Medical Experts to FDA: Caffeine in Energy Drinks Pose Health Risks

WASHINGTONIn a letter to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, a group of medical experts expressed doubts that energy drinks are safe for youngsters.

Hailing from universities across the United States, the medical professionals concluded there "is no general consensus among qualified experts" that caffeine content in energy drinks is safe for adolescents and children.

"On the contrary, there is evidence in the published scientific literature that the caffeine levels in energy drinks pose serious potential health risks, including increased risk for serious injury or even death," stated the letter, whose signatories included Amelia M. Arria, Director of the Center on Young Adult Health and Development with the University of Maryland School of Public Health.

In the March 19 letter, the medical experts cited reports of fatalities possibly connected to energy-drink consumption and submitted to FDA through its Adverse Event Reporting System. The reports exclude injuries and deaths that were not voluntarily reported and only mention three companies, they pointed out.

Visits to the emergency room due to energy-drink consumption have doubled in recent years, the medical experts said, citing the Drug Abuse Warning Network. Concerns also were raised over the dangerous combination of alcohol and energy drinks, which is associated with riskier behavior such as drinking while intoxicated, they said. 

Childhood obesity, heart complications and seizures are among the other adverse health effects that have been associated with energy drinks, according to the letter, which The New York Times first reported on and made publicly available.

Energy-drink companies maintain their products are safe for consumption and have not been proven as the cause of any fatalities.

FDA is investigating the safety of energy drinks including the unsubstantiated reports that link the products to deaths and other injuries.