Energy drinks have become increasingly popular amongst adolescents in the last several years. You may notice as you walk through the halls, many students and even teachers are carrying cans of Celcius, Red Bull, and Starbucks coffee. On average, adolescents consume anywhere from sixty to eight hundred milligrams of caffeine per day (Mayo Clinic); however, it’s recommended that adolescents consume no more than one hundred milligrams per day. One hundred milligrams is about the equivalent of one homemade cup of coffee or one liter of coke. So the question is, are Apex students consuming too much caffeine for their own good?

Many Apex students consume copious amounts of caffeine while others consume a healthy amount. One anonymous senior says they consume roughly two to three hundred milligrams each day. Another student said they consume roughly four hundred milligrams each day. An anonymous junior said they start each day with a double shot of espresso, which is roughly seventy-five milligrams, and they try not to consume any more than that in one day.

Caffeine, when consumed regularly in large quantities, has been known to cause a variety of health issues, especially in teenagers.

Atrial Fibrillation (Afib) was reported in two otherwise healthy boys aged fourteen and sixteen as a result of overconsumption of caffeine. Afib is an irregular heart rhythm in the upper heart chamber, the Atria. This condition can last a lifetime and cause fatigue, dizziness, and lead to other heart conditions. In other cases, overconsumption of energy drinks caused Myocardial Infarction in two otherwise healthy boys aged seventeen and nineteen. Myocardial Infarction is when blood stops flowing to a portion of the myocardium–muscular tissue of the heart. This is more commonly referred to as a heart attack and it can be fatal. 

Many energy drinks have high sugar content, some as high as sixty-three grams per sixteen fluid ounces (fl oz), which is more than double the recommended daily sugar intake of twenty-five grams. Consuming these large amounts of sugar regularly can lead to obesity and Type Two Diabetes. Additionally, one case was reported of an adult woman presenting with abdominal pain, elevated liver enzymes, and jaundice–when the liver cannot efficiently process red blood cells as a result of overconsumption of energy drinks. 

Caffeine is a useful stimulant to help wake people up in the morning or give someone a boost of energy after a bad night of sleep, but when used too frequently or in large amounts, it can be dangerous. Caffeine can harm one’s body in a variety of ways, which is why adolescents should only consume a maximum of one hundred milligrams per day.