Wednesday, October 15, 2008

What's in That Energy Drink?

How much caffeine is there in those so-called “energy drinks”? Take a look at the article in press in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence (2008) by C.J. Reissig, et al., entitled “Caffeinated energy drinks – A growing problem”, available online at www.sciencedirect.com. According to Table 1 in the article, some of them are pretty high-powered. Most energy drinks have about the same caffeine concentration as brewed coffee, but considering that some drinks come in 16- or even 24-oz sizes, that's a lot of caffeine.

Sales of these products continue to climb. Health officials are growing increasingly concerned by reports of acute caffeine intoxication, dependence, and withdrawal among children. There is also a trend toward the combined use of energy drinks and alcohol among young adults.

Which ones do your students drink? Do they know what’s in them?

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