Discussion on:

Possible Monster Energy deaths: Should energy drinks be regulated?

Quite why anyone drinks high caffeine, high sugar, horrible tasting drinks with natural extracts of dubious benefit is beyond me. Esp. when a standard can of Red Bull will rob you of GBP1, or more.

Energy drinks are an pseudo-science off-shoot of questionable benefits 'science' of Sports Drinks, where the best drink to Rehydrate/re-electrolyte you is simply skimmed milk.

Sports drinks like Gatorade serve a different purpose than energy drinks. Energy drinks are usually used to boost short term performance-some runners have been drinking coffee or tea to enhance performance for some time now, energy drinks offer a different way to do this-there are sugar free versions of most energy drinks to address concerns with high sugar consumption. As with most things relating to nutrition, it's a balancing act as too much caffeine can hurt performance-and even for those not exerting themselves physically, there can be the "crash". As for drinking skimmed milk, many adults don't tolerate dairy products well. In the end you have to find what products work for you, what you enjoy drinking and as others have said, read the labels.

VEMMA And VERVE Healthy Energy!
The original superfruit in a super formula

Looking at a can of Monster Rehab (lemonade/tea one), there is a warning label that pretty simply says 'don't overdo it'... for those who want details 'Consume Responsibly - Max 1 can every 4 hours, not to exceed 3 a day'.. blah blah blah...

So technically, there is a warning label.. Just because people these days are idiots, have little idea of self control (Look at facebook if you REALLY need proof of this), and the general idea of people don't need to police themselves because 'big brother' or whomever will do it for you.

These warning labels are you're basic common sense, and there should be no need for them. The main reason that they are there are because some grade-A moron didn't think.... period... and used a product in an amazingly boneheaded way. Do we REALLY need a tag on an electrical device that says 'do not use in the bathtub... REALLY?

Focus on what needs regulations. the government, corporations (not their products, the C*O's, etc), and things that are more rapidly killing our country than energy drinks.

Obviously, common sense is no longer common.
Using litigation to replace the lack of common sense is not the solution.
.... interesting times indeed ....

Is 240mg of caffeine a dangerous quantity to consume in a 24 oz drink? This article might have greater credibility if the writer had explained that a 24 oz can of an energy drink is roughly four times more in volume than a standard cup of coffee but the caffeine content would only be the equivalent of roughly one and half to two cups of brewed coffee (depending on strength).

Perhaps the real difference is that if one were to consume say, four cans over the course of a day, that cold equate to 7 or eight cups of coffee; probably only dangerous to people predisposed to caffeine incompatibility.

These drinks are loaded full of sugar and other 'natural extract' crap of questionable value, spun as Pseudo-science 'energy' drinks.

Don't forget caffeine is also used as a in many medicines too - commonly pain medication and cold remedies.

If the caffeine is added it's amount should be listed. However, parents need to get a clue. Every parent I know gets frustrated when grandparents or aunts and uncles return their kids sugared up, but then they turn around and allow them to have drinks that are known to be high in caffeine.

I believe there needs to be age restrictions on Energy Drinks like there are for tobacco and alcohol. I am a father of 2 teenage boys 15 & 13 and I can lecture until I'm blue in the face but when they can ride their bikes down to the local convenience store and buy a huge can of Monster as young as 10 it does no good. If there ever was a law on the ballot to set the age to 18 I would vote yes.

"NOT RECCOMMENDED FOR CHILDREN". The death is completely the fault of the parents who failed to instruct, supervise, and discipline the child to avoid such drinks. Failed to investigate the products the child was permitted to buy. If the child was instructed to avoid such drinks and consumed them anyway, then the child is at fault for the death. Now the manufacturer is being sued. As usual, ignorant and foolish people, especially parents who have not supervised and disciplined their children, will try to find someone else to blame and a way to turn an unfortunate event into money to ease their consciences. It is a fact of nature that fingers always point away from the body, do they not? The case against the manufacturer has no merit and the manufacturer bears no moral responsibility. The parents and possibly a disobedient child are responsible for this wrongful death. If the product is really harmful, it should be prohibited. This is not harsh, it is reason niether hard nor soft.

but energy drinks OK? Does anyone else see something wrong with this picture? There is a hunt which for homeopathic remedies, which to my limited knowledge has never ill-effected anyone but energy drinks are not overseen by the FDA? And to make the irony even harsher, it takes 3 years to look into alleged deaths? My, what a fine mess we have. Has anyone ever looked at those who sit at the board of the FDA? No more questions to be asked after that...

Homeopathy is bonkers science, preying on the stupid, that will never work as there is no active ingredient to do anything. That's why is has never adversely affected anyone, with the exception of delaying proper medical intervention.

It's as barking mad as Religion and basing your life on Sky Faries.

I agree that much of the herbal health care field is pseudo-science because most of it lacks scientific proof as neither the proponents or opponents of it will fund research. Vaccines are homeopathy and they work so therefore homeopathy must be real. Of course not all vaccines tried have worked so not all homeopathic remedies will work.

The more sweeping the statement the more wrong it is.

From your statement, you fundamentally do not understand how homeopathy 'works'.

It is quackery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy

Vaccines are based on quality evidence based research and practice.

This stuff is posion, Obama got rid of the Big Gulp and Clove cigs this is worst than both combined where is our socialist govenment when we need them?

