Doctors sound energy drink alarm

AP:

Sean and Heidi Cripe will never forget the call from their son’s high school informing them that Davis was being taken to the emergency room.

“He chugged an energy drink – like, just trying to be cool,” Sean Cripe said, recalling the day nearly a decade ago.

The teenager’s heart soon went out of rhythm, and he died.

While such deaths are rare, doctors across the United States have for years warned that energy drinks contain high levels of caffeine that can seriously harm children, causing problems including abnormal heart rhythms, elevated heart rates, sleep disturbances, dehydration, agitation, high blood pressure and seizures.

A newly formed coalition of physicians is highlighting those risks following a sponsorship agreement between Monster Energy and the Big 12 Conference collegiate athletic organisation.

The group has urged conference leaders to pause the sponsorship and called on the National College Athletic Association to review energy drink marketing aimed at young people, citing the deaths of three children, including Davis, a 16-year-old from South Carolina.

The doctors stressed that their concerns extend beyond Monster Energy to the broader energy-drink industry and similar promotional partnerships.

“Kids are going to see energy drinks now promoted by the universities and the athletes that they admire and want to emulate,” said Dr Matthew Nelson, an Idaho cardiologist involved in the effort. “The kids will think of them as sports drinks, which they’re not.”

Several medical organisations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, advise that children and teenagers avoid energy drinks altogether. Yet, many continue to consume them.

Monitoring the

Future survey

According to the latest results from the federally funded Monitoring the Future survey, conducted by the University of Michigan, 23 per cent of 12th-grade students, 20 per cent of 10th graders and 18 per cent of eighth graders reported consuming energy drinks daily.

Depending on the product, caffeine content can range from 80 milligrams to 300 milligrams per serving. By comparison, a typical eight-ounce cup of coffee contains about 80 to 100 milligrams, while some soft drinks contain 50 milligrams or less.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children aged 12 to 18 limit caffeine intake to 100 milligrams per day. Younger children are discouraged from consuming caffeine altogether.

Caffeine and other stimulants increase heart rate and heighten nervous system activity, essentially affecting “how fast things go in the body, which can create an overload of the system”, said Dr Tamara Hannon, an Indiana paediatrician who chairs the academy’s nutrition committee.

She compared the effect to running a blender until its motor overheats.

“The same thing can happen when you deliver stimulants to people,” she said. “The heart can wear out, the nervous system can go haywire and you can have really serious consequences.”

While cardiovascular risks linked to excessive caffeine consumption are well established, experts at Harvard Medical School say there is no scientific evidence supporting the common belief that caffeine stunts growth.

Children with pre-existing conditions such as high blood pressure face an especially high risk, Hannon said. However, even otherwise healthy children who consume excessive amounts of stimulants can experience serious complications, including young athletes.

Another concern is that children often consume multiple sources of caffeine throughout the day.

That was the case with Davis Cripe, who died in 2017. According to the coroner’s findings at the time, Davis had no known heart condition and had consumed a Mountain Dew and a latte from McDonald’s earlier in the day. He suffered an arrhythmia after drinking the energy drink.

It was not the first time he had consumed an energy drink, although he was not a regular user.

“We had talked to him and let him know that they weren’t healthy,” Sean Cripe said. “We didn’t understand they could be deadly.”

The American Beverage Association, whose members include Monster Energy and other companies representing 94 per cent of the energy-drink market, said manufacturers voluntarily disclose caffeine content on product labels. The labels carry advisories such as: “Not intended for children, pregnant or nursing women, or persons sensitive to caffeine.”

The association also said its members do not sell or market energy drinks in K-12 schools.

Monster Energy said in a statement that caffeine and other ingredients found in its beverages are also present in a wide range of food products.

“Mainstream energy drinks have been marketed worldwide for more than 30 years and more than 100 billion energy drinks have been sold and safely consumed globally,” the company added.