Parents: Beware of Energy Drinks

Do your kids like energy drinks?  Maybe they do--but for the wrong reasons.  Not all energy drinks are alike.  Did you know that in the world of energy drinks, there are alcoholic and non-alcoholic products.  Do you know which ones your kids drink?

With names like Rockstar, Monster Energy and Full Throttle, these energy drinks are a recipe for disaster.  They are cheaper, tastier and easier to get because of the way they are labeled and marketed.  But the real danger is that they contain 0.5 percent alcohol.  They can contain anywhere from 4 to 8.5 percent alcohol by volume.  It is often hard to distinguish between energy drinks with and without alcohol.  The look so much like the non-alcoholic energy drinks popular with kids today that customers and even clerks in stores are easily confused about what they are buying...or selling.  One of the things that is especially frightening is that the alcohol by volume is often a lot higher than what you would find in beer.  The fact that these products contain alcohol at all is only included in the fine print on the labels.  Many of these drinks also contain high levels of sugar, flavoring to mask the alcohol, about as much caffeine as a venti-sized Latte at Starbucks, along with additives like ginseng that rev up the central nervous system.

These drinks are often sold in grocery stories and convenience stores right alongside non-alcoholic energy drinks designed for kids.  They're usually cheaper by nearly a dollar a drink and, because of the high sugar content and flavoring, they often taste better to kids.  There is a blurred distinction here, they are often disguised as innocent "citrus" drinks, and these products are aggressively marketed on the internet (see, for example, www.fullthrottleenergy.com )

As a parent, begin to learn what kinds of energy drinks your teens are drinking.  You can find the alcohol percent in drinks by looking for "alc/vol" and they will display the alcohol content on the front or the side of the can.  Young people are particularly vulnerable to increased problems from ingesting these products since they are already developmentally more like to take risks than adults are.  A teen's brain is not prepared to deal with alcohol (American Medical Association Fact Sheet, 2003).

Parents--become aware and know what energy drinks are safe for your kids.