CAFFEINE & ENERGY DRINKS:
HIDDEN DANGERS
“caffeine and other stimulant substances contained in energy drinks have no place in the diet of children and adolescents.”
Here’s what every parent needs to know about the health risks adolescents face from drinking these beverages.
Energy drinks have no health benefits for children.
Packaged in colorful cans, energy drinks are commonplace, in gas stations and grocery stores across the United States. They are advertised as a smart choice of beverage to drink when fatigued or in need of a boost.
Due to their high sugar content and stimulants (such as caffeine), the medical community discourages parents from letting their kids consume these drinks at all.
ENERGY DRINKS are one of the fastest growing beverage products on the global market.
According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, alongside multivitamins, energy drinks are (1) the most sought after dietary supplement consumed by teens and young adults, with males between 18 and 34 drinking the most energy drinks and (2) about one-third of kids ages 12 to 17 consuming them regularly.
What Is an Energy Drink?
A beverage that typically contains large amounts of caffeine, added sugars, other additives, and legal stimulants such asguarana, taurine, and L-carnitine.
These legal stimulants can increase alertness, attention, energy, as well as increase blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing.
These drinks are often used by students to provide an extra boost in energy. However, the stimulants in these drinks can have a harmful effect on the nervous system.
Energy drinks could be of two types:
Drinks come in containers, similar to soft drink
Energy shots that come in small containers
How Are Energy Drinks Dangerous?
To begin with, there is a potentially dangerous misconception about sports drinks and energy drinks.
Energy drinks have increasingly become a source of caffeine overdoses, according to a comprehensive study published in Pediatrics. Too much of these stimulants and chemicals can cause dependence, dehydration, insomnia, heart palpitations and/or an increased heart rate in both children and adults. But in children, these symptoms are often even more extreme.
Consuming energy drinks has even led to seizures, mania, stroke and death in rare situations.
While these adverse effects can occur even in healthy children with no known health complications, symptoms of consuming too many stimulants also may be magnified in children with existing conditions such as asthma or heart disease. The additives also can negatively interact with certain medications.
No matter how popular they may be, there is no safe amount of energy drinks that a child can consume.
Beyond the most sudden and life-threatening effects of energy drinks, regular consumption of these beverages also can lead to health problems linked to unhealthy amounts of sugar.
A single 16 oz. container of an energy drink may contain 54 to 62 grams of added sugar, according to a report on energy drinks from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.
This far exceeds the recommended maximum amount of daily added sugars. Children indulging in these beverages are at-risk of developing obesity, diabetes and other diseases.
Energy Drinks: Why Are They Sending So Many People to the ER?
Dangers of Mixing Alcohol and Caffeine
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans cautions against mixing alcohol with caffeine.
When alcohol is mixed with caffeine, the caffeine can mask the depressant effects of alcohol, making drinkers feel more alert than they would otherwise.
As a result, they may drink more alcohol and become more impaired than they realize, increasing the risk of alcohol-attributable harms.
Caffeine has no effect on the metabolism of alcohol by the liver and thus does not reduce breath or blood alcohol concentrations (it does not “sober you up”) or reduce impairment due to alcohol consumption.
Dangers of Mixing Alcohol and Energy Drinks
Energy drinks typically contain caffeine, plant-based stimulants, simple sugars, and other additives.
Mixing alcohol with energy drinks is a popular practice, especially among young people in the United States.
Liquor was the usual type of alcohol consumed by students who reported mixing alcohol and energy drinks (52.7%).
Drinkers aged 15 to 23 who mix alcohol with energy drinks are 4 times more likely to binge drink at high intensity (i.e., consume 6 or more drinks per binge episode) than drinkers who do not mix alcohol with energy drinks.
Drinkers who mix alcohol with energy drinks are more likely than drinkers who do not mix alcohol with energy drinks to report unwanted or unprotected sex, driving drunk or riding with a driver who was intoxicated, or sustaining alcohol-related injuries.
Study Suggest Link Between Energy Drinks and Drug Use
Energy drinks can give someone a temporary boost in alertness or physical pep, but there’s a downside. We’ve mentioned before that using energy drinks can have unpleasant side effects. People have even gone to the ER complaining about side effects.
Now it turns out there’s another risk associated with energy drinks: College students’ regular use of energy drinks might increase their risk for drug problems.
Energy now, trouble later?
A recent study asked more than 1,000 college students about their use of energy drinks and other caffeinated drinks, cocaine, and alcohol.
The researchers found that students who regularly consumed (or increased their use of) energy drinks had higher rates of cocaine use, prescription stimulant misuse, and alcohol problems compared with students who didn’t consume energy drinks.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that regularly using energy drinks causes drug problems later, but the connection is getting the attention of scientists.
Caffeine and the Teen Brain
Some studies have suggested that caffeine, found in high amounts in many energy drinks, might be “priming” the teen brain—which is still developing—for drug use later in life.
Teens who regularly consume caffeine might have a greater “tolerance” to it, compared to adults, which means they’re more likely to consume more caffeine to feel that peppy effect. So, scientists suspect that caffeine may cause greater brain changes in young people who consume it regularly compared with teens who don’t.
One of those changes could be a higher risk for drug problems, including addiction, in the future.
