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Quentin Minard

Mrs. Cramer

English Comp I Pd. 6

22 Nov. 2019

Synthesis Essay

In the 21st century people’s lives are extremely hectic. Their schedules keep them busy,

and it keeps them in a constant state of anxiety and stress. This keeps them awake, in turn,

keeping them from sleeping properly. People are constantly looking ways to boost their energy

without taking the time to lay down and sleep. People rarely get the 8-10 hours of sleep

recommended by today’s doctors and medical experts. The human population is comprised of

mindless sleep deprived zombies when the simplest solution would be to just go to bed earlier.

Sleep, humanity’s greatest enemy of today’s busy modern society. People are constantly looking

for new ways to replace sleep and its effects. Most recently, in the 1980s arose the modern

energy drinks in Japan. Vitamin fortified, extra caffeinated drinks were regularly consumed by

Japanese citizens, usually business executives trying to get ahead. One of the first energy drink

dedicated companies was Red Bull in 1987. In 1984, Dietrich Mateschitz was the international

marketing director for an Australian company when he came across the Japanese energy drinks

while in Bangkok. Three years later he founded Red Bull. More recently their claims and

ingredients have been called into question. Through recent research and studies the risks of

drinking these drinks, especially in large amounts, are coming to light. The following pieces of

literature were analyzed based on themes in each of them, including the various author’s views
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on the false advertising of energy drinks, their caffeine content and the health risks and/or

complications caused by the consumption of energy drinks.

First of all, energy drink companies are guilty of false advertising. Just like any market

or capitalist society when someone is trying to sell a product it must be advertised to the public.

Doing this process incorrectly can be detrimental to the product. Advertising to the wrong target

market or lying in the advertisements are highly frowned upon. These companies have lied

about their products and they are advertising to the wrong target market. Most energy drink

companies advertise to and target adolescents. They are successful in this marketing ploy for

certain reasons. One reason is they often sponsor professional athletes that adolescents look up

to. Also new energy drinks are being developed and released that contain alcohol and they are

still targeting youth with their advertising campaigns (Seifert 10). In the advertising campaigns

energy drinks make claims that may not be true. Such as, improving a sense of well-being. What

they don’t tell you is that there is no evidence at all to support these claims (Ishak). These

companies will say anything to anyone just to sell their products.

Along with the false advertising there is one ingredient that keeps customers coming back

and buying their energy drinks, caffeine. One of the most famous and typical claims of

energy drinks is to restore your energy for a long day. They do this by adding caffeine to their

drinks. Caffeine is an addictive chemical and doesn’t give you energy, caffeine intercepts the

nerve signal to the brain that tells a person they are tired and changes it to tell their brain that

they are full of energy. Energy drinks have no regulation on the amount of caffeine they can put

in their drinks. As a matter of fact, there is no caffeine limit imposed and enforced by the FDA

(Consumption). Their caffeine can content can vary drastically. Sometimes from 50 mg to 505

mg (Ishak). Some can have 80 – 300 mg of caffeine and along with that 35 grams of processed
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sugar per 8 oz of liquid (Clauson). In small amounts caffeine is perfectly harmless but in large

amounts, such as the ones found in various drinks, it can cause serious problems and health

complications.

Also, extreme amounts of caffeine such as the amounts found in these energy drinks can

be extremely dangerous and unhealthy, especially to people with certain medical conditions. “Of

the 5448 US caffeine overdoses reported in 2007, 46% occurred in those younger than 19 years,”

(Seifert 1). This huge number of overdoses in adolescents is because they’re are reckless and

uninformed. Adolescents who drink more than one energy drink in a sitting, or at least more than

one per day can serious adverse side effects from heavy caffeine consumption. Some such side

effects can be seizures, minor strokes, and in extremely rare cases, sudden death (Seifert 2).

Other common side effects of caffeine consumption are insomnia, nervousness, and headaches

(Clauson). Some research done by Clauson found 4 caffeine associated deaths, and 4 cases of

seizures associated with energy drinks themselves. Ishak found that caffeine consumption or just

energy drink consumption in general can reduce wakefulness in the mid-day. Caffeine can

complicate the treatment of certain mental disorders (Kelsey). Kelsey has also found that

excessive energy drink intake can increase the risk of the development of lithium toxicity or also

known as lithium poisoning. Caffeine can increase a person’s blood pressure and, in some

people, cause depression (Consumption). Excessive caffeine intake can cause a variety of other

side effects and health complications like worsening anxiety disorders. It can decrease the

amount of calcium that gets absorbed into the body there by weakening bones. It increases

pressure inside the eye, which is where redness of the eyes comes from when someone has had

too much caffeine. This side effect can worsen the spread of glaucoma. Additionally, caffeine is

an addictive chemical therefore if someone consumes caffeine on a regular daily basis and
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suddenly stops this routine it can result in caffeine withdrawal symptoms which consists of

headaches, drowsiness, nausea, and vomiting. These risks should be considered when consuming

caffeine.

In conclusion, energy drinks have been around for a while but due to the incorrect and

false advertising methods, their caffeine content as well as their health risks are coming to light

due to new research, and energy drinks are facing new scrutiny. Energy drink companies

advertise their products to young unsuspecting customers and adolescents without giving people

everything they need to know before purchasing and drinking these products. This essay is

written to tell people what they must know. This isn’t an essay saying people shouldn’t drink

energy drinks, go ahead. This is just a warning, meant to tell everyone what they have to know

about these drinks. If someone is going to drink these products, they must do it in moderation.

Take caution and don’t forget the dangers of what just might be in that can.
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Works Cited

Clauson, Kevin A., et al. "Safety issues associated with commercially available energy drinks."

Journal of the American Pharmacists Association 48.3 (2008): e55-e67.

"Consumption of caffeinated energy drinks rises in the United States." NewsRx Health, 19 May

2019, p. 12. Gale Academic Onefile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A585198595/AONE?

u=pl1949&sid=AONE&xid=7fa68315. Accessed 20 Nov. 2019.

Ishak, Waguih William, et al. "Energy drinks: psychological effects and impact on well-being

and quality of life—a literature review." Innovations in clinical neuroscience 9.1 (2012):

25.

Kelsey, D., et al. "A Case of Psychosis and Renal Failure Associated with Excessive Energy

Drink Consumption." Case Reports in Psychiatry, 2019, p. NA. Gale Academic Onefile,

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A600787203/AONE?

u=pl1949&sid=AONE&xid=6dc5e85c. Accessed 21 Nov. 2019.

Seifert, Sara M., et al. "Health Effects of Energy Drinks on Children, Adolescents, and Young

Adults." Pediatrics 127.3 (2011): 511-528.