The Dangers of Energy Drinks and Our Youth
Imagine being the mother of a young fourteen year old son. During one of his basketball games, he is pumped and showcases real talent on the court. He is on fire the first three quarters of the game. Suddenly you begin to recognize an odd shift in his performance. He looks flushed, his pace slows down, and his movement begins to appear sluggish. Suddenly, while running up the court, he crashes to his knees, and nearly faints. What could be the culprit behind this unusual occurrence? A caffeine rush delivered from an energy drink that was ingested and responsible for inflecting a 160 milligram jolt of caffeine into the body of this young man. This is a true story about a middle school
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(Huffington Post 2013) On these labels, they send out a message of advisory, and consumer responsibility. “Limit 3 cans per day. Not recommended for children, pregnant women, or people sensitive to caffeine.” (Huffington Post, 2013).
Even though the manufactures of the “Monster” energy drink protests in its very own warning labels that they do not condone that children consume their product, they still have engaged in direct marketing towards minors. A lawyer named Dennis Herrera took the initiative to bring forth a lawsuit against “Monster” with claims of marketing specifically designed to captivate the interest of teens. For example, a social media network referred to as the “Monster Army”, was created. Here, young teens are utilized as tools of endorsement. Representatives from the Monster Empire attend school functions and use them as a platform to carry out proficient product placement. Athletes that perform well during their games are offered a spotlight of recognition. The students are acknowledged, for their excellence, and photographed with four packs of 16 ounce cans of Monster drinks, and posted on the company’s social media site. (Huffington Post, 2013)
There are several risk factors involved with the consumption of energy drinks. Some of the sideffects include heart palpitations, involuntary twitching of the muscles, the jitters, hyper activity, depression, restlessness,
About 80% of American adults consume 200 mg of caffeine a day. “A 12-oz. (tall) coffee from Starbucks will run you about 260 mg, while a 14-oz. Dunkin’ Donuts coffee contains 178 mg.” The daily intake of caffeine differed between products; one should always check the amount before consumption. There are no limits on how many energy drinks a person can purchase, which make it easy to abuse. Especially in younger children the addiction rate outstandingly high. Which may lead to other drug usage in the future and the committal dependence on stronger drugs.
Energy drinks are comprised of the following primary ingredients: caffeine, sugar, ginseng, taurine, and guarana. Caffeine is the most commonly used legal drug in the world that does not discriminate among the races, ethnicity, or gender groups. Babu et al. (2008) stated that a lethal dose of caffeine in a healthy adult can range from 5 - 10 g with 9 - 28 mg of caffeine per ounce in an energy drink (Rath, 2012). The human body does not block caffeine. The body acts like a sponge and absorbs caffeine and then quickly distributes it throughout the body (Rath, 2012). Individuals have the tendency to excessively consume caffeine. The caffeine when combined with sugar can cause psychological and physiological effects in people such as mild to moderate euphoria. Drinking one energy drink is not considered excessive. Drinking two or more drinks in a day is considered excessive.
There are a lot of effects energy drinks can do to your brain, for example Fox health says” Caffeine blocks the effects of adenosine. A brain chemical that helps you sleep (which is why too much can lead to insomnia)now, think about it your sleep is affected, if you drink a lot of energy drinks it will mess up your sleeping habits. Most people drink it when they work nights to allow them to stay up. Most energy drinks are not FDA approved that means ta it’s not healthy to drink it. It also if you chug one of them you could get hospitalized because all that sugar poured in the body and all the ingredients that is cause you to stay up and keep you going that is not good for you. My opinion is people don’t know what they are putting in there body. It can affect you brain they can affect what you thing if
Despite all the controversy, most people can agree how useful a jolt of extra energy can be some days. Energy drinks can help a doctor be more alert during surgery during a graveyard-shift, help college students get that “A” they have been working towards all semester, or keep police officers vigilant and energized on the job. There’s no way of knowing exactly how many college students that graduated owe their diploma to caffeine, but it sure didn’t hurt to be able to pull all-nighters while being alert. People that enjoy exercise can lift-weights or do cardio way more effectively by drinking one before the work-out. Energy drinks are not only safe but they are making people more effective workers, students, or athletes.
