How Safe Are Energy Drinks?

Growing up as a teenager in the late 60’s was an interesting time. Up to that point, no one seemed to consider the possibly that what we were consuming might not be healthy for us. Cigarette ads were everywhere- magazines, television, billboards. Smoking was a growing habit among all Americans. Then, suddenly, someone decided to take a good look at some of our ‘unhealthy’ habits and let us know about them. I will never forget the day it was announced that the artificial sweetener in ‘Tab’ soda could cause cancer. I was a student at an all-girls high school, and teenage girls (being the drama queens that they were), spent the day in tears because they had been drinking Tab for years and were sure they were going to die. Next the Surgeon General told us that cigarettes caused cancer. After that there has been an endless succession of warnings about the products we use and consume.

I agree that many of them are not safe. I’ve sipped bottled water that tasted like chemicals and threw it away. An article I read stated that the chemicals making up the plastic bottle holding the water will break down when stored in high temperatures (like in a warehouse in summer). Lately I’ve been wondering about these ‘energy’ drinks that are being sold everywhere. They claim to be safe for consumption, but so was Tab when it first came out. I wonder if we will see some adverse health effects a few years from now in individuals who drink them too often. And maybe that’s the key to all the ‘unhealthy’ habits – a lack of moderation. If used in moderation, when it is truly needed, there probably is no risk in consuming energy drinks. But beware of a high volume of consumption on anything. Remember the saying – ‘too much of a good thing’.

The author, Marge Bonura, is the Director of Sales & Marketing for New England Machinery, Inc. (NEM). NEM is a leading manufacturer of bottle unscramblers, cappers, orienters, retorquers, lidders, pluggers, pump sorter/placers, scoop feeders, hopper elevators and much more. The company has been in business since 1974 selling to the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, personal care, chemical, household products, automotive and other industries. For more information on NEM, visit their website at www.neminc.com.