To many adolescents and young adults, energy drinks have become essential for getting through the day. But they carry a serious risk of sudden death, a new study finds.

An international research team, led by Dr. Fabian Sanchis-Gomar of Madrid, Spain, has concluded that energy drinks are the cause of many sudden cardiac deaths in young, healthy individuals.

The main concern is that these beverages can easily aggravate underlying heart issues. Because of their high amounts of caffeine and sugar, dangerous arrhythmias can easily develop in the hearts of young people who drink them.

Many people already balk at the high amounts of labeled caffeine on these drinks. The problem is that there are many additional sources of caffeine that are “masked” by the labeling.

"Masked" caffeine

Ingredients such as guarana, ginseng, and taurine have caffeine concentrations that are equal to, or higher than, caffeine found in coffee. Ingesting high doses of any of these substances can be very dangerous.

Roughly 31% of adolescents from ages 12 to 19 consume energy drinks on a regular basis. An even higher number of people use alternatives to these beverages, such as gums or inhalers. The high amounts of caffeine in all of these products is causing serious harm, the study found. Of the 5,448 caffeine overdoses reported in the United States in 2007, 46% of them occurred in people under the age of 19. The question is, how can we halt this trend of overconsumption by young people?

Dr. Sanchis-Gomar and his team came up with several guidelines to keep young people from over-indulging. They caution that:
•One can (250 mL) of an energy drink per day is safe for most healthy adolescents.
•Energy drink consumption before or during sports practice should be avoided.
•Adolescents with clinically relevant underlying medical conditions should consult cardiologists before drinking energy drinks.
•Excessive energy drink consumption together with alcohol or other drugs, or both, may lead to adverse effects, including death.

In the study published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, Dr. Sanchis-Gomar goes on to say alerting physicians to the dangers of energy drinks is extremely important.

“It is important for physicians to understand the lack of regulation in caffeine content and other ingredients of these high-energy beverages,” he said. Knowledge and awareness are key to providing safety for young people.

To read more:
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Note that the actual article is in the May 2015 edition of the Canadian Journal of Cardiology and it is available to credentialed journalists on requests.

But from what is available in the above link which is what the media articles seem to be based on it seems that there is a lot of scaremongering.


Quote:

Although caffeine is widely used and generally regarded as safe, serious adverse effects have been reported, especially when consumed in larger doses. With a range of readily available sources, such as EDs, gums, inhalers, and orodispersable sheets, adolescents and young adults can easily overdose. It is estimated that as many as 46% of the 5,448 caffeine overdoses reported in the United States in 2007 occurred in adolescents younger than 19 years.

People can easily overdose on almost anything including water. Plenty of drinks that people drink in quantity contain caffeine and sugar, e.g. colas, coffee, etc.

There is no detail about the estimation method, what was used to overdose on, how they came to decide that one can a day is safe and nothing at all about the risk. Does this affect one person in 10, one person in million or one in a billion?

The press release as it has been written has purely been designed to get media attention, which it has done.

#1 Credible information from research.
An international research team, led by Dr. Fabian Sanchis-Gomar of Madrid, Spain, has concluded that energy drinks are the cause of many sudden cardiac deaths in young, healthy individuals.

Hoppy wrote on Apr 9^th, 2015 at 11:22pm:

#1 Credible information from research. An international research team, led by Dr. Fabian Sanchis-Gomar of Madrid, Spain, has concluded that energy drinks are the cause of many sudden cardiac deaths in young, healthy individuals.

The devil is in the detail.

How many sudden deaths? This is not stated in the published information. Playing devils advocate if this was a significant number or rate then you'd expect it to be published.


Quote:

Even atrial fibrillation (AF), normally uncommon in children without structural heart disease, has been observed in a 13-year-old adolescent boy during a soccer training session after ingesting EDs.

I wonder if the entire paper was extrapolated from this single result?

Did the same boy have a similar response when they consumed other caffeinated drinks like coffee, tea, cola, etc?

How much caffeine is in an energy drink? Well looking at Red Bull (START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE) - One 8.4 fl oz can of Red Bull Energy Drink contains 80 mg of caffeine, about the same amount as in a cup of coffee.

Mike NZ wrote on Apr 10^th, 2015 at 1:19am:

How much caffeine is in an energy drink? Well looking at Red Bull (START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE) - One 8.4 fl oz can of Red Bull Energy Drink contains 80 mg of caffeine, about the same amount as in a cup of coffee.

Should children be drinking the equivalent of a cup of coffee even once a day?

Should children be drinking caffeine at all, let alone relying upon its effect to help them through their classes?


I'm with Hoppy on this one.