You may have heard about the recent tragic death of a 16-year-old school boy, who died after drinking too much caffeine based products. Davis Allen Cripe consumed several caffeine based drinks, including some of those easy accessible energy drinks, before collapsing with cardiac arrest in April 2017. An otherwise healthy young man, the coroner ruled that it was the effects of a large amount of caffeine in the body that had led to Davis’s death.
As a parent, I wept for both Davis’s family, but also for the loss of a young life taken so tragically – and all because of the recent craze for energy drinks…
Energy Drinks Are No Longer a Gym Based Choice
When I was in high school, I began circuit training, and, after a few training sessions, I was introduced to energy drinks. Back then they were only really considered a drink for the athlete, the idea being they gave you back some of the energy you had lost during exercising. This was reasonable enough I initially thought, as many athletes turned to them after their training sessions. Yet, I never really liked the taste of them, and soon forgot about their existence. That was, until my own children went to school – and I was soon taught a lesson about their dangerous effects.
Schools Are Banning the Energy Drink
After my children came home with a letter regarding these drinks, I believe I had my head turned by their popularity. It seems that our next generation have become addicts when it comes to energy drinks. My wife, on the other hand, wasn’t at all shocked – apparently the stores are full of them and kids are buying them in the droves.
Very few of these kids are buying energy drinks with a means to refilling their energy levels after sports! In fact, these energy drinks aren’t even aimed at the sports obsessed anymore. With graphics resembling current gaming trends on many, and graffiti styled slang sprawled across most, these drinks are purely aimed at the younger kids who want to look cool whilst drinking.
The Danger of This Sweeping Craze
My children’s school had become so distraught by the level of pupils purchasing these drinks that they immediately banned the drink in the school grounds, structured a letter for parents, and then gave the whole school an assembly and presentation of the potential dangers of energy drinks. My kids were stunned; and, so it appears, were the parents!
Though not every child will suffer in the unfortunate way that young Davis did, the possibility of this happening is real and may only present itself when it’s too late. I for one hope the drinks industry comes to its senses and bans these drinks, or at last slaps an age restriction on them. It’s the least we can for our children’s sakes.
