Children’s caffeine intake may offer clues about sleep and mental health

Clinical takeaway: Ask children and families about caffeinated beverages, including soda, when evaluating sleep, attention, mood, or behavioral concerns. Counsel families to choose caffeine-free drinks and protect adequate sleep.

Caffeine exposure in children can be easy to overlook when it comes from soft drinks rather than coffee or energy drinks. A large US study links higher consumption to shorter sleep and small differences in brain structure, reinforcing the value of reviewing beverage habits during pediatric visits.

Researchers analyzed data from 9,632 children aged 9 to 11 years in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study. Children reported their caffeinated beverage intake, parents reported sleep duration, and MRI scans measured brain structure.

Higher caffeine intake was associated with slightly lower surface area of the cortex, based on brain MRI. Soft drinks were the main caffeine source and largely drove the findings. Differences were detectable at one caffeinated drink per week, but this exploratory finding does not establish a harmful intake threshold.

Children consuming more caffeine also slept less. Statistical analyses suggested that shorter sleep and lower cortical surface area partly explained the association with more attention, emotional, and behavioral symptoms six months later. The combined pathway through sleep and brain structure was not evident at 18 months.

These findings do not establish that caffeine caused the observed brain differences or later mental health symptoms. Sugar intake and related lifestyle habits may also contribute. They support discussing caffeine alongside sleep habits, consistent with American Academy of Pediatrics advice that avoiding caffeine is the best choice for children.

“Although we cannot comment on causality, our results do suggest that both caffeine intake, including from soft drinks, and sleep are worth paying attention to when we think about young people's mental health,” said senior author Divyangana Rakesh, PhD, of King’s College London.

Source: Zheng J, et al. (2026 Oct 15) Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. Caffeine consumption and adolescent mental health: The role of sleep and brain structure