she sees more teenagers buying the product but says that most customers are older, in contrast to a New York Times report that a third of 12- to 24-year-olds down the drinks.Īt his private practice, Norenberg says, he's had "a lot" of high-schoolers and college students "come in and say they're on them. "They fly outta here," Debby Lopes, an employee at the White Hen Pantry on Main Street in Hyannis, says.ĭuring the school year. Still, he says, the drinks are "really popular" among high school students. And I have a whole bunch of friends who drink them all the time."īancroft reduced his use because the drinks seemed to stop doing their job, he says. Side effects - mainly a vicious "crash" a couple hours after consuming the drinks that left him groggier than before his guzzling - were what caused Rob Bancroft, 18, of Marstons Mills to quit his Monster habit.ĭuring high school, Bancroft says, "I drank two a day, every day. Finland has added warning labels to cans of the concoction. France just recently overturned its 12-year ban on Red Bull, after the European Court of Justice ruled the country could not ban the product until it could confirm a danger. According to Norenberg, several European countries including France and Denmark, banned the drinks after reports of deaths. Leif Norenberg, chief of pediatrics at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis. "There's nothing good about energy drinks," says Dr.
Debra Foschi, a Falmouth nutritionist.Ī 2006 study by the American College of Emergency Physicians counted energy drink overdose - marked by these and other symptoms - at just one Chicago clinic. Higher amounts of the stimulant "can be hidden reasons for jitteriness, insomnia, nervousness and anxiety," says Dr. Unlike alcohol and cigarettes, which require buyers to be a certain age, or illegal drugs, prohibited to every age, energy drinks such as Red Bull and Rockstar are available to anyone with a couple bucks and a ride to a convenience store.Īnd unlike beverages like caffeinated coffee and Coca-Cola, energy drinks contain high enough amounts of the stimulant to cause serious side effects.Ĭaffeine can cause tremors, heart palpitations and an increased heart rate. With claims like those, it's easy to see why teenagers facing hours of homework, a tough football practice or a looming fun evening would turn to energy drinks for a boost.
One drink gives you wings, one lets you party like a rock star, and another promises to "unleash the beast." If energy drink labels are to be believed, they're the modern equivalent of the Greek gods' ambrosia.
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