Tag: energy drinks
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Health Canada Outlines New Energy Drink Rules
Health Canada recently announced new measures that would reclassify energy drinks as food instead of a natural health product (NHP), thus requiring each can to bear a nutritional facts table. According to an October 6, 2011, press release, the new rules would also direct energy drink manufacturers to (i) limit caffeine content to 180 milligrams…
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Pediatricians Take Stand Against Energy Drinks
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has issued a report warning that children and adolescents should not consume energy drinks because the beverages “pose potential health risks.” Titled “Sports Drinks and Energy Drinks for Children and Adolescents: Are They Appropriate?”, the report appears in the June 2011 issue of Pediatrics. Sports drinks and energy drinks…
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Research Warns Against Teen Energy Drink Consumption
A scientific literature review has reportedly warned against routine energy drink use, claiming that these beverages have been associated with reported “serious adverse events, especially in children, adolescents, and young adults with seizures, diabetes, cardiac abnormalities, or mood and behavioral disorders or those who take certain medications.” Sara Seifert, et al., “Health Effects of Energy…
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“Red Bull” Defense Joins “Twinkie” Defense in Crime Annals
According to a news source, a prosecutor in Florida appears willing to accept an insanity defense in the case of a man who murdered his father while depressed, sleep-deprived and under the purported influence of an energy drink. A psychiatrist reportedly testified during a bond reduction hearing that defendant Stephen Coffeen, who allegedly smothered his…
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Jane Brody, “Scientists See Dangers in Energy Drinks,” The New York Times, January 31, 2011
This article summarizes recent research, including a November 2010 literature review in The Mayo Clinic Proceedings, that has questioned the effectiveness and safety of energy beverages (E.B.’s). According to Times journalist Jane Brody, the Mayo study “noted that the drinks contain high levels of caffeine and warned that certain susceptible people risk dangerous, even life-threatening…
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JAMA Commentary Warns of Energy Drink Risk
A January 25, 2011, commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has claimed that “regular (nonalcoholic) energy drinks might pose just as great a threat to individual and public health and safety” as the alcoholic versions recently barred by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC). According to authors Amelia…
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FDA, FTC Act on Alcoholic Energy Drinks
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued warning letters to four manufacturers of alcoholic energy drinks (AEDs), calling the caffeine added to these malt beverages an “unsafe food additive” and threatening further action against Charge Beverages Corp.; New Century Brewing Co., LLC; Phusion Projects, LLC; and United Brands Company Inc. FDA apparently released its…
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Washington State Issues Temporary Ban on Alcoholic Energy Drinks
The Washington State Liquor Control Board (WSLCB) has passed a resolution to temporarily “prevent the further sale and distribution of malt beverage products containing caffeine and other stimulants.” Washington Governor Christine Gregoire (D) joined WSLCB in announcing the measure, citing reports that nine Central Washington University students “became dangerously ill” after consuming alcoholic energy drinks (AEDs).…