Canada announced October 6th that energy drinks aren’t considered natural health products anymore. This isn’t good news for the industry. This puts some regulations on the products that will most defiantly bring down sales. Some speculate that more regulations are on the way.
The regulations as of now, stated by CBC, include a maximum concentration of 100mg of caffeine per 250ml. This doesn’t mean much since most energy drinks already meet this requirement but the kicker is that they’ll have to revise their labelling. Finally people will have a clear conception on how these previous ‘health products’ are so bad for people, especially teens and children – one of the industry’s target markets.
According to Eat Right Ontario, some serious side effects include nausea, vomiting and irregular heartbeat. Not something parents should allow their young children and teens to have.
Health Canada’s panel is working towards stiffer regulations such as not allowing the drinks to be sold to people under 18 years of age.
This change will help protect children from potentially damaging themselves but it will also decrease sales in the Canadian market thus harming the industry drastically.
2 replies on “Not So Energetic”
All comments welcome? yes!
Do you think energy drinks should have a “consumer ceiling” or in other words, be available to ages 18 and over? I, myself, get caffeine from my afternoon tea, but do you think the demand for energy drinks will decrease significantly? Despite the side effects, many students need the energy to stay awake or complete assignments.
Getting your caffeine from your ‘afternoon tea’ is different from the point I was trying to make. Tea has 30-70 mg of caffeine in it compared to Monster energy drinks which has 160mg plus all the ‘energy inducers’ such as taurine and other mystery ingredients. If students knew this most would drink an alternative beverage instead of guzzling down an energy drink. People should have the choice if they want to drink it or not and putting labels on will help them make that choice; so in other words, no need for a age restriction. Thanks for the read and post.