By India McCarty
The recent tragic death of a teen is causing many parents to look closer at the real effects of energy drinks.
Seventeen-year-old Texas cheerleader Larissa Nicole Rodriguez died last year from complications of an “enlarged heart due to stress and large amounts of caffeine,” per NBC. Now, her parents are suing energy drink company Alani Nu, which they say “had inadequate warnings about the serious cardiac risks that this product brings.”
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Celsius Inc., which owns Alani Nu, stated, “Alani Nu energy drinks disclose 200mg of caffeine on the can, and the label states the product is not recommended for children, people sensitive to caffeine, pregnant women, or women who are nursing.”
Rodriguez isn’t the only young person who has recently died following ingestion of an energy drink. In 2022, 21-year-old Sarah Katz passed away after suffering a cardiac arrhythmia, which her parents say was caused by drinking Panera’s Charged Lemonade beverage.
“It’s history repeating itself with the tobacco industry,” her mother Jill said, per the California Post. “[Energy drink companies] actively target children and teens to get them hooked.”
Jill is now working to get energy drink companies to be more transparent about the caffeine level of their products, as well as the potential side effects of drinking their beverages.
“It’s just like disclosures for calories or if something contains peanuts,” she explained. “I don’t want to see in teeny, tiny black print whether it’s a bunny hill or a double black diamond that I’m about to go down.”
While many young people drink energy drinks without worry, experts say they — and their parents — need to be more cautious.
“It can be challenging for youth to distinguish between drinks that contain caffeine and those that do not,” Kait Brown, PharmD, DABAT, Clinical Managing Director for America’s Poison Centers, told Parents.
She continued, “Energy drinks are not recommended for kids and teens due to the amount of sugar and caffeine they contain…Aside from the potential long-term health effects from drinking sugary-caffeinated beverages, caffeine can increase anxiety, irritability and sleeplessness in kids and teens.”
Maryann Amirshahi, MD, PharmD, Professor of Emergency Medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine and Co-Medical Director of the National Capital Poison Center, echoed Brown’s warnings, telling parents to discuss the dangers of energy drinks with their teens.
The symptoms of caffeine overdose include “loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, rapid heart rate and/or palpitations, tremors and anxiety or irritability, trouble sleeping and dehydration.”
Energy drinks might seem harmless, but there are many dangerous and harmful side effects that parents and teens need to be aware of before ingesting these products.
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