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Foodwatch energy drinks harm especially minors
Soon Latvia will no longer be allowed to sell energy drinks to minors. The Baltic country is thus the second EU state in which there is a corresponding legal regulation. Now the consumer protection organization Foodwatch also calls for Germany to limit the age of such drinks.
Health risks from energy drinks
Health experts have been advising caution on energy drinks for years. What dangers threaten, you can look at, inter alia, on a website that shows what happens after a can of Red Bull in the body. So it can come to higher consumption, inter alia, to tachycardia or high blood pressure. In particular, adolescents consume too much caffeine via such drinks. For years, a ban on energy drinks for teenagers has been considered. So far, little has happened in Germany in this regard. Other countries are much further here:
Foodwatch calls for a ban on young people. Picture: Health experts plead for a ban on energy drinks. (Image: beermedia.de/fotolia.com) Sale ban to minors decided
After Latvia was the second EU Member State to ban sales of energy drinks to minors, the consumer organization Foodwatch renewed its call for an age limit for energy drinks in Germany. As news agency AFP reports, Oliver Huizinga of Foodwatch said on Monday, in Germany, "controversial watchmakers" are likely to continue to be blatantly sold to children and adolescents, while Latvia is "doing the right thing". Federal Nutrition Minister Christian Schmidt (CSU) must act.
Too much caffeine for teens
According to Foodwatch, energy drinks, which are particularly popular with young people, are associated with cardiac arrhythmias, seizures, kidney failure and even deaths. In May of last year, a study was published by the European Food Authority Efsa, according to which the safety threshold in adolescents is about three milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of body weight. These are, for example, two caffeine-containing sodas totaling 150 milligrams for a 50-kilogram adolescent. A long-term study by the Chemical and Veterinary Examination Office (CVUA) Karlsruhe showed that the caffeine content of energy shots, which young people like to rely on, clearly exceeds that of coffee and tea.
Latvia and Lithuania have age limits
In addition to the consumer organization, according to AFP, the SPD had also made a strong case for a ban on selling drinks to minors. But Health Minister Schmidt refuses so far and refers to the applicable limits and warnings. In January, the Latvian parliament passed a ban on sales of minors, which is due to apply from 1 June. The Baltic State is thus the second EU country after Lithuania with an age limit of 18 years for the disputed drinks. Foodwatch has launched an e-mail protest to achieve such a ban in Germany. According to the organization, more than 28,000 people have already participated. (Ad)