Thorlton, Janet, David A. Colby, and Paige Devine. "Proposed Actions For The US Food And Drug Administration To Implement To Minimize Adverse Effects Associated With Energy Drink Consumption." American Journal Of Public Health 104.7 (2014): 1175-1180. SPORTDiscus with Full Text. Web. 3 Mar. 2015.
This article discusses "minimizing adverse events related to energy consumptions". There are four factors to this problem. The first is social and economic factors. Energy drinks started out as athletes being the main target for the product, but then it branched out to others. The energy drink industry spent over 160 million dollars in advertisements. Another factor is legal and political factors. Energy drink companies have gotten in trouble with labeling wrong. In 2010, FDA banned caffeinated alcoholic beverages because of potential life-threatening effects. Some people sees this ban as an "infringement on their consumer rights". Now the American Medical Association is working on banning marketing. The third is practical factors. Most energy drink products do not label the amount of caffeine in the product correctly. Also, people metabolize caffeine differently because of other factors like diet and exercise or age and gender. They list three solutions to minimize adverse effects. The first is a low-cost option, which is to limit caffeine levels. The second is to create a public education campaign, which would require some costs to the US government. The third is to increase the regulation of energy drinks.
This article kind of answered my question. The energy drink industry is growing rapidly. But the article did answer my question: Are there alternative solutions for energy drinks besides banning them? I really liked the solutions they give to the problem. Another solution could be having to be a certain age to buy and consume. Also, they can regulate how much of the product in one can. They shed some light on the marketing strategy. They talked about how it was geared more towards adolescents and young adults. This is probably why you see younger people drinking this rather than older people. I also find it interesting how the energy drink industry has grown so much.
Both of these sources have given solutions to reducing adverse effects of energy drinks. The first source says that we should educate doctors and pediatricians on these effects. The second source says we need to do more. We need to limit caffeine, not just educate professionals, but ourselves, and to increase regulation. I agree with both, but I agree more with the second source because it seems like it would help a lot more.
This source has led me to think about marketing strategies. How do they get you to buy their products? Also, if we educated people would people still drink energy drinks? How would these solutions effect the energy drink industry? Also, are there healthier alternatives to getting energy? I would like to further my research in the politics part. What social groups are for and against energy drinks?
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