| Title | Energy Drinks Pose a Deadly Threat to Children | |
| Date | Friday November 21 2014, @10:34PM | |
| Author | LaminatorX | |
| Topic | ||
| from the inappropriate-for-minors dept. | ||
Medical News Today reports
Steven Lipschultz, MD and his team at Wayne State University analyzed records of the American Association of Poison Control Centers' National Poison Data System from October 2010 to September 2013. These records have information about calls to 55 US poison control centers from the public and health care professionals regarding energy exposures.
Those reports indicate that calls about energy drinks and children younger than 6 years old are alarmingly high--over 40 percent--and some of these children are suffering serious cardiac and neurological symptoms.
The team notes that some energy drinks can have up to 400 mg of caffeine per can or bottle, compared with 100-150 mg in a regular cup of coffee.
What is more, caffeine poisoning can happen at levels higher than 400 mg per day in adults, above 100 mg a day in adolescents, and at 2.5 mg per kg (2.2 lbs) of body weight in children under the age of 12.
"Energy drinks have no place in pediatric diets," says Dr. Lipschultz. "Anyone with underlying cardiac, neurologic, or other significant medical conditions should check with their health care provider to make sure it's safe to consume energy drinks."
The Center for American Progress notes
Energy drinks represent part of a larger subset of energy products that include gels and bars.
[...]The new study comes on the heels of calls to regulate the sale and marketing of these caffeinated beverages, particularly as some energy companies have targeted children as young as six in their marketing campaigns.
[...]Unlike most caffeinated drinks, energy drink makers don't always disclose the amount of the substance in each serving. A Consumer Reports investigation in 2012 found that many energy drink manufacturers producers either fail to reveal the level of caffeine in their products or underestimate it by 20 percent.
[...]Some of these incidents have spilled into the headlines. The parents of a 14-year-old Maryland girl, for example, sued producers of Monster, claiming that the caffeine caused the teen to go into cardiac arrest after consuming two 24-ounce bottles within a 24-hour period. Monster was also the defendant in a lawsuit involving the family of a 16-year-old girl from Arizona who died from a heart attack while on a trip in Mexico. In that case, the girl's mother said that she had been consuming nothing but the energy drink over the course of two days.
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printed from SoylentNews, Energy Drinks Pose a Deadly Threat to Children on 2024-04-19 00:26:17