Call for energy drink caffeine regulation
The editor-in-chief of the Journal of Caffeine Research, Professor Jack E Jones, has called on the US and other countries to fill the “regulatory vacuum” in the rising concern about caffeine-related deaths.
“How many caffeine-related fatalities and near-misses must there be before we regulate?” he asks.
The US Food and Drug Administration has launched an investigation into the links between certain energy drinks and recent deaths.
The US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has recently found that emergency room visits because of energy drink issues have doubled over four years, from 10,068 in 2007 to 20,783 in 2011.
Professor Jones, who works at both Reykjavik University in Iceland and National University in Ireland, says these drinking-related hospital visits and fatalities are hardly “mere coincidence”.
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Comments and questions3
Well if they want to regulate the amount of caffeine in these drinks, then they should at the least stump up with the hard data. How many have died, not just how many were admitted to hospital, what did they die of, how old were they, what other medical conditions did they have, and who ruled that the death was, in fact, caffeine related?
Caffeine is an insecticide produced by plants, so I have no problems with the concept that it can be potentially dangerous if ingested in excess. But before the food police and medical dictators demand ever more interference into our lives, let them prove their case first.
I totally agree with David.
There is no doubt that many consume more than the suggested daily 400 mg marker. Many popular energy drinks have well over 100 mg... in one single serving! All natural products like Solixir, FRS and Rev3 Energy are good alternatives on the market. Solixir's Awaken is made with all natural botanicals and no added sugar. Awaken has only 30 mg of caffeine for a healthy lift that won't make heart rates race.