Research Paper

The Negative Impact of Energy Drinks 

With projects due, tests in school and assignments in classes, many times students feel in  need of extra energy in order to burn the mid night oil and work on their homework have found energy drinks as an option to keep them awake and be able to spend more time doing assignments without falling asleep or feeling tired. However, recent research has shown that energy drinks can have a negative impact in life. Energy drinks can be extremely harmful for one’s life since they contain high contents of sugar and caffeine; substances, which according to an study supported by both the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and University of Massachusetts Department of Emergency Medicine are really hazardous substances “caffeine can raise blood pressure, disrupt sleep habits, aggravate psychiatric conditions, and induce reliance.” As evidenced in the previous quote, the consumption of energy drinks can affect people’s health; among the most common effects that can be mentioned are irregular heart beatings, high blood pressure, anxiety, and irritability among others. An additional problem regarding the consumption of energy drinks is that most of the time young people are not aware of the negative effects that these drinks can have in their health.  The lack of information or knowledge about the negative effects of this type of drink rely on the fact that the manufactures of these energy drinks do not label or give further detail about the hazardousness of the excessive consumption of this energy drink. According to Pumeranz et al (2013), most energy drink manufactures have inconsistencies in the labeling of energy drinks since most of them sell them as beverages and the regulations under this label may be inconsistent and do not include all the information about amount of caffeine or novel substances that can be hazardous for public health (3).  

Another aspect to consider is to evaluate the effectiveness of this energy drinks. As exposed in Edward F in his online article “The Health Dangers of Energy Drinks”, energy drinks do not contribute too much with the improvement of our performance “Although energy drinks manufacturers claim, or at least imply, that their drinks can have a positive effect on cognitive performance, studies have shown that, when compared against placebo (sugar-free lemonade), consuming energy drinks had no significant positive effect on concentration, reasoning, or aptitude”. Therefore, even though energy drinks may make you feel more awake or active when doing homework, the effect do not last for long time, which can lead to an addiction since consumers think that the effect is gone and they may need another one, making the problem bigger because the more you consume, the worse the effects get. 

In addition, a common trend among college students is taking place in greatly extent in their social life and it can aggravate the negative effects of the consumption of energy drinks and this is the mixture of these beverages with alcohol. The danger of this practice is most of the time by students, even though the labels clearly state not to mix it with alcohol as stated by Marczinsk et al cited in a research conducted by Velazquez, C. “ energy drinks mixed with alcohol may be more risky than alcohol consumption (Marczinski et al., 2011). The problem is that, this can bring serious health effects since the result of this mixture can be very dangerous or riskier because it can lead to huge negative side effects since as it is known caffeine is an stimulator and alcohol is a depressant which in combination can lead to caffeine intoxication, alcohol intoxication, since the person cannot measure how much alcohol she\he has consumed because the effects of alcohol are reduced by the energy drink. Therefore, the claim is that Energy drinks can have great negative effects on college students when consuming them inappropriately. 

The causes of the great consume of energy drinks are varied however; media advertisement, as well as the people’s notion of improvement in performance are the main reasons why young adults and college students use energy drinks every day. According to the research conducted by Pumeranz et al (7) which states that” US adolescents saw on average 124 television ads for energy drinks and shots, which is the equivalent of one ad every 3 days”.  As a result, of this constant advertisement booming the consumption of these drinks become higher and the main target seem to be the younger generations since they are more willing to believe the claim without further questioning or completely ignoring the side effects that these energy drinks can have.  Besides, it is greatly advertise on media and Internet, and its popularity as an energy boost is increasing day by day  and advertisement like the following,  portrayed on a online film “ have you had a red bull (energy drinks) before? No? It gives you a little boost when you're tired and you're in need of extra energy, and it's a natural health product, so it's actually good for you because there’s a lot of a vitamin in there as well and it's good for business” (Group media film: Raging Bull: Red Bull Energy Drink Controversy) The previous excerpt was taken for a new broadcasting in Canada, where a news reporter conducts a small research in the marketing on a specific energy drink. The article shows how the sale of energy drinks is not only highly advertised on media but also, many cans are given each day on the streets as free samples. Specifically, I have seen these companies on campus giving students free energy drinks as a marketing strategy to increase their sales. Most of the time students line up just to get a little bit of this energy drink, strategy that seems to greatly work to satisfy the current clients and attract new customers. The second reason is that this product is advertised as a natural product that seems to improve performance and help students or anybody to stay awake. As stated in the online film by the marketing director of an energy drink best seller in Canada, “energy drinks are natural product because caffeine can be found in a number of different products. Taurine’s, (glucuronolactone) is manufactured in the body” (Group media film: Raging Bull: Red Bull Energy Drink Controversy). These statements are all used by energy drink manufactures to increase the number of consumers every day. Most of college students are constantly exposed to social media, internet advertisement, that’s way the techniques such as advertisements and free samples seem to be appealing to students. That is, it is an issue that college students suffered from fatigue less from long class schedules, assignments and classes and as a result of procrastination they found themselves staying all night up in order to finish them,  therefore, energy drinks are right way there to apparently enhanced their performance.  

