Energy Drinks Worry Physicians

These are drinks the older coffee drinking population has no grips with even if the drinks are laden with caffeine and are sold with a promise of weight loss, prolonged endurance, and legal highs. Approximately 7.6 million kids drink them on a daily basis. The number of brands has reached 200. The whole phenomenon was started by an Austrian company called Red Bull and ever since it has become a $3.4 billion yearly business that is no longer dominated by Red Bull, even if it still has a good share of the market by introducing many brands that are sold in convenient stores and many other public places. Big companies like Coca-Cola has their own energy drink brand in the market. What worries physicians is the energy drinks are laden with caffeine and sugar and no one knows the amount. Some also have a big dose of vitamin B to complicate things and when such is the case, the effect will be rapid heartbeat that could be dangerous.

The controversy is the major producer of the energy drinks Red Bull that sells 2.5 billion cans a year is suspected of using a banned substance that is linked to brain tumor, even if there is no tangible proof about it. The energy drinks are not recommended to be used as trust quenchers or should not be drunk in between hard physical activity. Even if mixing the energy drinks with alcohol has become a common practice that is also cited as dangerous. Yet mixing Vodka and Red Bull is a common practice in public places or privately. There are beer brands that are laden with caffeine in the market. What is alarming is even if there could have been a few death incidents attributed to the energy drinks, the number of youngster that are being diagnosed with overdose of caffeine is on the rise and parents are advised that they should not allow their kids to use the energy drinks and they have to make sure it has to be drunk sparingly, not more than one can a day.