MCT CampusPULLMAN, Wash. – On a college campus, caffeine is everywhere – and Washington State University is no exception. Many college students go so far as to say they wouldn’t make it through the day without the consumption of multiple caffeinated beverages.
Although coffee has always been a common source for college students to get that extra boost during long study hours, energy drinks have recently begun to take coffee’s place.
However, many students may be unaware of the negative effects of consuming energy drinks.
The sweet-tasting beverages, targeted to young adults and athletes, are loaded with sugar, caffeine and herbal additives that are advertised to increase metabolism, alertness and energy. The real question is how these drinks provide these extra sources to the body and how much additives are used.
A group of students working with WSU Alcohol and Drug Counseling, Assessment and Prevention Services recently presented a research project on the effects of energy drinks. The project included on-site demonstrations at the Student Recreation Center during the first week of November, in partnership with University Recreation, Club 21 and ADCAPS.
The “Set the Trend” campaign was held to raise awareness about the facts of energy-drink and alcohol consumption.
“We had an interactive demo bag with empty energy drink cans,” said Hannah Nevitt, a senior psychology major involved with the ADCAPS project. “Students who came by could guess how much caffeine was in the different drinks. The amount of caffeine in each can ranges from (the amount) in one to four cups of coffee.”
Why is this bad?
Most energy-drink cans do not label the amount of caffeine they contain, and the labels can be misleading, Hannah Nevitt said. The can sizes are also misleading. Often, the larger cans have less caffeine than smaller sizes, said Sallie Nevitt, a senior psychology major and sister of Hannah Nevitt.
The products in the drinks are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and energy-drink distributors are not required to list all their ingredients on the can. This information is often absent on the companies’ Web sites as well, Sallie Nevitt said.
“It’s scary because there has been no research on the long-term effects of energy drinks,” she said.
Because the trend is so recent, there is little understanding of the pros and cons of the drinks.
“People don’t know what the chemicals (in energy drinks) do to the body,” Hannah Nevitt said about such additives as taurine, guarana and ginseng. The high amounts of caffeine in energy drinks do not always have positive effects, and cases of caffeine overdoses are becoming more common.
A poison control center in Chicago reported 265 cases of caffeine overdoses from energy drinks in the past three years, said Dr. Bill Robertson, medical director of the Poison Control Center in Seattle.
“Most (young people) don’t know what their toxic limit is,” he said.
Symptoms of caffeine overdose include feeling jittery, having shaky hands, not being able to sit still and loss of concentration. The worst case of caffeine overdose can result in Tachyarrhythmia – a rapid heart beat with abnormal rhythms that can result in death, Robertson said.
It can be extremely easy for students to get hooked on energy drinks, especially those who are accustomed to consuming lots of soda and coffee, Hannah Nevitt said.
Drinkers of large amounts of energy drinks or coffee need to be aware of the withdrawal symptoms of abruptly stopping consumption, the ADCAPS group reported in its presentation. Common withdrawal symptoms of caffeine are headaches, muscle aches, temporary depression and irritability. In the case of athletes who turn to energy drinks for an extra source of power, consuming these types of beverages before physical activity is more likely to be detrimental and can cause severe dehydration. The “crash” from a sugar high also has negative effects, the group said.
“Athletes need to be careful,” ADCAPS Coordinator Patricia Maarhuis said. “The NCAA has a regulation of how much caffeine can be in the body during competition.”
What should students do?
With all potentially unhealthy activities, moderation is the key.
“Our main purpose is risk reduction, which involves two things: harm reduction and moderation,” Maarhuis said. “We’re not trying to tell people not to drink energy drinks, just to be careful and know the facts.”