In addition to these media advertisement and claims of performance improvement and marketing developed by the energy drink manufactures, there have been current research that support the consumption of energy drinks. This provides customers with one more reason to consume these types of drinks when in need of an extra energy boost. One of the researches that support the consumption of energy drinks is found in the Science daily online article that exposes the research conducted by Doctor Matteo Cameli from University of Siena. Cameli conducted his research on 35 healthy subjects (mean age 25 years), drank an energy drink (168 ml/m2) containing caffeine and taurine. Assessments of heart rate, blood pressure, left ventricular function and right ventricular function were undertaken at baseline and one hour after consumption. 

The results showed that energy drinks can actually improve heart performance since these energy drinks enhance contractions of both the left and right ventricles, thereby delivering a positive effect on myocardial function. Even though this study was conducted by a former Doctor using all the necessary equipment to develop all the measurements necessary to prove the improvement of heart condition, the argument portrayed by this research is weak and do not count as a truly reliable study to support the consumption of energy drinks.  As reviewed at the beginning of this paper, and suggested by Rath. M (75) palpitations, chest pain, increased heart rate, dysrhythmias, and hypertension are many of the main negative side effects of energy drinks by itself or mixed alcoholic beverages. Therefore, the proof that these drinks enhanced heart activity is arguable for many reasons.  

First of all, the study was conducted on participant which health was perfect and do not take into account those people who may suffer from cardiac diseases. Also, there is no evidence that the participants have been regular consumers of the energy drink; furthermore, the study does not suggest the consequences that people who drink energy daily may experiment. Finally, the participants of the study where asked to drink just one can of a specific energy drink, and sometimes, people do drink more than one can per a day, which consequently will increase the risks of heart conditions or heart failure. 

Although rare, deaths as a result of cardiac arrhythmia's associated with energy drink consumption some cases have been reported (Babu et al., 2008; Reissig et al., 2008), this is illustrated by the death of a Ireland 18-year-old basketball player who died after drinking several cans of energy drink among other cases were these products were approved to have strings attached. 

As shown before, the study conducted on these participants cannot be taken as a source to support energy drink consumption. The lack of information when consuming energy drink can have serious effects on health, therefore it is necessary to raise consciousness around this issue among college students in order to inform the population about the negative side effects that these drinks can have. As portrayed in an online film, countries such as Norway, Denmark and France have banned the sale of some energy drinks because some studies in rats have found that Taurine caused bizarre effects on those animals. In other countries, such as Canada were further labeling has been required these drinks have recently been approved with a label with lots of warnings that shouldn't be ignored (Group media film: Raging Bull: Red Bull Energy Drink Controversy). 

Even though, it is really difficult to regulate the sale of these drinks in the United States because these drinks are sold as beverages, which do not have the same regulations or restrictions as stated by Pumeranz et all “the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) does not require caffeine disclosure for beverages or supplements”, therefore it is difficult to make changes to regulate the selling of these drinks ;as a result, I consider that regional actions should be made in order to inform the college population and spread the word, in that way in a short run, students are going to be aware of the issue. 

