New ban on energy drinks? Decaffeinating the youth

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Beverage manufacturers are not obligated to add caffeine levels to energy drink labels. It’s not surprising that after the popularity of drinks or shots such as 5-hour energy, the caffeine business has reached new highs, even worldwide. Hot coffee in the winter and cool caffeinated energy drinks in the summer and you have yourself a balanced caffeine diet. In addition to caffeine, these drinks contain supra-useless doses of Vitamin B, taurine, ginseng, guarana and carbohydrates such as sugar. Recently, several states banned alcoholic caffeinated beverages after recorded deaths of teens drinking the sugar-alcohol-caffeine elixir. This no doubt proved to be a toxic concoction. It was also shown that alcohol mixed with energy drinks had dramatically higher rates of serious alcohol-related consequences. Not surprising since all three components (sugar alcohol and caffeine) are known to be lethal at attainable doses either chronically or acutely. Caffeine can kill people. So can alcohol and sugar. Levels of taurine, guarana and ginseng found in energy drinks, though associate with encephalopathy, are not expected to amount to serious toxicity.

The aftermath of alcoholic 4loco is a recent bid by a New York Suffolk County Lawmaker to ban energy drinks for people under the age of 19. This brings about the usual question of “if they can kill people in war, at the age of 18, they can’t drink coffee?” Ludicrous, I suppose, but both kill people and I guess fighting in a war is “for the greater good” vs overdosing on caffeine to finish a term paper for a degree that may not land you a job.

The LD50 of caffeine is about 192 mg/kg in rats. This means in humans, a dose of approximately 13 grams can kill a man. Maybe even less depending on preexisting conditions such as heart and vascular issues. You would need to drink about 70 jolt endurance shots (140 ounces or 4 liters). To put it into coffee language, it would take about 108 cups of coffee to send you packing, permanently. Looking at these rather larger numbers, its not surprising that people consider caffeine consumption as safe.

Besides death, what can we say about caffeine toxicity? With respect to this present call for a ban in youths, what are the adverse effects of energy drink ingredients to youths? Commonly reported adverse effects seen with caffeine in the quantities present in most energy drinks are insomnia, nervousness, headache, and tachycardia (increased heart rate). Four documented case reports of caffeine-associated deaths were found, as well as four separate cases of seizures associated with the consumption of energy drinks (Clauson, 2010).

An underappreciated toxicity is insomnia. Inability to rest, mend and restore on a frequent basis has a profound effect in the immune system, metabolism, aging and general cognition. While I do not agree with the bid to ban energy drinks for the youth, there is not much guarantee that Generation Y will take responsibility for their long term health.

Table 1: Levels of caffeine in popular drinks

Courtesy of Energy Fiend. Visit website for comprehensive list.

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