比賽前喝功能飲料或者喝咖啡幫助他們通宵學習是很普遍的現象。但是，喝太多的咖啡因對青少年的健康有害。

Up to 400 mg of caffeine per day appears to be safe for most healthy adults. Its suggested that teens caffeine consumption3 be limited to no more than 100 mg of caffeine per day and children under 12 not be given any caffeine.

對于大多數健康的成年人來說，每天攝入400毫克的咖啡因似乎是安全的。建議青少年每天咖啡因的攝入量不要超過100毫克，12歲以下的兒童不要攝入咖啡因。

Research on caffeine confirms that small doses of caffeine can enhance alertness4， increase information processing speed， awareness， attention， and reaction time. But most of the research has been conducted on adults， not children.

對咖啡因的研究證實，小劑量的咖啡因可以提高警覺性，提高信息處理的速度、意識、注意力和反應時間。但大多數研究都是針對成年人而不是兒童。

Caffeine can cause a number of unwanted side effects in both teens and adults. Some people are more sensitive5 to caffeine than others and just a small amount may produce unwanted effects.

咖啡因會對青少年和成人造成一些不利的副作用。有些人對咖啡因更敏感，而咖啡因則可能會對一小部分人產生不利的影響。

Caffeine may stunt6 childrens development. A study found that young rats who consumed7 the rat-sized equivalent8 of the caffeine in three or four cups of coffee experienced reduced deep sleep and delayed brain development.

咖啡因可能會阻礙兒童的發育。一項研究發現，當汲取了成年老鼠量的三到四倍的咖啡因劑量的時候，幼鼠會減少深度睡眠，大腦發育延緩。

Caffeine has great effect on a teens sleep. Every 10 milligrams of caffeine a 13-year-old boy consumes decreases his chances of getting 8.5 hours of sleep by 12 percent. It can affect teens education， mental health， and physical health.

咖啡因對青少年的睡眠有很大的影響。13歲的男孩每攝入10毫克咖啡因，會減少8個半小時睡眠的幾率的12%。這會影響他們的學習和身心健康。

Caffeine may also cause the body to lose calcium9. Consuming too much caffeine could lead to bone loss over time. Drinking soda or energy drinks instead of milk may also place a teen at a higher risk of developing osteoporosis10.

咖啡因也可能導致身體鈣流失。攝入過多的咖啡因會導致骨質疏松。飲用蘇打水或功能飲料代替牛奶也可能會增加患骨質疏松癥的風險。

Many people report feeling “addicted11” to caffeine because they have trouble quitting or cut-ting back on their caffeine intake. Some people continue consuming it even though they experience unwanted psychological12 or physical side effects.endprint

許多人認為咖啡因能讓人“上癮”是因為他們很難戒掉或減少咖啡因的攝入量。有些人即使體驗過了咖啡因引起的心理或生理上的副作用之后，仍然會繼續攝入它。……