Parents generally know not to let their children drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes. For generations, parents instinctively have kept children from drinking coffee. Now it’s time for that wisdom to be extended to energy drinks, which are rapidly causing health problems nationwide.

At the least, the Food and Drug Administration should consider requiring warning labels on such drinks, keeping them out of the hands of children. Federal officials also may want to consider regulating allowable amounts of caffeine. States may want to set age limits on purchasing the drinks. Such draconian action wouldn’t be necessary, except that those who produce such drinks are exceeding acceptable limits for items on sale for general consumption.

A new study from the American Heart Association says 40 percent of the calls to poison centers these days involve children under 6 consuming excessively caffeinated energy drinks. Some of the cases involve children experiencing abnormal heart rhythms; other, more serious, cases involve seizures.

Equally disturbing is that the American Academy of Pediatrics says 73 percent of children consume caffeine daily, and that this demographic is the fastest growing segment of caffeine users, according to CNN.

The FDA has set the standard for harmless caffeine consumption among healthy adults at between 100 and 200 milligrams per day. That’s the equivalent of one or two cups of coffee, depending on the brand and the size of cup. Diet colas typically contain less than 50 mg per 12 ounces. An energy drink, however, contains 300 mg or more per can, and experts say the caffeine mix includes pharmaceutical and natural sources that some studies have linked to a greater likelihood of health problems.

Some gourmet coffees available at brand-name coffee outlets come in 20-ounce cups that contain 400 mg or more of caffeine, as well as a load of calories comparable to fast-food burgers, but parents don’t seem to be buying a lot of these for their small children.

Energy drinks, however, end up in home refrigerators or in other places easily accessible to little hands.

This isn’t the first time energy drinks have caused health concerns. A few years ago, manufacturers were combining high levels of alcohol with the caffeine in a dangerous drink sold under brand names such as Four Loko. The combination of alcohol and caffeine led drinkers to feel less intoxicated than they actually were, which led to dangerously high levels of intoxication. This caused health problems at colleges, in particular. In 2010, several Central Washington University students were hospitalized after drinking these, as were six students in New Jersey.