Officials Want School Ban On Energy Drinks

Source: drudgereport.com / WCBSTV.com

HILLSBOROUGH, N.J. (AP); They can be popular because they're sweet, they give you a lift and they have hip-sounding names like Red Bull and Spike Shooter.

But school officials across the country aren't as buzzed about caffeinated energy drinks as some of their students. They're worried about young people gulping down too much caffeine˜and getting so hyper that they lose focus on their studies.

"Being hepped up on caffeine can be a distraction to your learning," said Joe Trybulski, principal of Hillsborough Middle School in central New Jersey.

The Hillsborough school, with more than 1,200 seventh and eighth graders, is among a growing number across the country that have banned or are considering banning energy drinks from their campuses.

Trybulski has found parents supportive of the ban since it went into effect in April, and teachers haven't had to take energy drinks away from any students.

"They get enough junk all over the place so I support it," Pam Christian said as she picked up her 13-year-old son, Sam, on one of the last days of school in June.

Sam Christian said a lot of students like energy drinks. "But it may just hurt us instead, because of all the caffeine," he said.

Energy drink industry representatives said they don't market directly to children, that the cost of around $2 to $4 a can is geared toward adults, and that the drinks generally have less caffeine than coffee.

"Are you going to start carding kids at coffee houses and candy shops?" said Craig Stevens, a spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based American Beverage Association, which has energy drink companies among its members.

Patrice Radden, a spokeswoman at Red Bull's U.S. offices in Santa Monica, Calif., said the company's product is safe. "We can't imagine why a school would feel the need to impose such a ban," Radden said.

An 8.3 ounce can of Red Bull has 76 milligrams of caffeine, about twice as much as the 35 milligrams in 12 ounces of Coca-Cola but less than the 95 milligrams typically found in 8 ounces of brewed coffee, according to the Mayo Clinic's Web site.

Dietitians say there isn't any proof that energy drinks harm children, but that young people feel the effects of caffeine more than adults˜and that they can get into a harmful cycle with energy drinks.

"They have trouble sleeping. They wake up unable to concentrate. They give themselves more of a buzz with these energy drinks. And then they have more anxiety," said Dawn Jackson Blatner, a dietitian in Chicago.

Marilyn Tanner-Blasiar, a pediatric dietitian in St. Louis, said too much caffeine can cause insomnia, or even accelerated heart rates.

"It's those stimulant properties that we have to be nervous about," Tanner-Blasiar said.

In February 2007, students began reporting health problems at Doherty High School in Colorado Springs, Colo., after the convenience store across the street started promoting an energy drink called Spike Shooter, said Jill Martin, who was the school's principal until recently.

Half a dozen students complained to the school nurse about accelerated heart rates and two had to go to the emergency room, Martin said. The school of more than 2,000 ended up banning the Spike Shooter drinks from its campus, and got the convenience store to stop promoting it.

"The kids were really struggling when handling it properly. It is obviously very strong stuff," Martin said.

Colorado-based Spike LLC said the company's product is meant for adults, not children.

Worries about health problems have caused other schools to ban energy drinks. In Coldwater, Mich., the school board recently approved a ban for the roughly 800 sixth- through eighth-graders at Legg Middle School.

"Some teachers were seeing kids either being really nervous or jumpy or some later in the day˜they called it a caffeine crash˜didn't have a lot of energy," said Gary Dancer, a seventh-grade teacher.

Some schools have stopped short of a ban, such as Manville High School in New Jersey, where principal Mary McLoughlin sent a warning letter to parents in March after the school nurse said students were complaining about being dizzy and hyper and unable to focus. Students told the nurse they were skipping breakfast and having energy drinks before school, McLoughlin said.

Last fall, the Lake Washington School District outside of Seattle asked the booster clubs running concessions at junior high and high school sports games to stop selling energy drinks.

Nancy Lytle, a dietitian who advises the district of 24,000 students, said officials noticed that students were getting into fights in the stands. After the energy drinks were gone, there was a noticeable change, Lytle said.

"They weren't huddling around the concession stand," Lytle said of the students. "They were up in the stands watching the football game."