Laden with caffeine, sugar or sugar substitutes and a dizzying mix of questionable other ingredients, energy drinks have surged to $19 billion in annual U.S. sales in the 25 years since the introduction of Red Bull. These beverages are often peddled as more than energy boosters, with some making unsubstantiated health claims or inferring outsized performance or other healthy outcomes.
Energy drinks are, however, almost entirely unnecessary additions to any reasonable diet, at best, and in many cases downright dangerous — especially for kids.
Consider one of the newest and suddenly controversial products: Prime energy drinks. The zero-sugar, electrolyte-heavy, influencer-peddled beverage packs 200 milligrams (mg) of caffeine in a 12-ounce serving. That's anywhere from three to 10 times more than a typical soda and akin to the amount in a Starbucks Caffè Americano.
The extreme caffeine has health experts concerned, particularly when the drink is consumed by young people. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer just made the issue political, calling on the FDA to investigate Prime and the marketing practices for it.
"Prime is so new that most parents haven't a clue about it, but it is born from the reels of social media and the enigmatic world of influencers," Schumer said in a July 10 statement. "Kids see it on their phones or as they scroll, and they actually need it and the problem here is that this product has so much caffeine in it that it puts Red Bull to shame, but unlike Red Bull, this product has one true target market: children under the age of 18, and that is why I am sounding the alarm and asking the FDA to investigate Prime."
Red Bull has 111 mg of caffeine in a 12-ounce can.
Why the fuss?
Prime Energy was founded by YouTube influencers Logan Paul and KSI. In response to Schumer's claims, a company spokesperson told CNBC that the drink…
"…contains a comparable amount of caffeine to other top-selling energy drinks, all falling within the legal limit of the countries it's sold in," and that it welcomes discussions with the FDA on protecting customers.
For the record: The FDA has jurisdiction over false advertising and misleading marketing, as well as outright unsafe food products, but it has no mandate to regulate the ingredients in energy drinks, vitamins or supplements, nor to approve how they are made or whether they are sold in the first place.
Caffeine can be a safe stimulant in moderate quantities for most adults. The FDA says up to about 400 mg a day is safe for most people. Research suggests notable health benefits of modest coffee consumption, beyond alertness. There are many caveats to caffeine consumption, however, including the risk of poor sleep which, in a dose of irony, can leave you craving an energy drink in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, caffeine is unhealthy for children, whose developing brains can be discombobulated by the stimulant.
Some energy drinks also contain highly hyped ingredients with unproven health benefits and outright risks, such as guarana, ginseng, ginkgo, taurine and St. John's Wort.
"Manufacturers advertise that these stimulant drinks and products improve neurological and/or psychophysiological performance and efficiency, though evidence supporting these claims is lacking," the American Academy of Family Physicians states. "Stimulant ingredients in energy drinks and products may cause significant adverse health effects in vulnerable populations, particularly those with cardiac disease, asthma and other conditions requiring the use of certain prescription medications."
What the research says
A 2021 review of studies into energy drinks suggests some of them can have negative effects on heart health.
"Because the consumption of these beverages is not regulated and they are widely accessible over the counter to all age groups, the potential for adverse health effects of these products is a subject of concern and needed research," said study leader Ivan Rusyn, MD, of Texas A&M University. "Indeed, the consumption of energy drinks has been associated with a wide range of adverse health effects in humans, many of them concerning the effects on the heart."
The concern is not new. A 2017 study, while acknowledging the limited research on the topic, suggested a range of potential health problems linked to energy drinks, from increased risk-taking to poor mental health to heart and kidney problems.
"The evidence suggests they are harmful to health and should be limited through more stringent regulation by restricting their sales to children and adolescents, as well as setting an evidence-based upper limit on the amount of caffeine," said study team member Josiemer Mattei, PhD, an assistant professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The bottom line, according to the National Institutes of Health: "A growing body of scientific evidence shows that energy drinks can have serious health effects, particularly in children, teenagers, and young adults."
Schumer called the amount of caffeine in Prime eye-popping, though there are other products on the market with similar levels. What is unique, in his eyes, is the marketing strategy's alleged appeal to children, even if the company claims it's not targeting kids.
"And because the product is billed as a hydration and sports drink in its other near-identical form, kids are likely to ingest cans of this stuff with parents unaware," he said. "And that's a recipe for disaster."
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