I think you've confused the President with the mayor of NYC.
Bloomberg is a republican the last I checked and he is the one that has outlawed any soft drinks over 16 oz. as well as a campaign against flavored cigarettes.

I have been drinking B-vitamin fortified sugar-free energy drinks (Celsius and Twinlab energy drinks have a little caffeine), and have to get them by mail-order. The stores only get the stuff that appeals to kids - they think mine taste gross, at first. I think an age restriction would go a long way towards safer kids. Or taxing it out of a kids' budget, have you noticed the cost of a "serving"???

To quote Christopher Walken in his latest movie..
"No..."

What we *DO* need to regulate is stupid parents! How are children (people at 14 years of age are still children, right?)
How are Children getting their hands on this stuff?
My parents aren't that strict, but as a child, I knew that certain adult activities were not for children...this included smoking, drinking coffee, or alcohol, drinking sodas, driving cars, staying up past 11pm. These were things that children just didn't do...and if you *WERE* a child who did these things, then you were one of those *bad* kids that your parents told you who are up to no good and nothing good will come of them. These children steal, lie and cheat and break their parent's hearts...So yeah...good kids don't do these "bad" things...only bad kids...

trying to tell the 'dumb' how to be 'smart'. Humans
come in many flavors; we really need to look out
for everybody. Absent-minded actors too.

How do we regulate parents, other than putting warning labels on things that they don't have the common sense to restrict their children to? I know its hard for the privileged to believe, but I think some parents out there really don't KNOW that these drinks a. have caffeine, or b. that caffeine is bad for you. Hard to believe, but watching one episode of the shows about kids in beauty pageants will tell you this is true. Manufacturers who are putting dangerous amounts of chemicals in drinks if they are consumed more than one at a time, or more than once in TWO DAYS should have legal obligations to warn people of this, since the reality is the DON'T know.

"Teenagers and young adults" complicate this issue greatly.
You really don't want to invoke Darwin for this group. Most
grow up and become responsible. And I don't want caffeine
gone altogether. Warning labels are necessary to protect
both sides of the issue; ie, the group of irresponsible buyers
AND the companies who make this stuff. "WARNING, don't
stick your foot under the lawnmower, even when it's not
running", some folks need that message. Even you and I
need to be reminded that feet under lawnmowers is NEVER
a good idea. And overdoseing on caffeine is just natural
for some folks to try; and this is where it becomes a medical
issue if the warning is there. Otherwise, if there is no warning
label, it becomes a medical issue AND a lawsuit. Big hunks
of highly radioactive ore don't come with warning labels, but
most consumer items need a "read me first".

Actually, you *do* want to invoke Darwin on these kids. Weed out the dumb ones *before* they can reproduce. Harsh, but that's the way it is.

The FDA was originated in order to ensure that what you bought was what you got.

Somewhere along the way, this got lost, and now there's lots of holes in 'having to reveal' what's in your product, and another bunch of added rules about 'safe & effective.'

It's no trouble for manufacturers to reveal exactly how much and which substances are in their products destined for human consumption or application to the body...the information is easy to obtain using modern analysis.

'Safe' or 'effective' are another thing altogether...levels of something safe for you might kill someone else, and effectivity is difficult to measure, since in few cases is the effectiveness of a compound 100% or definitively established.

Warning labels are important, but get real, the amount of advertising and the emotional responses it produces far outweighs the effect of any warning...that's why we eliminated tobacco advertising.

The vast majority of the cost of soft drinks, water, wine & beer is the cost of convincing you to buy the product. Without advertising, you probably would buy considerably less of these products, and in every case, that would be better for you, me, our environment and the rest of life on the planet.

Capitalism without controls, is mere theft.

We do owe it to ourselves and our society, to prohibit products which simply aren't good for us either individually or as a society. Highly caffienated products in general are not particularily healthy for individuals or society...they promote poor decision making every bit as much as alcohol or other drugs. Such substance abuse needs to be reduced...my Senator or President is permitted by law to make major decisions under the influence of any substance...there are no controls on substance abuse in high office. Does this make an sense at all? The President or Congress can be high as a kite and declare war or taxes, and there's nothing to prevent it.

Have seen in Belize, where I live, a budding young upcoming television reporter and journalist who also found dead after consuming an energy drink. He was buried and no further inquiries were made but it always stuck in my mind that an energy drink was responsible for his untimely death because of an empty can that was found near his bedside. The amount of variables involved here is also very wide but think that your F.D.A. should do some research and put warning labels on these beverages should the facts warrant or deem it necessary. Really, I have no faith in this lot who readily bend and bow to the dictates of the powerful lobbies who make sure that congress protect the interests of these companies. Don't think it necessarily have to be the caffeine content either. There is a long list of other compounds like maca and guarana in these drinks, to just name a few from memory, that may also cause or trigger adverse cardiovascular events in certain people who may not even be aware that they may be susceptible to them. At least in your country you have the recourse of the courts and a whole lot of greedy lawyers on both sides. All can remember down here is a grieving and heart-broken mom who it probably never crossed her mind that the innocuous empty energy drink can may have held some answers for her son's untimely death.

This web site and SHAM-O-CRACY OF DUNCES should be renamed: NOT SO SMART PLANET....chimps have more smarts than we do just look at what they've managed to accomplish in Washington, District of Criminals. The End, bubye!