Caffeinated Snacks

Caffeine has been used by people as far back as the 11th century. Originating in Ethiopia, the coffee bean gradually found roots in many other parts of the world and today many of us start out busy days with a couple of cups to give us that jolt we need to get going. But in recent years, there has been an explosion of caffeinated beverages that is starting to cause concern in America because young people are faced with a barrage of ads aimed at getting them to buy high-powered drinks laced with caffeine.

Back in the ‘90s, super-caffeinated drinks were becoming more popular, mostly in amateur and professional sports circles where it was used to give that extra spurt of adrenalin and energy. But soon coffee houses could be found on every corner in our towns and cities dishing up tons of coffee. The more recent introduction of mass marketing highly caffeinated beverages disguised as energy drinks is attracting the adolescent population in huge numbers; some of these are kids 12 and under!

According to the market research firm, Mintel, there are more than 120 new caffeinated food products for sale in the United States.. Nearly thirty of those new products have been introduced in the past year. They have catchy names clearly aimed at kids lie Morning Spark oatmeal, NRG potato chips and Jelly Belly's Extreme Sport Beans - a euphemism for ‘highly charged’ caffeinated candies. What’s more is that coffee has managed to make it to caffeinated personal products, such as Bath Buzz Caffeinated Lotion and soaps.

These high-octane drinks pose some significant health risks. Some people use the drinks in addition to their regular doses of daily coffee or tea. This combination has been found to cause serious risk of caffeine intoxication. The symptoms can be pronounced such as nervousness, irritability, insomnia, tachycardia and psychomotor agitation. According to a 1998 study in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, some 7% of caffeine users have experienced these effects and in rare situations the caffeine overload has been known to cause death.

One of the problems we have as consumers is that companies are not required to disclose how much caffeine there is in their products. Think about it: in one seemingly innocuous bar of a soap called Shower Shock, the skin absorbs up to 200 mg of caffeine. That equals about two cups of coffee. There is even a product called Sumseeds, which are sunflower seeds laced with caffeine. Each package has over 15% more than in a normal 6-oz. serving of coffee.

In 1997, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, filed a petition to require that caffeine amounts be placed on all food labels. The Food and Drug Administration still hasn’t gotten around to deciding on what action to take as a result of the request. Roland Griffiths, a Johns Hopkins neuroscience professor recently sent a letter to the FDA urging it to require caffeine contents labeling. This latest appeal to have the FDA pay attention to the issue is directed at the hundreds of new caffeinated products now on the market in great quantities. Griffiths, who is a world expert in caffeine research, along with almost 100 fellow scientists and public-health advocates signed the letter. The letter appealed to the FDA to quickly review the 11 year old petition that first requested caffeine labeling.

An FDA spokesman, Michael Herndon, has defended the FDA’s lack of attention to the matter citing heavy workloads and complicated multi-issues.

But this prompts the question how difficult is it to put accurate labels on the products? Labels are being printed anyway and the consumer has a right to know how much caffeine is in their shopping carts. It’s a fact that Starbucks has one of the highest concentrations of caffeine in their coffee – up to 400 mg!

While Dr. Griffiths says there is not yet enough evidence gathered to demonstrate the long term effects of over-caffeination in the adult population, he expresses specific concern for kids who regularly ingest the drinks with all those funky names..

Public health officials and doctors have long recommended that prepubescent kids should not be allowed any caffeine in their diets. But as every parent knows, it’s hard for them to resist the caffeinated candies and gums and chips that they see advertised all over the place. Just this year, there was a scare in Broward County, Florida when four middle-school boys were sent to the hospital after drinking energy drinks. School officials seriously thought the boys might actually be suffering heart attacks, so severe were the symptoms..

Sure, that’s only one example but it is happening to young kids all over America. Kids need to be taught from an early age that caffeinated products are bad for them. As for the rest of us, labeling caffeine contents will make us more informed consumers and then we will have the free will to moderate our behaviors accordingly.