By Henry David Abraham, M.D. The story goes that coffee was discovered when a shepherd noticed his sheep dancing after they ate beans growing on a hillside. Humans have been using that bean ever since for alertness, inspiration, and energy. Caffeine is the world’s most popular drug. The US is the world’s greatest importer of coffee- nine pounds a year for each one of us. At birth caffeine is present in 75% of infants, and thanks to sodas and cocoa, in preschoolers, too. So when caffeinated “energy” drinks appeared in gas stations and supermarkets, consumers yawned, until now. Today brands like Monster Energy and Red Bull are household names and a $20 billion a year business. One third to one half of teens and young adults will try them. As the use of these drug vehicles has increased, so have reports of problems. Most people are familiar with the common problems of caffeine- jitters, insomnia, and anxiety. Energy drinks kick that list up a notch, to include seizures, strokes, and at least 13 possible deaths. There are now 20,000 emergency department visits a year related to energy drinks. Kids with preexisting medical conditions, especially those of the heart or brain, are particularly vulnerable. Recently, the makers of Monster Energy moved to sidestep the FDA requirement that they report any problems with their products by calling them “beverages.” This moves Monster to a different aisle in the supermarket and lets them sweep bad news under the rug. “But wait a minute, Dr. Abraham. Aren’t you just being a caffeine cop? How much caffeine is in an energy drink in the first place?” Answer: about one to three cups of coffee. How bad can that be? This year 18 experts on child nutrition said how bad in a letter to the FDA. They pointed out that a caffeine drink is different from a cup of tea or coffee in a number of important ways. Caffeine in coffee or tea is in a natural, botanical form, while the caffeine in energy drinks is added by the manufacturer. Another difference is that chemically concocted caffeine drinks contain a wild mix of Frankenchemicals: compounds not often mentioned in polite company that have little or no connection to normal human nutrition. Occasionally these chemicals do things to you. Guarana, one energy additive, for example, has one of the highest concentrations of caffeine in any plant, triple the caffeine in coffee. A third important difference is a matter of the use of energy drinks by children. There is no minimum legal age to buy them. If a child consumes a drug at a dose intended for an adult, this is an invitation to an overdose. The smaller the child, the greater the trouble. This among other thoughts led a committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics to say, “…caffeine and other stimulant substances contained in energy drinks have no place in the diet of children and adolescents.” That brings me to the cultural differences between coffee, tea and energy drinks. Hot tea or coffee is sipped slowly. People meet for coffee. They serve coffee and tea at the book club. They drink tea together at the Chinese restaurant. The makers of energy drinks live on another planet. An ad for Monster Energy on Amazon says it all. The 16 oz. can of Monster “packs a vicious punch but has a smooth flavor you can really pound down.” Not exactly “meeting a friend for coffee.” This Brave New World of “beverages” may explain a recent study where Australian teens suffered cardiac and neurological toxicity after drinking three to eight bottles of energy drinks at a clip. From a public health point of view, the greatest harm from an energy drink is when it is mixed with alcohol. Being drunk is bad enough, but being wide-awake drunk is stepping on the accelerator with your eyes closed. Under no circumstance should an energy drink be thought of as a cure for alcohol intoxication. It’s not. Now before the proprietors of Starbucks and Peet’s take out a contract on me, let the record show that I am not a caffeine cop. Coffee is my favorite drug- er, drink. Of all the drugs I worry about, coffee is not even a warning blip on my radar. Its benefits vastly outweigh the risks. Its psychological and health effects are varied and proven. It reduces the risks of Alzheimer’s disease, certain cancers, heart disease, and type II diabetes. Should teens drink coffee? It depends. As kids enter the teen years their clocks for sleeping and waking, like daylight savings time, spring ahead an hour or two. That means when adults are getting sleepy, kids are getting ready to rock. That also means that the next morning, as the world awakens, teenagers are zombies. This also means for many teens early morning classes are cruel but usual punishment. Short of starting the school day later, a cup of tea or coffee may work wonders for the early morning zombie. It does for many of us. But it’s not for everyone. Steven Spielberg never drank a cup of coffee in his life. Voltaire drank 30 cups a day. They both turned out all right.

Dr. Henry David Abraham is a psychiatrist in Lexington, MA. He is a co-founder of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War which was awa rded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985. Material for this article was adapted from his most recent book, The No Nonsense Guide to Drugs and Alcohol, an e-book for teens and young adults. It is now available online at Amazon.com and BN.com. Parenting Matters is a collaboration between the Lexington Human Services Department and The Colonial Times Magazine.