Caffeinated drinks are consumed by millions of Americans every day, but what many do not realize are the effects some of them may have on the body. Caffeine works very similar to many drugs because of its addictive traits including the usage of the same brain pathway as heroin, amphetamines, and cocaine. 90% of Americans consume a caffeinated drink on a daily basis. One of the most popular caffeinated drinks amongst the teenage generation because of its high spike in energy and cool reputation is energy drinks. They are consumed by nearly 31% of percent of 12-17 year olds and 34% of all 18-24 years olds(3). Soft drinks such as Pepsi and coke have caffeine limitations set by the FDA set at 71 mg, but there are energy drinks on the market that have caffeine as high as 357mg, over five times the limit set on soda. (1)
The journal of pediatrics study on caffeine overdose led to the following statement, “Energy drinks have no therapeutic benefit, and many ingredients are understudied and not regulated. The known and unknown pharmacology of agents included in such drinks, combined with reports of toxicity, raises concern for potentially serious adverse effects in association with energy drink use.” The consumption of energy drinks has shown to increase risk of cardiac issues especially amongst teens (2). Many feel that educating teens is the best way to prevent the heart issues, but some feel there should be legal action taken because just one drink can have negative effect on a teen, but especially if they are young children. A relatively common occurrence today of high school and college students is mixing alcohol with energy drinks. By doing so the depressant side effect of alcohol consumption is magnified. Studies have shown that those who consume energy drinks while drinking alcohol are three times more likely to binge drink than those who do not. It also has shown to double the like hood of being taken advantage of sexually. In 2010 the popular drink Four Loko’s were forced to change the contents of the drink. Before the change, the 23.5 ounce drink contained 12 percent alcohol content and as much caffeine as a cup of coffee. Doctors believe the caffeine in the drink intensifies the alcohol effect making them unsafe to consume. (4)
It would not be safe to a conduct double blind test of giving users to alcohol and energy drinks because of its possible unsafe side affects when mixed. The only way to observe whether this is the case is through statistics, but due to the tremendous amounts of variability (amount of alcohol and energy drink consumed, weight, and other outside variables), it would be extremely difficult to have an accurate experiment. If one could determine safe levels to conduct a double blind experiment, each group would need to be random to take out the variables listed above, and each person would need to receive the same amount of energy drink and alcohol.
Without the completion of this experiment it would be difficult to fail to reject the null hypothesis that energy drinks kill people and not chance.
https://sites.psu.edu/siowfa15/wp-content/uploads/sites/29639/2015/09/energy.jpg (Image 1)
(1) http://www.cspinet.org/new/cafchart.htm
(2) http://www.caffeineinformer.com/is-energy-drink-overdose-in-teens-really-a-problem
(3) http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/caffeine-and-alcohol.htm
What amazes me is that these products are potentially very dangerous to ones health and somehow they passed through the FDA. You mentioned that sodas were forced to lower their caffeine levels to 71mg and energy drinks are allowed to go 5 times over that. I believe that there needs to be some form of regulations on these products because they advertise to the most vulnerable age group and they are the highest at risk for other dangers. I have seen kids under the age of 15 drinking energy drinks because they think it is “cool” when really it is hurting their health detrimentally with the amount of caffeine they are consuming. It is common in college to consume these drinks on a daily basis due to a lack of energy but it is also common to mix them with alcohol. You mentioned that it increases the speed in which the products begin to take their course but it got me thinking… Has anyone been hurt due to this mixture? Below is a link that shows the effects of mixing energy drinks and alcohol. It gives me more a reason to believe the energy drinks need to be regulated.
https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/check-the-facts/health-effects-of-alcohol/effects-on-the-body/alcohol-energy-drinks
In my option, the main target would be individuals who are between the ages of 20 and late 30’s. These are the people that are in school or beginning careers. These individuals will sleep less and indulge in energy drinks more to help them stay awake to do work for class or prep for exams. This is extremely unhealthy. When four lokos was a thing – people would add an abundance of those into different mixtures to form unique mixers. Again, this is not safe. I agree that this would be an unsafe trail to attempt, unless those people are currently drinking these drinks voluntarily. Just one figure to add – I remember a few years ago there was an energy drink in which having only one was almost at the limit an individual should have of energy drinks (in one day). This being said many teenagers were drinking a multitude of them causing their hearts to race. I believe it was either RockStar or AMP. Just something to look into if you’re more interested in the topic of energy drinks.
This post really interests me because I am an avid coffee drinker. While energy drinks and coffee include different concentrations of caffeine, I still feel that I am at risk for a caffeine addiction. This article put me to ease because it concluded that it is better to get my caffeine fix from coffee.
I think the issue of properly informing the consumer base on what exactly they are drinking and how it affects them is very important, especially for adults at the university age. We see a trend where academics make students believe they have no choice but to use products for some kind of “edge” with studying, maintaining information, and just keeping strong the whole day. On top of this idea, energy drinks make their way into jungle juice and drinks all over university campuses, and the effects are exacerbated. If some kind of result could be achieved by surveying a population of regulated energy drink consumers, in order to demonstrate the health effects over time. Would legal action be the best way to go in terms of helping teenagers? Generalization aside, making something forbidden to a younger crowd could give products a kind of “cool kids do it” stigma, and might make the problem worse, especially if certain populations are already predisposed to enjoying the drinks. It wouldn’t be the first time legal action was attempted against energy drink companies, but could some kind of development be reached to make energy drinks safer than their rather wild combinations of ingredients?http://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/lawsuit-news/4412-judge-allows-redline-energy-drink-class-action-to-proceed/
A major problem with a complex consumer society such as ours is that we consume lots of packaged and processed foods and beverages. In these packaged goods are lots of ingredients we do not even know how to pronounce let alone know that is in them. It is important for the public to be informed on such ingredients so that they can make an educated decision on whether to buy them or not. I believe as a producer, as long as you correctly inform the public on the risks of consuming any given product the decision to consume that product is out of your hands. The producer must be held responsible to inform the public, but the decision to buy and consume such a product should fall solely on the consumer. The consumer should have the right to buy and consume any product they so choose as long as they are informed appropriately.