Caffeine Energy Drinks

Energy-drinks in the United States have been around for a long time. The first batch of the drink Coca-Cola was made in 1886 by pharmacist John Styth Pemberton and contained cocaine. Although cocaine is not caffeine, it's a very strong stimulant drug which has since been outlawed. Coca-Cola is the world's bestselling soft drink even though today, the government highly regulates the use of the original ingredients. In 1985, Jolt Cola was introduced in the United States. Its marketing strategy centered on the drink's caffeine content, billing it as a means to promote wakefulness. The initial slogan was, "All the sugar and twice the caffeine." In 1995, Pepsi Cola launched Josta, the first energy drink introduced by a major US beverage company (one that had interests outside energy drinks), but Pepsi discontinued the product in 1999. Pepsi would later return to the energy drink market with the AMP brand. Since then there have been many more energy-drinks available. Overall, sales of energy drinks in the United States grew an estimated 16 percent last year to $8.9 billion, a record level, according to Beverage Digest, a trade publication (Meier, 2012). The chart below also depicts the growth of worldwide consumption of caffeine energy drinks has also nearly doubled.

MiOENERGY pictured above is a recent entrant to the latest energy-drink boon. The 1.08 fluid ounce container pictured above contains 1,060 milligrams of caffeine " -- more than enough, health specialists say, to sicken children and some adults, and even send some of them to the hospital(Meier, 2012)." Kraft Foods, the manufacturer, claims this to be 12 servings of caffeine. I don't know nor can I find how Kraft came up with a serving size of 88.3 milligrams of caffeine as a serving size. The amount of caffeine per cup of coffee and energy-drinks varies a lot, as the picture below illustrates.

In an attempt to regulate caffeine-energy drinks and the negative health consequences, Dick Durbin, a US Senator for Illinois Assistant Majority Leader, sent this letter to the US FDA.

A partial copy of the letter to the FDA is copied below:

April 3, 2012

The Honorable Margaret Hamburg

Commissioner

U.S. Food and Drug Administration

10903 Hampshire Avenue

Silver Spring, MD 20093

"Dear Commissioner Hamburg:

I am calling on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take regulatory action to address the rising health concerns around energy drinks.

Energy drinks with names like Monster Energy, Red Bull, Rockstar, Full Throttle, and AMP are now common fixtures in grocery stores, vending machines, and convenience stores. These products target young people claiming to increase attention, stamina, performance, and weight loss. The website for Monster Energy Drink claims to deliver "twice the buzz of a regular energy drink...and the big bad buzz you know and love." Rockstar Energy Drink claims "to provide an incredible energy