CHICAGO — Energy drinks are under-studied, overused and can be dangerous for children and teens, warns a report by doctors who say kids shouldn’t use the popular products.
The potential harms, caused mostly by too much caffeine or similar ingredients, include heart palpitations, seizures, strokes and even sudden death, the authors write in the medical journal Pediatrics. They reviewed data from the government and interest groups, scientific literature, case reports and articles in popular and trade media.
Dakota Sailor, 18, a high school senior in Carl Junction, Mo., said risks linked with energy drinks aren’t just hype. Sailor had a seizure and was hospitalized for five days last year after drinking two large energy drinks — a brand he had never tried before. He said his doctor thinks caffeine or caffeine-like ingredients might have been to blame.
The report says some cans have four to five times more caffeine than soda. Sailor said some kids he knows “drink four or five of them a day. That’s just dumb.”
Sailor has sworn off the drinks and thinks other kids should, too.
The report’s authors want pediatricians to routinely ask patients and their parents about energy-drink use and to advise against drinking them.
“We would discourage the routine use” by children and teens, said Dr. Steven Lipshultz, pediatrics chairman at the University of Miami’s medical school. He wrote the report with colleagues there.
The report says energy drinks often contain ingredients that can enhance the jittery effects of caffeine or that can have other side effects including nausea and diarrhea. It says they should be regulated as stringently as tobacco, alcohol and prescription medicines.
“For most children, adolescents and young adults, safe levels of consumption have not been established,” the report said.
Introduced more than 20 years ago, energy drinks are the fastest growing U.S. beverage market; 2011 sales are expected to top $9 billion, the report said. It cites research suggesting that about one-third of teens and young adults regularly consume energy drinks. Yet research is lacking on risk from long-term use and effects in kids, the report said.
The report comes amid a crackdown on energy drinks containing alcohol and caffeine, including recent Food and Drug Administration warning letters to manufacturers and bans in several states because of alcohol overdoses.
The report focuses on nonalcoholic drinks but emphasizes that drinking them along with alcohol is dangerous.
