Should caffeine levels in energy drinks be restricted?

I agree. Caffeine is a very benign drug, and its hard to take too much of it. It usually just makes people really tired at high doses.
 
I thought it was? At least in the UK. I can't seem to find any drink with more than 40mg/100ml in, but you can just buy like 5g of powder in supplement stores.
 
Seems simple to include a warning on the label; not for under 17 (or explaining the LD50 of caffeine).
(Then again, children are allowed to use caffeine and energy drinks, I think, so my latter suggestion might work better).

On a 5g sack of powder, I would hope they would have a warning label, since people sometimes snort it (and can easily die from doing so).
 
Maybe a "slight" age restriction would be beneficial. I think would would have to snort well over a gram in a short period of time to die. The buzz gets worse and worse after ~300mg.
 
I'm not sure if it's wise to let children drink energy drinks. They are depleting to the body. People might not have outright chronic fatigue syndrome most of the time, but the net long-term effect is for sure lowered energy levels and less of an ability to sustain alertness without the caffeine.
 
whaaat.. No way, if you don't want the amount of caffeine offered dont drink that brand.. some of us need this. I can't wait for them to up the ante once again, yep can't wait to see 7500mg on the energy blend of all my favorite beverages.
 
No. If you're going to do any caffeine regulation, start by requiring consistent labeling of all caffeine-containing beverages. Dry tea and coffee should also be labeled, perhaps in terms of mg/bag for tea and mg/oz or mg/tablespoon for coffee.
 
If you restrict levels of caffeine in energy drinks, people will just consume multiples. Or caffeine pills. This is pointless to argue over.

I hardly see any energy drinks over 200mg caffeine/serving. And I don't see any warnings at all on Starbucks "coffee". (caffeinated and sugared brown latex paint)
 
neversickanymore said:
whaaat.. No way, if you don't want the amount of caffeine offered dont drink that brand.. some of us need this. I can't wait for them to up the ante once again, yep can't wait to see 7500mg on the energy blend of all my favorite beverages.
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Wow... Didn't someone say LD50 was 2 grams?

I do think there should be regulation. If you want that much caffeine... Buy powder. No child or growing person should be able to just mindlessly drink stuff that makes them feel good/, with an ease as if without regulation, unaware of things like LD50, or the constitutes of the drink and what they do.
 
Oh, the LD50 of caffeine is about 150-200 mg/kg, meaning about 10-15 grams for a 60kg person. Caffeine is actually suprisingly "safe"; you would likely be writhing on the floor vomiting at about 2-3 grams of caffeine, but you'd live. There are plenty of records of people "pushing the limits" on caffeine - almost all of them decide it is a dumb idea afterwards.
 
Given that the lower end of the LD50, 3 grams, is still about 15 200mg energy drinks (or 38 80mg drinks like Redbull), I don't think this is something to be too concerned about. I think the average individual would be pretty sick after even 6!
 
Ahh.. Thanks for clearing that up. Thought it sounded a bit low... Had a lazy moment.
 
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