Caffeine Crackdown on Alcoholic Energy Drinks

November 18th, 2010. By janem

Alcoholic energy drink makers and no doubt hoards of 20-somethings won’t be happy with the FDA’s warning yesterday to remove caffeine from their products. Four companies, including Four Loko maker Phusion Projects have 15 days to come up with a new recipe or remove their products from store shelves. Whatever next, caffeine ban on “healthy energy drinks“? Heaven forbid…

It’s a good indicator that some of these drinks are harmful when they are referred to as “witches brew” and “blackout in a can”. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

The agency’s decision to ban the combination of caffeine and alcohol in the products is mainly because the caffeine can “mask cues” that drinkers may use to determine how intoxicated they are. “This means that individuals drinking these beverages may consume more alcohol — and become more intoxicated — than they realize,” the FDA said.

Gregory Conko of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which is a nonprofit group that supports limited government, said the FDA has gone too far. Conko said that the studies government officials used to make their decision are based on mixed drinks, not manufactured drinks, so their research is based on a slightly different product. Conko believes that people can responsibly drink a combination of alcohol and caffeine, but it would appear that his views are outnumbered. From lawmakers to doctors to concerned parents, the caffeine crackdown has been a long time coming.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two leading manufacturers saw their sales increase by 67 times between 2002 to 2008. (These companies will likely take a deep dive after yesterday’s decision, and no doubt  to Conko’s chagrin.)

2002: Wasn’t it around this time that teenage binge drinking started hitting the news? And incidents of college students winding up in hospital from car accidents to alcohol poisoning?  The CDC has the statistics:  People who drink alcohol mixed with energy drinks are three times more likely to binge drink than those who don’t mix the two substances together.

And there is more to back up the FDA’s decision. The Journal of Addictive Behaviors (April 2010) published a study that found people who drank alcohol mixed with energy drinks were three times more likely to leave a bar highly intoxicated, and four times more likely to try to drive, than bar patrons who had drinks with no caffeine. Recently in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, a study found that high consumption of energy drinks was associated with alcohol dependence and heavy drinking.

Aaron White, a health scientist administrator at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, comments succinctly on the FDA’s decision: “I think the move [by the FDA] was made in order to protect the public from what could be a real recipe for disaster.”

No doubt the makers of “healthy energy drinks”, such as FRS, are concerned about this caffeine crackdown. Health Canada is already reviewing new recommendations on energy drinks. A report is soon to be issued that focuses on the safety of energy drinks without alcohol, which are considered to be natural health products and have different rules than food products. Another report looks at caffeine in all foods, including drinks that mix caffeine with alcohol.

Perhaps the FDA will follow Health Canada’s new rules, but “healthy energy drink” manufacturers will likely have a few more years to dupe the public into buying their products loaded with caffeine.  Back in 2005, the FDA warned manufacturers and advertisers of alcoholic energy drinks not to imply that consumption of the products will have a stimulating or energizing effect, but the warning fell on manufacturers deaf ears, which is evident through manufacturer’s aggressive marketing campaigns for their products.

“Energy drinks that combine alcohol with caffeine hardly seem healthy – and could be hazardous. These alcoholic energy drinks foster the illusion of alertness, but in reality impair – leading to car crashes, assaults and other violence and injury.”

Although this statement made a few years back sounds like fire and brimstone, a recent study found that young and underage drinkers who combine alcohol with caffeine, are more likely to suffer injury, be the victim of sexual assault, drive while intoxicated, and require medical attention than drinkers who consume caffeine-free beverages. Not to mention the needless burden to the health system.  This time, the FDA has my vote.

Tags: alchoholic energy drinks, caffeine ban, food supplements, healthy energy drinks

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