"Energy drinks are coming under attack because of the branding and marketing strategies. Jamey Kirby of Redux Beverages in Las Vegas, which makes Cocaine Energy Drink, said the drinks are labelled with their caffeine content to help children and adults consume them safely. Their symptoms ranged from nausea and vomiting to tremors, chest pain and a racing pulse.Įarlier this month, the anti-drugs advisory group Drug Education UK warned that schoolchildren are becoming dependent on energy drinks to boost their performance. Eight of the nine were boys, with the youngest aged 13.
In the study, Griffiths highlights the cases of nine patients treated by a US poisons unit after having an energy drink called Redline, which contains 250mg caffeine. "For someone who's sensitive to caffeine, 200mg is enough for them to have many of the symptoms of caffeine intoxication." "There's no reason to have a drink on the market that is so caffeinated that if you consume it, the majority of the population is going to experience caffeine toxicity," he said. Those labels highlight the risks of having too much caffeine, including anxiety attacks, nervousness, rapid heart beat and nausea. Writing in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Griffiths calls for energy drinks to carry the same kinds of warnings as caffeine pills, which can be bought over the counter at chemists to alleviate drowsiness. People who drink tea and coffee regularly build up a tolerance to caffeine, but Griffiths says younger people are at risk of overdosing if they consume highly caffeinated energy drinks at an early age. People can end up not only feeling lousy, but in ER thinking they're having a heart attack." You can easily imagine people consuming a couple of these drinks and running smack into caffeine intoxication. "These drinks are being very aggressively marketed, often to kids interested in extreme sports, and some of them are making overt appeals to the illicit drug culture. "What we've seen since the first energy drinks arrived on the shelves is a sea change in how caffeine is being marketed," said Prof Griffiths. One of the best-selling energy drinks in the UK, Red Bull, contains 80mg caffeine. It contains 280mg caffeine, or eight times as much caffeine as a can of cola. Some of the drinks are not available in the UK, but one brand, called Cocaine Energy Drink, was launched in Britain last month.
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