Consumer Reports: Energy drinks may mislabel caffeine amounts

Many popular energy drinks often mislabel the amount of caffeine in them, if they even label them at all, a new Consumer Reports study claims.

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A report published in the December 2012 issue of Consumer Reports tested 27 different top-selling energy drinks and shots for the amount of caffeine in one serving, based on manufacturer's serving size.

Energy drinks have been under scrutiny after the parents of a 14-year-old girl named Anais Fournier sued Monster Beverage Corp. for their daughter's death. Fournier's parents claim the teen drank two Monster Energy Drinks within 24 hours and died from cardiac arrest because of the caffeine content. The girl also had an underlying heart condition that caused weak blood vessels. The Food and Drug administration is also investigating five deaths and one non-fatal heart attack that have supposedly involved Monster Energy Drink.

• FDA investigates five deaths, one heart attack linked to Monster Energy Drinks
• Monster Energy Drink maker sued for 14-year-old's death
• Can you overdose on caffeinated drinks?

For the 16 products Consumer Reports tested that did list a specific caffeine amount, five of them -- Arizona Energy, Clif Shot Turbo Energy Gel, Nestl? Jamba, Sambazon Organic Amazon Energy, and Venom Energy -- had 20 percent more caffeine in each serving than it said in the label. Archer Farms Energy Drink actually had 70 percent less than the labeled quantity of caffeine. The rest of the drinks tested fell within 20 percent of what the label said, which Consumer Reports considered to be within a normal range.

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Eleven of the tested drinks did not specify how much caffeine was in the beverage on labels. The reason may be due to an effort to hide the secret ingredients in their specific blends, said the magazine. However, a representative for Monster Beverage Corp. said that the company does not post caffeine amounts because "there is no legal or commercial business requirement to do so, and also because our products are completely safe, and the actual numbers are not meaningful to most consumers."

It is important to note that the size of the packaging and the serving size is not always the same, and not all serving sizes are identical. This means that a 16-ounce energy drink that has an 8-ounce serving size will actually have twice the amount of caffeine, sugars, calories and other components than is listed on the nutrition label.

Consuming too much caffeine may lead to caffeine intoxication. Dr. Marc Gillinov previously told CBSNews.com that drinking 1 gram of caffeine can cause negative effects including irritability, hyper aroused states, abnormal heart beat and cardiac arrest. Taking in 10 grams can lead to death. Doctors usually suggest that people limit their daily caffeine consumption to 400 milligrams to 500 milligrams daily, and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends youths should not consume energy drinks.

Consumer Reports' full rankings of caffeine content in 27 energy drinks can be found on its website.

[dkw017]

carbohyrates, fat, cholesterol, etc. are some of the leading causes of death so yea be extremely socialist and and ban most foods but then what because many die from vegan diets and have health problems from avoiding foods with fats and proteins and essential nutrients. Pure ignorance. milions drink caffeine daily and are safe. maybe you need to drink a monster so youll wake up and maybe use that tiny brain of yours or crack open a book.

[dkw017]

None of your "facts" are anywhere even close to the truth and none of your opinions are sensible. You sound like like scared ignorant fools who can't make your own decisions and need the government to make them all for you. Caffeine is not unsafe and the LD-50 is 10,000mg for an average human to die from caffeine so roughly 100 servings of any energy drink. Hmm caffeine has such a low death rate compared to most other substances. Alarge population is allergic to tree nuts and dieconstantly so why arent peanuts illegal?one girl with a condition dies and happened to have a small amount of caffeine isnt proof just a lawyer's response to money. It states DO NOT CONSUME IF SENSITIVE TO CAFFEINE so chances are the death was unrelated and if it was connected it's no fault but her own. She drank equal to 2-4 6 oz cups of coffee in 24 hours while many people have 4-10 cups of coffee a day.