With the availability of energy drinks today, I wanted to warn everyone about the negative effects of it. As everyone should know, energy drinks do give you energy to stay awake throughout the day. It can also be harmful to you in many ways. Some of those ways are inducing anxiety, sleep deprivation, and if you’re pregnant, there is a higher risk of a miscarriage. If you are drinking energy drinks or any type of caffeine any of these could happen.
b. Most sodas with caffeine, unless they are specially enhanced like "Amped" or something like that, have about 35 mg of caffeine per 8 ounces so you don't have to worry too much unless you are drinking several 2 liter bottles per day. Also, the effect of caffeine on you personally will depend on a number of factors like your weight, general health, mood and personal sensitivity to caffeine.
Energy drinks have no curative benefit, and many components have not been studied deeply and not monitored. The reports of toxicity raise concern for potentially serious unpropitious effects in association with energy drink use. For the temporary period, paediatricians need to be aware of the likely consequences of these beverages on the vulnerable groups and share the adverse effects of its consumption to educate individuals. Long-term research should intend to comprehend the effects in at-risk groups. Toxicity inspection should be enhanced, and ordinances of energy drink sales and consumption should be based on suitable
(Citations, expert) The International Journal of Health Sciences says there are many potential adverse effects of energy drinks in relation to their ingredients such as:
Energy drinks are a kind of refreshments that are advertised as soft drinks that boost energy. The truth is these kinds of drinks are full of many harmful ingredients, such as sugar, stimulants, and other herbal supplements. Energy drinks are targeting high school and college students who may use this kind of drink to keep them awake for a midterm, or even give them a hallucination feeling any other alcoholic beverages will do. Many studies showed the disadvantageous of these drinks, yet this industry has wildfire between underage kids who used it to show their rebellious side through a safe and cheap way. A new study shows that 34% of youth between the ages of eighteen years old and twenty- four years old consume energy drinks regularly
2. Diabetes, Researchers at Duke University Medical Center found that consumption of caffeine raised the average daily sugar levels by 8 per cent.
People around the world drink energy drinks on a daily basis not knowing of the ingredients and how they affect your body. more than 200 milligrams of caffeine can be dangerous, and energy drinks can include up to 500mg
Sylvia Nena (2011) also stated that “Manufactures of these products claim to increase energy, endurance, burn fat and improve athletic performance. According to experts, many of them state that it is untrue that energy drink helps to increase energy. This is due to drugs that can be found in the drinks such as caffeine. Caffeine with high levels of consuming can cause some problems to the human body like palpitations, hypertension, vomiting, convulsions and even worst heart failure which can lead to death. Roland Griffiths (2012) a caffeine specialist said that high caffeine in use by young people can cause a cycle of rushes and crashes that can add “a degree of variance to their moods and psychological well-being that they don’t really need. Joao Breda(2014) from WHO’s Europe wrote that caffeine has a proven negative effect on
There are three main reasons energy drinks have bad effects the body. One reason why energy drinks are bad is because can increase the risk to get heart problems. Caffeine is the most common ingredient found in a majority of energy drinks; symptoms of caffeine include increasing respiratory rate, heart rate, and blood pressure. These effects are present when consuming caffeine. If someone has heavy stress, anxiety, blood clot disorders, or heart problems severe symptoms can include cardiac arrest, stroke, heart attack, and death. In addition, Fiona Macrae presented a study done from university students about Red Bull’s sugar free energy drink and she revealed that it “ increased the ‘stickiness’ of the blood and raised the risk of life- threatening clots”(Par.2) . The Second reason is because it can cause energy crashes. If people thought energy drinks created a permanent source of energy, Mandy Rath states that “increase in blood sugar levels and gives a temporary boost in energy.
Trenier, Theresa. “Energy Drink Dangers.” Newsletters for Mental Health. Milwaukee School of Engineering. January. 2007. <http://www.msoe.edu/life_at_msoe/current_student_resources/student_resources.com>
The study also found out that 23% of the women tested don’t consume caffeine on a daily basis (Hoidrup, Gronbaeck, Gottschau, Lauritzen, Schroll, 2002). A higher percentage of males consume soda as their main source of caffeine, with less of a percentage not consuming any caffeine whatsoever (Hoidrup, Gronbaeck, Gottschau, Lauritzen, Schroll, 2002).