BOSTON-
It appears coffee consumption among toddlers is not uncommon. A study led by Boston Medical Center researchers showed about 15% of the toddlers, around 2 years of age, in the study consumed at least some coffee each day.
Researchers looked at 315 mother-infant pairs to determine how much coffee and other beverages they were consuming. The data showed that at one year of age, 2.5% of children consumed some amount of coffee. At two years, the number of children who consumed coffee increased to above 15%. The average consumption for these children was 1 ounce of coffee.
According to the Boston researchers, they cite previous studies suggesting coffee and caffeine consumption among children “is associated with depression, type 1 diabetes, sleep disturbances, substance abuse and obesity”.
It appeared to the researchers there was a demographic and gender split in the results. They found children of Hispanic mothers were more likely to drink coffee than those of non-Hispanic mothers. And female children were more likely than males to drink coffee.
