Teens and Their Overuse of Energy Drink Products

Australia has recently seen a growth in the amount of health warnings from energy drink and energy shot products. The country has been ravaged by high levels of reports of medical problems due to the use of these products. Australia is not the only country to see these problems, but have seen the most significant spike in these reports.

Teens all across the globe are looking for ways to keep their energy levels spiked to enormous levels. Whether the teens want to just keep up with the high demands of being a teenager and staying active, or if they want to feel some sort of rush, they have turned to energy drinks.

Most of the problems that Australia and other countries are going through right now are not due strictly to the energy drink, but the way that teens are consuming the drinks. Teens are consuming high levels of the drinks and even combining these drinks with alcohol. An energy shot or energy drink can give a serious buzz, especially when mixed with alcohol or ingested in large quantities.

Not only are the teens mixing the drinks with alcohol, but they often combine different brands of energy drink. Mixing or varying the kind of energy drink that is consumed can be a problem due to the variation in the ingredients use. Some brands use larger amounts of one substance than others, including the major ingredient caffeine. This leads to problems with overdosing because the amount of one brand that the consumer can drink will not be the same as another, but most consumers do not know this.

Some critics have also claimed that branding and marketing are partly to blame for teenagers wanting these products in such high demand. Energy drink companies have targeted the group in their late teens to their mid-twenties. Because they are trying to market to these groups, and there are many competitors in the market, they have needed to come up with really creative and powerful names. They need names like "Monster", "Rockstar", "Cocaine", and "Reboot" to interest the target group along with what the products offer: continual energy or a way to get energy. People feel the need to be pumped full of caffeine in order to keep going and "cool" products like energy drinks will give them the lift they need. This need for continuous energy boost has led to the problem of overuse of these products.