A new study has found that more than half of calls to U.S. poison control centers about energy drinks like Red Bull and Monster are for children younger than 6, some suffering seizures and heart problems. Bloomberg has the story. "The study bolsters the idea that energy drinks aren’t safe for children and should carry explicit risk warnings, said Steven Lipshultz, chairman of pediatrics at Wayne State University in Detroit. People of all ages with underlying health conditions should be vigilant about the heavily caffeinated beverages, he said."
Last December, a study by researchers in Germany showed that healthy adults who consume energy drinks have significantly increased heart contraction rates an hour later.
A January 2013 report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that from energy drink-related emergency department visits in the United States doubled between 2007 to 2011, increasing from 10,068 to 20,783.
Last June, the Center for Science in the Public Interest asked the FDA to require the labels of energy drinks to carry warnings about the risk of heart attack, convulsion, and other serious reactions.