A 21-year-old student died after drinking a Charged Lemonade from Panera Bread, drawing more attention to the energy drink market, which remains popular among young people.
The family of Sarah Katz alleged in a lawsuit that the University of Pennsylvania student was not properly alerted through Panera’s marketing that the drink contained 390mg of caffeine – more than a can of Red Bull and a can of Monster Energy combined. Katz lived with a heart condition called long QT syndrome type 1, and her roommate told NBC News that she was “very, very vigilant” about avoiding high doses of caffeine that could endanger her. Katz died of cardiac arrhythmia. (The FDA says 400mg of caffeine a day is generally safe “for healthy adults”.)
Energy drinks have long been the subject of public health warnings, but their popularity endures even as young people drink less soda and fruit juice. The industry heavily promotes its products to young people, and there has been a boom in energy drinks branded as “fitness” beverages in recent years.
This surge is fueled in part by support from influencers like Logan Paul and KSI, former boxing rivals who came together to promote Prime Energy (200mg of caffeine per can) to their combined 47 million YouTube followers. Prime’s often sold-out status has become a source of endless hype among teens. And newer drinks with anarchic-sounding names like Reign (300mg of caffeine) and Ghost (200mg of caffeine) fill convenience-store shelves alongside less-caffeinated mainstays like Monster and Red Bull, promising performance-enhancing benefits and a productivity boost.
Young men are thought to be the ideal customers: one 2015 study suggested that the more a man valued masculine ideals, the more he believed that energy drinks, endorsed by motocross racers and Jackass stars, made him manly. But Frances Fleming-Milici, director of marketing initiatives at UConn’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health, said the demographics of energy drink consumers were slowly widening as brands seek new customers.
“You still have the loud, extreme energy drink brands, but in an effort to attract new customers, there is the rise of this supposedly natural, better-for-you drink that gives you focus,” she said. “It’s a very different type of marketing than what you see with Monster or Red Bull.”
Prime Energy, Reign and Ghost all are marketed as fitness drinks, to be consumed by athletes or gym rats for optimal performance. Prime also labels itself vegan and sugar-free, while Reign dubs itself “clean energy” and Ghost touts its zero-sugar and “no artificial colors” – marketing tactics that are softer than, say, Monster Energy’s cast of bikini model promoters.
Panera’s Charged Lemonade is advertised as “plant-based” and “powered by clean caffeine from guarana and green coffee extract”. Guarana, a stimulant from a plant native to the Amazon basin, contains about double the amount of caffeine in coffee beans, says Lisa DeFazio, a registered dietitian.
“Guarana caffeine is more powerful because it reacts differently in your stomach,” DeFazio said. “It is not the same as the energy boost you get from a cup of coffee, because it does not release immediately in your stomach – it releases slowly over a period of time. This has a long-lasting, slow-burning, more intense effect.”
Amy Shapiro, a registered dietitian and nutritionist, has noticed some energy drink brands eschewing macho posturing entirely in an attempt to reach more women. Celsius (200mg of caffeine) has been dubbed a “fitness drink” that will “transform your workouts” and boost metabolism. The company campaigns with the fitness studio Barry’s Bootcamp. Alani Nu has partnered with none other than Kim Kardashian to promote its Kimade, a pink lemonade-flavored energy drink with 200mg of caffeine. Women’s Best mixes 200mg of “natural caffeine” with vitamins and electrolytes in its cheerfully colored cans.
“My clients come to me with these drinks saying, ‘Oh, this has a healthy ingredient,’” Shapiro said. “These companies are totally doing that on purpose.”
With savvy marketing strategies come renewed scrutiny on the energy drink industry.
This summer, the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, called on the FDA to investigate Prime for its “eye-popping” caffeine content, health claims, and advertising – especially how its hyped-up marketing reaches kids on social media.
Fleming-Milici noted that Ghost had teamed up with Swedish Fish, Bubblicious, Sour Patch Kids, and Warheads for candy-themed collaborations, though the bottles’ fine print reads that the drink is “only intended for persons 18 years or older”. Truth in Advertising, a non-profit watchdog organization, put out a statement accusing Ghost of “unfairly and deceptively marketing adult energy drinks and supplements to children”.
The lawsuit brought on by Katz’s family against Panera also suggests deception: that “these unregulated beverages include no warning of any potentially dangerous effects”. (Panera said it believed in transparency about its ingredients and would “thoroughly investigate” the issue.)
In March 2013, a group of 18 doctors and public health experts wrote a letter urging the FDA to put limits on caffeine content in energy drinks. A decade later, some say more action is needed.
“I would really like to see the FDA consider what can be done to reduce the harm associated with these drinks, and to reduce the appeal to young people,” Fleming-Milici said. “Self-regulation is what’s happening in the industry right now, and that doesn’t seem to be very effective.”