My proposal is to inform Colleague students at St Cloud State University about Energy Drink consumption. The main topic that will be addressed will be the negative side effects of energy drinks. The purpose of this informative campaign is not to portrayed energy drinks as poisonous drinks that should not be purchased; instead, the purpose is to raise consciousness among college students since the lack of information on this topic is leading to a misusage of these drinks which can result in serious health problems. In order to carry out this project it is necessary to follow a plan of action that is viable and appealing for college students. The first step is to form a committee or group of students and professors from the University who will be in charge of researching and later on, divulgating the information among the student population. This committee will have the responsibility to research about the topic in order to have a trustful and convincing argument that is going to be spread out in the next phase. The information can be obtained from different sources such as research papers found in data bases, as well as articles, news and videos. Also, this paper can be used as a base to inform the selected group members. Once the information is gathered the idea is to present this information.  

 Each year, there is a student Research Colloquium at St Clod State University where students have the opportunity to present their research projects and share their findings with the student community on campus as well with the community. Therefore, once all the information is gathered by the committee, students will put all the information obtained into a poster which will be presented in the Research Colloquium at St Cloud State University. In addition to that, a good idea will be to have informative brochures that show the negative side effects of energy drink consumption that students can take home and read more in detail or can be hand out in Atwood main floor after the activity ends or during the event. The resources necessary to have an effective plan are not really expensive. The average cost of a poster is around 30 dollars, and the brochure copies will be around the same amount which defines it as a really affordable plan. In order to develop this plan of action what is greatly needed is the student’s and professor’s commitment. Another aspect deals with the availability to work on this project, since it demands of some research in order to show reliable evidence. Therefore, the time will depend on this fact; however, the approximate amount of time this can take is around one to two months, and two hours the day of the event.  

 I consider that the success of this project is high since it does not require of great investment. Also, some of the information gathered in this paper, as well as references consulted for the purpose of this paper can work as the bases to start working on this project, so just a little of additional research should be made. The viability of this paper relies on the fact that many people can be informed at the same time. Students, university staff as well as members of the community will learn about the topic easily, since the information is handy and interesting since most of college students have tried energy drinks several times and they will be interested in learning about this issue. 

Overall, since these drinks appeared in the market, they have had a greatly acceptance by consumers. Their sweet flavor and its appearing stimulation effect that gives a boost of energy, have gained popularity among those college students who are in search of a little bit of extra energy to face their schedule full of duties and assignments to be performed. However, even though all the information that is advertised on media may sound appealing to you, and specifically addressing you, you need to know that all what is said it is not necessary true. Therefore, it is necessary to make students know the truth behind these drinks. Regional actions can be taken, such as the informative campaign suggested in this paper in colleges and it can be even expanded to high schools levels, since those are the main target of energy drink companies. The problem is not the sale of Energy drinks; instead the lack of information on the labels as well as the side effects that over consumption can cause, are the real problems. Therefore, a regional plan of action in schools may be the first step, as a way to inform students that having these drinks in excess can have serious consequences in your health. In that way, next time students see these companies offering energy drinks free samples, or next time they stop by the grocery store they will be conscious and they will think twice before getting one of these drinks. 

Works cited 

Babu, K., Church, R., & Lewander, W. “Energy drinks: The new eye opener for adolescents. Clinical Pediatric Emergency Medicine, 9,(2008).  35–42 Academic SearchPremier.

Cayley E. Velazquez, Natalie S. Poulos, Lara A. Latimer, Keryn E. Pasch “Associations between energy drink consumption and alcohol use behaviors among college students” Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Volume 123, Issues 1–3, 1(2012), 167-172. Academic Search Premier.

DESTINEE M. GLASSMAN, et al. "Revving Up And Staying Up: Energy Drink Use Associated With Anxiety And Sleep Quality In A College Sample." College Student Journal 45.4 (2011): 738-748. Academic Search Premier.. 

H. Bunting, A. Baggett, J. Grigor “Adolescent and young adult perceptions of caffeinated energy drinks A qualitative approach”.  Appetite, Volume 65, (2013), 132-138.  Academic Search Premier.. 

Pumeranz J., Munsell, C. Harris. L “Energy drinks: An emerging public health hazard for youth” Journal of Public Health Policy (2013) 1–18 Academic search Premier.. 

Raging Bull: Red Bull Energy Drink Controversy. New York, N.Y.: Films Media Group, 20072004.. 

Rath, Mandy. "Energy Drinks: What Is All The Hype? The Dangers Of Energy Drink Consumption." Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners 24.2 (2012): 70-76. Academic Search Premier.. 

Science Daily, 27 Aug. 2012..