Morrisons is the latest UK supermarket to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under the age of 16. It joins Asda, Aldi and Waitrose in setting a date for when customers buying the drinks will have to prove they are aged over 16 years old. Morrisons will introduce the age limit on March 5.

Andrew Clappen, corporate services director at Morrisons, said: “We have listened to customers and are responding to their concerns about children drinking high-caffeine energy drinks.”

Asdas age restriction, which will apply to 84 products, also comes into effect on March 5, while customers buying soft drinks containing more than 150mg of caffeine per liter from any of Aldis UK or Ireland stores will be asked to prove their age from March 1. And Waitrose announced that customers buying the drinks would be asked to show proof of age from March 5. 

The move follows calls by campaigners for a complete ban on the sale of energy drinks to children following findings that their sugar and caffeine content remains high despite reformulation ahead of the soft drinks levy.

Kawther Hashem, a nutritionist at campaign group Action on Sugar (AoS) at Queen Mary University of London, said: “Energy drinks are a contributor to sugar intake which is linked to the development of obesity and various types of cancer, as well as type 2 diabetes and is rotting our childrens teeth.”

“Our study published last month in the BMJ Open revealed that sugar, calorie and caffeine content in energy drinks remain far too high.”

Some energy drinks contain 78 grams of sugar, which is nearly 20 teaspoons.

The British Soft Drinks Association introduced a voluntary code of practice in 2010 stating that high-caffeine soft drinks should not be promoted or marketed to those under-16.

Figures have shown that youngsters in the UK are among the highest consumers of energy drinks in Europe.