Under 18s guzzle energy
drinks by the truckload

The price of being cool. Cola's out and the stuff
that's in is a lot more powerful

BY HENRY PETERS

You've got young people as patients, but do you know what they're drinking? Forget about beer, wine coolers, berry-flavored vodka or any other alcoholic beverage. We're talking about the latest rage among youths--the energy drink. And the reason you should know is that some of the ingredients could be affecting your patients' health.

A short list of ingredients would include taurine, an amino acid that is depleted by physical exertion and reportedly gives you the energy of caffeine without the jitters; glucuronolactone, produced by the liver, which acts with B vitamins and taurine to help detox the body; guarana, derived from an Amazonian plant, is said to enhance the sex drive; and lots and lots of caffeine.

It all started back in the 80s with Jolt, a cola that offered "all the sugar and twice the caffeine" of regular cola. In 1987, an Austrian introduced the mother of all energy drinks, Red Bull. That first year he sold a million of the stylish little blue and silver cans. By 1998 sales were up to 300 million. Red Bull heads the Canadian market as the "cool" drink of choice. Its introduction here in 2001 was delayed because three deaths were attributed to it in Europe, two from mixing it with alcohol.

There are more than 150 energy drinks now on the market. Some are as innocuous as low sugar fruit juice with perhaps a little B vitamin or ginseng. Others, though, contain a mixture of more powerful ingredients that promise everything from hangover cures to substantial boosts in stamina.

The risks are clear according to David Pearson, a researcher in the Human Performance Laboratory at Ball University in Indiana. "It's scary to think that these energy drinks are being used as a mixer with vodka and whiskey," he said. "You are just overloading the body with heavy stimulants and heavy depressants."

"I think we're going down the same road as when people drink alcohol and ingest ecstasy and other types of designer drugs. Some people physically cannot take the combination."

Young patients should be cautioned about the practice.