As the fastest growing segment of the beverage industry continues on its growth spiral, there have been increasing signs just how bad these energy drinks can be. We must be careful not to over-react, but shouldn’t we stand-up and take notice of reports of deaths?
I think so, and so do a lot of people in the health and wellness field, as well as the medical establishment. Let’s take a closer look into these complaints, and see if they have merit.
Just to catch your attention, here is the latest news straight from the FDA:
- Monster Energy Drinks: The FDA has ongoing investigations into forty cases of illness, and 5 deaths claimed to be attributed to this Brand.
- Rockstar Energy Drinks: Investigations ongoing into a reported thirteen cases of illness, and 2 lasting disabilities.
- 5-Hour Energy Shots: This little bottle of energy has collected reports of ninety two cases of illness, and thirteen deaths.
- Red Bull: Since 2004, 21-reports have been filed citing a variety of illnesses.
- Amp Energy Drinks: Complaints filed, but not made public by FDA.
I submit to you that this is the tip of the iceberg. As the use of these drinks increase, and with their consumption as part of alcoholic drinks, complaints will also increase. Many times, adverse-events are not even reported. This is because most folks, and many physicians, have no idea how to go about filing these such reports.
How Is This For Adverse-Events?
- Heart Attack or Suicide deaths attributed to 5-Hour Energy
- A Miscarriage claimed against 5-Hour Energy
- 5-Hour Energy linked to convulsions, panic-attacks, loss of hearing, and internal bleeding.
- Monster claims of deaths from Heart Attacks, or Loss of Consciousness
- Monster caused hospitalizations for heartbeat irregularities, severe diarrhea, serious headaches, psychotic reactions, vomiting, and non-fatal coronaries.
- Rockstar blamed for stroke and heartbeat irregularities
- Rockstar also garners blame for hospitalizations for palpitations, psychotic episodes, and loss of consciousness
The Bottom Line
In 2009, over 14,000 Emergency Room Visits were reported to be as a result of energy drinks. Many of the adverse reactions are a result of the high amounts of caffeine. What we are not told, is that other ingredients also contain caffeine alkaloids, and are not listed as such on the labels. A recent study by Consumer Reports were eye opening. They ran tests on twenty-seven energy drinks bought in and around New York City.
It reported: “Five of the sixteen products that list a specific amount of caffeine…had more than 20% above their labeled amount on average, while the other eleven products failed to list a specific amount of caffeine”.
There needs to be some kind of regulation. We cannot leave it up to the manufacturers to decide the dosage of ingredients that could cause harm to certain people. How many people must die, or become ill, before these drinks become regulated?
Steve S. wrote this article on energy drinks and their effects on behalf of All Natural Energy capsules E Fact Energy.
