Juan Guerrero 1

Juan Guerrero

Professor Bustamante

ENGL 1302 401

2 August 2023

The need to regulate caffeine.

Introduction:

Consumption of caffeine is near universal among the workers of the world. It is expected

of the office environment too see workers carry around coffee cups at the early hours of the

morning, or to see teenagers drinking energy drinks while playing videogames. Some health

services are against the frequent consumption of caffeine and such related products, but despite

that it is still seen as a necessary element to maintain work schedule, as even the US government

suggests its soldiers should use caffeine to make up for the inevitable loss of sleep without

wakefulness being affected(cite). Students may feel the need to go past their own limits in order

to complete their assigned work without being aware of the downsides to frequent use of

caffeine(cite). That is without mentioning the wide availability of the products despite the

possible accidents regarding accidental ingestion by minors to the possible deadly combinations

that unknowing adolescents might create when mixing substances. The government should

impose stricter regulations on caffeine and caffeine-based products in order to be able to avoid

some of the negative effects that overuse can have on workers, and the possible risks of abuse in

adolescents or ingestion by minors.

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Caffeine is seen as a cheap way to get more work out of workers by many employers,

including even the United States Armed Forces. (Source about how the Army overworks its

soldiers yet pushes caffeine onto them in order to maintain them working despite sleep loss).

Despite overworking their own soldiers, the United States Government still recommends for its

soldiers to consume caffeine to mitigate the effects of lack of sleep that it is causing soldiers to

have. And the problem goes all the way up the chain, as even members of higher rank within the

armed forces consume heavy amounts of caffeine and such related products.

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The pressure of college life can only be compounded from the stress that is caused by the

heavy use of caffeine students feel the need to go through. (Source that mentions how caffeine

increases the feelings of stress and maybe how caffeine affects the heart). The rise in stress and

anxiety that many college students feel due to heavy caffeine consumption cannot be

understated. Such tendencies may not only be carried on into routine but may also result in heart

conditions later in life.

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The opinion that caffeine should be regulated is one that is also shared by many others.

(Cite the one that talks about how children can drink it or how dumb teenagers can mix them

wrong, or the one that talks about how clinicians wanted to regulate it). Many experts in the field

also believe that caffeine can be dangerous in the wrong hands. Between the aforementioned
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deadly mixtures to the accidental ingestion by minors, the substance can leave a dangerous

impact on many.

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III. Rebuttal

IV. Conclusion

In the end, there is only so much that simply stating the information will be able to

accomplish, now that we know about the heart problems caffeine causes, the cost of heightened

anxiety for a few extra hours of wakefulness, it is time to act The faster that we are able to deal

with this issue, the less damage that will be done by the lack of information, and the more

educated people will be about how to handle caffeine properly. This is an issue that affects nearly

everyone, both college students and people in the work force, and is an issue that follows people

far past their college or employment years. The best way to help fight the problem is to speak out

and educate others on the dangers of overconsumption of caffeine. By educating others on the

risks, it will increase the number of people that will demand for the regulation of such a deceitful

substance, and as well will force opportunistic employers into having to accommodate for the

needs of their employees.

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Works Cited

Bertasi, Raphael A., et al. “Caffeine Intake and Mental Health in College Students.” Cureus,

2021. ProQuest, https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.14313. Accessed 21 July 2023.

Gunja, Naren, and Jared A Brown. “Energy Drinks: Health Risks and Toxicity.” Medical

Journal of Australia, vol. 196, no. 1, 16 Jan. 2012, pp. 46–49. Wiley Online Library,

https://doi.org/10.5694/mja11.10838. Accessed 21 July 2023.

Ellermann, Christian, et al. “Cardiovascular Risk of Energy Drinks: Caffeine and Taurine

Facilitate Ventricular Arrhythmias in a Sensitive Whole‐heart Model.” Journal of

Cardiovascular Electrophysiology, vol. 33, no. 6, 2022, pp. 1290–1297. Wiley Online

Library, https://doi.org/10.1111/jce.15458. Accessed 21 July 2023.

García, Andrés, et al. “Acute Effects of Energy Drinks in Medical Students.” European Journal

of Nutrition, vol. 56, no. 6, 2016, pp. 2081–2091. ProQuest,

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-016-1246-5. Accessed 22 July 2023

McLellan, Tom M., et al. “Caffeine and Energy Drink Use by Combat Arms Soldiers in

Afghanistan as a Countermeasure for Sleep Loss and High Operational Demands.”

Nutritional Neuroscience, vol. 22, no. 11, 11 Mar. 2018, pp. 768–777. Taylor & Francis

Online, https://doi.org/10.1080/1028415x.2018.1443996. Accessed 23 July 2023

O’Dowd, Adrian. “Clinicians Call for Ban on Sales of Energy Drinks to Children.” British

Dental Journal, vol. 225, no. 7, 12 Oct. 2018, pp. 591–591. ProQuest,

https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2018.889.
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Thorlton, Janet, et al. “Proposed Actions for the US Food and Drug Administration to Implement

to Minimize Adverse Effects Associated with Energy Drink Consumption.” American

Journal of Public Health, vol. 104, no. 7, July 2014, pp. 1175–1180. ProQuest,

https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2014.301967.

Vogel, Christina, et al. “Inequalities in Energy Drink Consumption among UK Adolescents: A

Mixed-Methods Study.” Public Health Nutrition, vol. 26, no. 3, 6 Dec. 2022, pp. 575–585.

Cambridge, https://doi.org/10.1017/s1368980022002592.