[momof4inmd]

You know. It's not like kids can "sneak" a perfectly legal item. Anais' mother did not allow those drinks because she knew that too much caffeine was bad for ANYONE (yes, Anais had a heart condition, but it was so mild that she wasn't on medication, nor were there serious concerns about it). However, when she could walk into the candy store in the local mall and buy one of these drinks (which are marketed like soda pop without having to subscribe to the regulations thereof) and then have another the next day and end up dead from it at 14 years old, there's something seriously wrong. Monster "insists" their product is safe (of course they do. To admit that it may not be means that they may be at fault). So, why not give full disclosure about what people are putting into their bodies and in what amounts? If the AAP says youth shouldn't have these things at all, why make them legally available to them? Stop worshipping the almighty buck and take some responsibility for the product you make. You want to market as a soda, be regulated as a soda. You want to be a supplement, market that way and restrict who can buy it.

[IDontUseSkillz]

Medic2012- do you really believe your statement ? if that's the case, then lets go ahead and make a list of things to ban,

#1. coffee ( lets ban folgers,and other coffee that anyone can buy.)
#2. meat (lets face it if its not cooked right then ur gonna get sick)
#3. sugar (i mean too much sugar in ur kool aid is gonna give you that "LEGAL BUZZ")

i mean the list goes on, I feel bad for the child and the family but in a 24 hour period she had 2 Monster Energy's there is times in the day where ill drink 10-20 cans of monster's in 24 hours. Anything that everyone does is bad for ur body, lets ban cars because there putting polluting the air we breathe.

think about anything you put in ur body is not good for u. meat,pop,sugar,cigarettes,asprine, just think about everything u do every day the things you eat,drink, the cell phone u talk on is not good the waves are bad for ur ears but i bet you use ur cell phone every day !

[medic2012]

These energy drinks should definitely be regulated. These are teenagers who are getting sick or dying. I know, you say it is the parent's responsibility, and yes the parents should talk to the kids about the dangers involved, just as they should discuss the dangers of drugs and alcohol. The thing is this, these drinks have a higher concentration of caffeine than sodas. And yes they are closer to the amount in some Starbuck's coffee drinks. But think on this. People usually only drink ONE Starbuck's a day...they are full of calories, fat and freakin expensive. However, some people drink MULTIPLE sodas a day. Caffeine IS A DRUG, if it is unsafe for kids to drink these energy drinks, it should not be sold with sodas. Parents cannot be with their TEENAGERS all the time. These kids are not toddlers!!! They can walk to the corner store and buy these drinks themselves because they are not regulated! They should be! Just like Cigarettes and Alcohol. Kids are not mature enough to make responsible decisions all the time. These drinks are giving them a legal buzz which is why they are drinking them, and SNEAKING them BEHIND THEIR PARENTS BACKS!!!!

[medic2012]

These energy drinks should definitely be regulated. These are teenagers who are getting sick or dying. I know, you say it is the parent's responsibility, and yes the parents should talk to the kids about the dangers involved, just as they should discuss the dangers of drugs and alcohol. The thing is this, these drinks have a higher concentration of caffeine than sodas. And yes they are closer to the amount in some Starbuck's coffee drinks. But think on this. People usually only drink ONE Starbuck's a day...they are full of calories, fat and freakin expensive. However, some people drink MULTIPLE sodas a day. Caffeine IS A DRUG, if it is unsafe for kids to drink these energy drinks, it should not be sold with sodas. Parents cannot be with their TEENAGERS all the time. These kids are not toddlers!!! They can walk to the corner store and buy these drinks themselves because they are not regulated! They should be! Just like Cigarettes and Alcohol. Kids are not mature enough to make responsible decisions all the time. These drinks are giving them a legal buzz which is why they are drinking them, and SNEAKING them BEHIND THEIR PARENTS BACKS!!!!

[dkw017]

explain to me why it is unsafeto drink caffeine? There is no correlation between the death and caffeine and all empirical data support that it was not caffeine at all. you even say hat people drink starbucks and most have more than one cup so you go against your original argument anyway. So if she was four years older it would have been fine right? if she drank her parents coffee they would be murderers? You can buy 200 mg caffeine pills so why isnt that worse? BC theres no media and money involved with them anymore. try chugging 50-100 cans to kill yourself and then try swallowing any pill bottle. SO ifyou want to regualate and ban start with real dangers based on fact and scientific proof. The fact that you dont shows you dont care about peoples lives but whats "hot" in the daily media instead.