They’re not going to kill you. But many of these increasingly popular drinks contain significant amounts of caffeine, which can make you jittery and can cause insomnia, as well as loads of sugar, which nobody needs. Worse, these drinks are often marketed to kids and teenagers, many of whom already struggle with weight and don’t need to add a caffeine addiction to their troubles.
“Energy drinks are rip-offs,” said Bruce Silverglade, legal director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington, D.C.-based consumer watchdog group that has been trying for a decade now, unsuccessfully, to get the US Food and Drug Administration to force manufacturers to list the amount of caffeine on product labels. Most of the increased energy you feel with an energy drink is due to sugar and caffeine, added Silverglade.
In a study published last year in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology, Bruce A. Goldberger, director of toxicology at the University of Florida College of Medicine, tested the caffeine content of 10 energy drinks, including Red Bull, Red Devil and Hair of the Dog. In most energy drinks, he said, caffeine levels were higher than that allowed for sodas. While the FDA does set limits on the amount of caffeine in cola beverages – 65 milligrams per 12 ounces – it does not regulate caffeine in energy drinks. And some energy drinks, like Cocaine, contain huge amounts of caffeine – 280 mg in an 8.4-ounce serving – compared to bout 100 milligrams per 6 ounces in coffee.
Overall, caffeine “is relatively benign and is not associated with life-threatening health risks,” said psychopharmacologist Roland Griffiths, a professor in the department of psychiatry and neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University and a caffeine expert.
“But here it is being promoted in the form of energy drinks and, alarmingly, in many cases to children and adolescents,” Griffiths said. Caffeine can increase anxiety, panic, some stomach problems and some cardiac arrhythmias. For pregnant women, safety data are confusing, but the “prudent” guideline, according to the American Dietetic Association, is to keep caffeine consumption under 300 mg a day. Although some data suggest coffee can be good for you, “We should not mistake coffee or caffeine as a health food,” Griffiths said.