Researchers Call Non-Alcoholic Energy Drinks Public Health Threat

Energy drinks packed with caffeine and popular among teens and college students could be a public health hazard, according to an advisory put out by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Even energy drinks containing no alcohol,Rift Gold like Red Bull and others, might pose a significant threat to the people who use them, according to researchers at the University of Maryland School of Public Health and Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Of particular concern are the beverages' effects on the heart and their link to excessive drinking and drug use.

"If children aren't used to having caffeine,RIFT Platinum that can start to affect their heart rate," nutritionist and registered dietician Megan Fendt of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York told AOL Health. "It's usually a short-term effect of either a heart palpitation or an abnormal heart rate."

The JAMA report recommends an immediate crackdown involving consumers, health-care providers, the Food and Drug Administration and drink manufacturers.

"Recent action to make pre-mixed alcoholic energy drinks unavailable was an important first step, but more continued action is needed," paper co-author Aelia Arria, a researcher at the Maryland School of Public Health, said in a statement. rift gold"No regulation exists with regard to the level of caffeine that can be in an energy drink."

She also pointed out that consumers of the energy drinks can mix their own alcohol in, packing even more of a risky punch.

She and co-author Mary Claire O'Brien, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Wake Forest, began notifying state attorneys general about the hazards of alcoholic energy drinks in 2009. Ultimately, the initiative led the FDA and Federal Trade Commission to take action against Four Loko and similar beverage companies.

The JAMA report says there are three public health problems with any of the heavily caffeinated energy drinks,RIFT Platinum which contain between 70 and 80 milligrams of caffeine -- about double the amount that's in soda. Those risks include their association with the "party culture" and the consequences (i.e. driving under the influence); caffeine's health hazards in people sensitive to it; and the drinks' link to alcohol and drug use, abuse and addiction.

The paper calls on doctors to warn patients about the risks, consumers to be aware of the potential health hazards, and manufacturers and government agencies to disclose caffeine content and other ingredients on the label.

"Nobody should be having that much caffeine in one bottle of anything, but especially not children," Fendt told AOL Health.TERA Gold "Because they're marketed as these sugary, sweet drinks in a can, children are more likely to just grab them and not think about it."