What's in energy drinks, anyway?

Energy drinks are usually formulated to give the consumer an energy jolt by using a combination of methylxanthines, B vitamins, and exotic herbal ingredients. Energy drinks commonly include caffeine, guarana (extracts from the guarana plant), taurine, various forms of ginseng, maltodextrin, inositol, carnitine, creatine, glucuronolactone and ginkgo biloba. Some contain high levels of sugar, while most brands also offer an artificially sweetened version. Often manufacturers add a very small dose of a powerful stimulant such as carnitine, but the doses of these add-ins are usually so small that any added "boost" is purely psychological. Despite exotic formulations, generally the energy boost in these drinks is delivered via the whopping dose of common caffeine.

A dose of caffeine strong enough to affect the heart rate in some people,some studies suggest they can cause psychotic episode in people with mental illness.

I think it is time to urge the government to have warning labels on the bottles and to do more study on the effects on the body. What are your thoughts.

Study warns against energy drinks for kids and teens

A study in Monday's edition of the journal Pediatrics spells out everything you need to know about energy drinks, particularly the risks they pose to the young people who are most inclined to use them.

It reviews evidence from scientific journals and other publications about energy drinks and any ill effects associated with their use. Though serious adverse effects -- including heart failure -- are apparently relatively rare, it's been hard to track such events in the United States because until recently, there's been no poison-control code to specifically identify events tied to energy drinks. (The study notes that such a code has now been established.)

Caffeine in moderation can provide benefits, enhancing cognition, attention and physical endurance, for instance. But it's not clear to what degree, if any, those benefits extend to young people. Although the FDA limits the amount of caffeine in a soda to 71 mg per 12-ounce serving, energy drinks have so far eluded such restrictions because they are classified as dietary supplements. But the ingredients added to achieve that status are part of what makes energy drinks' potential dangers hard to pin down, as there is little research on their effects.

The Pediatrics paper calls for increased awareness from physicians of their patients' use of energy drinks and the potential health effects (particularly among athletes and children with conditions such as ADHD, diabetes or eating disorders). It also calls for further study of caffeine's effects on young people and of the effects of other energy-drink ingredients such as taurine and guarana. Finally, the authors suggest regulation of energy drinks may be in order if research turns up compelling evidence that the popular beverages cause harm.

Isn't it time the companies were made to at least put warning labels on the energy drinks and more education for coaches. How many cases of permanent heart damage and/or death have to occur before the doctors warnings: (Canadian doctors have expressed concern): are taken seriously.? If your children or college students are consuming energy drinks, do your research and impress upon them the dangers.

Exerts taken from Article on internet -By Jennifer LaRue Huget

Energy Drinks

High caffeine energy drinks have become the norm for the younger generation and have caused many deaths. Now some alcohol companies have started adding large amounts of caffeine to their product which is causing new problems.

Read

The “High” Risk of Energy Drinks

Amelia M. Arria, PhD;

Mary Claire O’Brien, MD

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announcement on November 17, 2010, that caffeine is an unsafe food additive to alcoholic beverages will effectively make several “premixed” alcoholic energy drinks prohibited for sale in the United States. Additionally, the Federal Trade Commission has notified manufacturers that they are engaged in the potential illegal marketing of unsafe alcoholic drinks. These rulings have been regarded by some as a welcome response to an increasing public health risk. Scientists and health professionals assisted in the FDA action by arguing that, on the basis of evidence from an increasing number of scientific studies, the direct addition of caffeine to alcoholic beverages does not meet the “generally recognized as safe” standard.^1​ Nevertheless, these premixed alcoholic energy drinks are only a fraction of the true public health risk.

To read the complete article jama.ama-assn.org/content/early/2011/01/21/jama.2011.109.full