An urgent review on the labelling and sale of energy drinks is essential in the face of a rise in reports of caffeine toxicity among adolescents, Australian experts warn.
A study published in the Medical Journal of Australia found callers to the New South Wales Poisons Information Centre reported 297 exposures to energy drinks, over a seven year period. There was an increasing annual trend from 12 reports in 2004 to 65 in 2010.
Of the recreational users of energy drinks, 87 per cent experienced symptoms, commonly palpitations, agitation, tremor and gastrointestinal upsets.
Twenty one subjects also had signs of serious cardiac or neurological toxicity, including hallucinations, seizures, arrhythmias or cardiac ischaemia.
The study, co-authored by Naren Gunja, senior poisons specialist at the...
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