Keeping kids safe means watching what they eat

A new snack intended for adults to help them relax after a hec­tic day are noth­ing like what mom used to make. Lazy Cakes brown­ies con­tain mela­tonin, which occurs nat­u­rally in the body and is a top sell­ing sleep aid; valer­ian root; and rose hips. It has been reported that peo­ple who have used syn­thetic mar­i­juana, such as Spice or K2, say they get the same effects after eat­ing Lazy Cakes, caus­ing rumors that the brown­ies con­tain the same ingre­di­ents as syn­thetic marijuana.

The label on Lazy Cakes warns that peo­ple should con­sult a health care provider prior to con­sum­ing the brown­ies if the per­son is tak­ing med­ica­tions, preg­nant or nurs­ing. There is also a warn­ing that the brown­ies are for adults only and should be kept out of the reach of chil­dren. How­ever, Lazy Cakes pack­ag­ing may sug­gest the mak­ers of the brown­ies are tar­get­ing chil­dren with the col­or­ful let­ter­ing and car­toon char­ac­ter on the pur­ple label.

The amount of the mela­tonin in Lazy Cakes might be dan­ger­ous for chil­dren. The rec­om­mended daily amount of mela­tonin for adults is 0.3–5 mg per day. The ingre­di­ents label on Lazy Cakes indi­cates there is 4 mg of mela­tonin per serv­ing. The serv­ing size on the label is half the brownie. So, if a child eats the entire brownie, he or she is con­sum­ing 8 mg of mela­tonin, about twice the amount rec­om­mended for adults, putting chil­dren at greater risk for health issues.

There has been at least one report of a tod­dler in Ten­nessee being hos­pi­tal­ized after eat­ing a Lazy Cake. In 2009, poi­son con­trol cen­ters reported they received about 5,000 melatonin-related calls involv­ing chil­dren. Mela­tonin prompts the most calls of any herb or supplement.

Lazy Cakes can be found in many con­ve­nience stores and gas sta­tions and are assess­able to chil­dren. If you allow your child to visit con­ve­nience stores to pur­chase snacks, you may want to inspect their treats before they eat them. If your child has sam­pled a Lazy Cake and exhibits symp­toms such as stom­ach cramps, dizzi­ness, vom­it­ing and diar­rhea or is unable to wake up, seek imme­di­ate med­ical attention.

Many teens con­sume sev­eral cans of energy drinks each day to keep them alert dur­ing school and at after-school jobs and have prob­lems sleep­ing. Some teens have dis­cov­ered Lazy Cakes effec­tive­ness in help­ing them relax and that can lead to health prob­lems if they are using the brown­ies to coun­ter­act the energy drinks.

Help keep our kids safe by mon­i­tor­ing their activ­i­ties and talk­ing to them about the dan­gers of using too much of any product.

Keep­ing our kids safe is brought to you by the Delaware Police Depart­ment and School Resource Offi­cer Rod Glazer.

Posted by Rod Glazer on Jun 4 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.