Below are the opening lines of a news item on AP. Read online: https://apnews.com/article/energy-drinks-monster-big-12-ncaa-pediatrics-...
==
Sean and Heidi Cripe will never forget the call from their son’s high school saying Davis was being taken to the emergency room.
“He chugged an energy drink — like, just trying to be cool,” said Sean Cripe, recounting the day nearly a decade ago.
The teen’s heart soon fell out of rhythm and he died. While such deaths are rare, doctors across the country have warned for years that energy drinks contain high levels of caffeine that can seriously harm children, causing problems such as abnormal heartbeats, increased heart rate, sleep disturbances, dehydration, agitation, high blood pressure and seizures.
==
... To protect children, teachers and coaches can educate them about the dangers of too much caffeine... Parents and other adults can also model good behavior by not consuming energy drinks in front of kids.
==
Monster Energy sells 30% of energy drinks in the US and its response to the above: “Mainstream energy drinks have been marketed worldwide for more than 30 years and more than 100 billion energy drinks have been sold and safely consumed globally.” This is reminiscent of tobacco companies in the 1950s: “For more than 300 years tobacco has given solace, relaxation and enjoyment to mankind... We believe the products we make are not injurious to health.” https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Frank_Statement_to_Cigarette_Smokers
CHIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org