AdvoCare International, the Texas company that makes Spark, claims the drink can help children "develop fully as a high-performance athlete." But company officials also say Spark is not intended to boost athletic performance, but rather a child's overall health.

"It's not just a caffeine delivery system; it has many more nutritional properties," said Sidney Stohs, senior vice president for research and development at AdvoCare.

But many health and youth sports advocates object to both the marketing and ingredients of Spark. "The effects of caffeine have never been tested on kids," said Mary L. Gavin of the Nemours Center for Children's Health Media at Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del. Added Elisa Odabashian of Consumers Union: "What are we coming to? What kind of society are we spawning here where everybody has to be artificially stimulated?"

Frank Uryasz, president of the National Center for Drug Free Sport, said young athletes should avoid caffeine. "I am concerned that they are gateway substances," Uryasz said of products like Spark. "I think it develops a mindset especially among young athletes that they have to take something -- a powder, a pill, a liquid -- to improve their performance, when actually study after study shows that almost all of these products add no value to a young person's athletic performance."

AdvoCare has been marketing Spark to children since 2001, and now has five products in its "KickStart" line for children. Company officials say that Spark has been proven to increase energy and focus and fill nutritional gaps.

One elementary-school wrestler quoted on the AdvoCare website stated: "I feel the products are helping me grow stronger, and my focus when I'm wrestling is better. I take them before and after games and practices, even if I'm just playing football for fun with my friends."

The version of Spark marketed to preteens contains 60 milligrams of caffeine; the teen and adult version has 120 milligrams of caffeine. A cup of coffee or a 12-ounce cola has about 45 milligrams of caffeine.

Spark also contains taurine, which is found in energy drinks like Red Bull.

"Our policy is we're not aware of any safety issues with sports nutrition products in kids," said Andrew Shao, vice president for scientific and regulatory affairs at the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a trade group for the supplements industry. "However, other than, say, a multivitamin, it's really not a good idea for prepubescent kids to use sports nutrition products, especially stimulant-containing products like caffeine-containing products."

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