William Atkins
Sunday, 28 September 2008 22:29
Science -
Health
Page 2 of 3
An article in The Los Angeles Times entitled “
Red alert on energy drinks,” which was written by Dr.
Rahul K. Parikh, discusses the problems with energy drinks and young people.
Griffiths' work is not without controversy.
The October 4, 2004 article “
Behind The Latest Caffeine Scare” published on the website The Center for Consumer Freedom states,
“…
that hasn't stopped anti-caffeine crusader Roland Griffiths from
boasting, in more than one hundred newspapers, that his latest study
proves caffeine is the most abused stimulant around.”
Within the WebMD article, Maureen Storey, a spokesperson for the
American Beverage Association, is said to have pointed out that
“most ‘mainstream’ energy drinks contain the same amount of caffeine, or even less, than you’d get in a cup of brewed coffee.”
And she makes a strong point when she says within the article,
“If labels listing caffeine content are required on energy drinks, they should also be required on coffeehouse coffee.”
The article also states that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) regulates the amount of caffeine in cola-type soft drinks.
That amount is set at a maximum of 71 milligrams per twelve fluid
ounces. However, the FDA does not regulate such limits on energy drinks.
A listing of many energy drinks and several soft drinks are listed, with respect to caffeine, on the
WebMD article.
Page three includes information about energy drinks, regulations, and warnings, as found in the abstract to Griffiths' paper.
