By Jason Lemon
Deputy News Director
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South Korea will ban coffee in all elementary, middle and high schools throughout the country starting September 14.
The ban will block coffee from being sold at any secondary or primary schools nationwide as part of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety efforts to manage young people's diets, The Independent reported.
"The revision aims to create healthy eating habits among children and teenagers," a ministry official said this week, according to local English daily The Korea Times. "We will make sure coffee is banned at schools without fail."
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"We have notified schools of the coffee ban across the nation through cooperation with the education ministry," the official added.
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Current Korean laws restrict or ban products containing high calories or caffeine as well as those with low nutritional value from being sold in schools. Until now, coffee remained available for teachers to purchase through vending machines and school snack shops. New ministry revisions will make coffee completely unavailable, even for teachers.
The ministry has also launched a wider-scale campaign to reduce South Koreans' consumption of high calorie and caffeinated drinks, South China Morning Post reported. Dizziness, rapid heartbeat, sleep disorders, nervousness and other symptoms have been cited as motivation for the government's efforts.
On average, a South Korean consumes about 181 cups of coffee per year, which is the highest in any Asian country, according to market research firm Euromonitor, though Americans consume an average of 266. The Independent reported that coffee consumption has doubled in South Korea since 1990, at least partly stimulated by the arrival of Starbucks.
Coffee's impact on health is the subject of scientific debate. In May, a judge in California ruled that Starbucks and other coffee sellers must begin including cancer warnings with their products. The nonprofit Council for Education and Research on Toxics brought the suit against the companies, accusing them of violating California law that requires products that potentially cause cancer to be marked with warning labels.
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Meanwhile, numerous large-scale studies have shown potential benefits of routine coffee consumption. In one study published last month that looked at about half a million British adults, those who consumed coffee were found to have a slightly lower risk of death over a 10-year period compared to non-coffee drinkers.
Last November, a major review that analyzed the findings of more than 200 studies on coffee also concluded that drinking three to four cups of the beverage per day is correlated with a lower risk of premature death.
"There is a balance of risks in life, and the benefits of moderate consumption of coffee seem to outweigh the risks," Professor Paul Roderick, from the University of Southampton's faculty of medicine and the co-author of the review, said, according to the BBC.
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