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Whenever he visited his local branch of Panera Bread in Fleming Island, Florida, it was Dennis Brown’s habit to order three drinks in a row. On September 28, and again on October 2, and the 4th, 5th, 7th, and 9th—the day Brown died—his drink of choice was Panera Bread’s Charged Lemonade.
A 20-ounce serving of Charged Lemonade contains 260 milligrams of caffeine, while the 30-ounce cup has 390 mg—close to the US Food and Drug Administration’s recommended daily limit. It isn’t known which size Brown, 46, consumed on October 9, but after finishing his dinner, he left the American fast casual restaurant and suffered a fatal cardiac arrest on a nearby sidewalk shortly after.
A wrongful-death lawsuit filed against Panera Bread on behalf of Brown’s family states that he usually drank iced tea, root beer, or water and was allegedly unaware that Charged Lemonade contains caffeine, as the lawsuit says it wasn’t advertised as an energy drink. Elizabeth Crawford, the attorney representing Brown’s family, has claimed the drink is “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
Panera Bread says it’s not to blame. “Panera Bread expresses our deep sympathy to Mr. Brown’s family. Based on our investigation, we believe his unfortunate passing was not caused by one of the company’s products,” Jessica Hesselschwerdt, senior director of public relations at Panera Bread, told WIRED. Hesselschwerdt says the case against the company is “without merit,” that Panera “stands firmly by the safety of our products,” and that Charged Lemonade contains “the same amount of caffeine per ounce as a dark roast coffee.”
That may be true. But while health bodies advise that consuming caffeine is OK, as long as we don’t overdo it, in recent years caffeinated drinks have been getting bigger and stronger—so much so that regulators are stepping in.
Nervous Energy
Panera Bread’s drinks aren’t the only ones to have raised concern. In January 2022, the internet found itself in a frenzy over Prime, an energy drink developed by YouTube stars turned boxers Logan Paul and KSI. Sold in neon-colored cans and advertising zero sugar and vegetarian-friendly ingredients, the brand was an immediate hit among the influencer’s combined—and often very young—40 million Instagram followers, who posted their own viral videos of themselves frantically searching for cans of the drink.
By July, US Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer had requested an FDA investigation into the brand, claiming parents were unwittingly serving their children a “cauldron of caffeine” when they purchased the drink. (Prime contains 200 mg of caffeine per 12 ounces—roughly equal to two average cups of coffee.) In response to Schumer’s calls, the company released a public statement claiming that “Prime energy … contains a comparable amount of caffeine to other top-selling energy drinks.”
The drink is still for sale in the US and UK, but it was one of six energy drinks recalled in Canada earlier this year, with new legislation outlawing drinks containing more than 180 mg of caffeine in a single serving. In a video after the announcement, Paul said that the drinks are compliant with each country’s specific regulations, claiming, “The crazy part about that is, we don’t even distribute Prime Energy in Canada.”
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Lithuania, Latvia, Turkey, and Poland have also implemented a general ban on the sale of energy drinks to under-18s, with a UK government ban consultation stalling during the pandemic.
These moves are a response to a modern trend—the rise of stronger and stronger drinks—but also part of a pattern that dates back over a century. The US Department of Agriculture voiced worries about the excessive amounts of caffeine in Coca-Cola as early as 1909. The US Pure Food and Drug Act was amended in 1912, adding caffeine to the list of “habit-forming” substances that should be clearly announced on food labels. As a result, Coke cut its caffeine levels in half.
Today, Coca-Cola would barely register as an energy drink, containing 34 mg of caffeine per 12-ounce serving. (Diet Coke is slightly more caffeinated, at 46 mg per 12 ounces.) Some same-size caffeinated drinks available today contain 300 to 400 mg.
“Energy drinks are safe in the same way that a doughnut is safe—one every now and again is fine, but eating too many will exceed recommended intake for calories, sugar, and fat,” says nutrition therapist and author Ian Marber.
Marber explains that caffeine has a similar chemical structure to adenosine, a substance that is part of the process of creating energy, and acts like a neurotransmitter in the brain. “In essence, adenosine promotes sleep, but metabolites in caffeine prevent it from doing its job, promoting alertness in place,” he explains. “This in turn triggers the adrenal glands to produce adrenaline and cortisol, both of which make us feel alert and capable.” The effects can last for around four hours and can be useful in small doses. But exceed the limits and you might experience anxiety, fatigue, and interrupted sleep patterns.
“What makes a substance toxic is the dose,” says Alex Ruani, a doctoral researcher at University College London and chief science educator at the Health Sciences Academy. Coffee is packed with caffeine—66 mg for a “tall” Americano or latte at Starbucks in the UK, 150 mg in the US—but “most energy drinks have exorbitant amounts of caffeine, ranging from 60 milligrams to 200 milligrams plus,” she says.
As well as containing vast amounts of caffeine, the added ingredients in some energy drinks can also be harmful. “Energy drinks often contain other stimulants like B vitamins, L-carnitine, L-theanine, and glucuronolactone,” says Ruani. “When combined, drinkers are faced with a potentially hazardous cocktail that can upset several body systems, including the brain and the heart.” It’s also possible to become addicted to them. “Both sugar and caffeine have addictive properties,” says Ruani.
The Road to Hell … Is Paved With Influencers
The popularity of energy drinks has been on the rise for decades—and much of their success rests not on their sugary, stimulating formulations but on their marketing.
Lucozade (then called Glucozade), perhaps the first drink that would be deemed an energy drink by modern standards, launched in 1927. But it wasn’t until the rise of Red Bull in 1987 that energy drinks began their modern associations—first with extreme sports and then gaming. Energy drinks were no longer just a health tonic, as once advertised, but an essential lifestyle component.
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Red Bull, which sold more than 11 billion cans in 2022, and Monster Energy are the two leading energy drinks in the United States, with Celsius, Bang Energy, and Rockstar rounding out the most popular choices. Red Bull is also the leading energy drink in the UK, generating £349 million ($445 million) in sales in 2023, well ahead of its nearest competitor, Monster, at £289 million. Worldwide, the energy drinks market is set to be worth $108.4 billion by 2031, up from $45.8 billion (£35.9 billion) in 2020.
This acceleration coincides with another marketing pivot—moving into the world of influencers. According to influencer marketing analytics site Tribe Dynamics, in 2021 brands including Bang Energy, GFuel, and Monster “raced ahead on social media by winning over distinct content creator communities.” They did this through three main channels: TikTok influencers, online gamers, and sponsored athletes.
“Marketing to the gaming sector is a growing opportunity, with huge events all over the world,” says Vhari Russell, founder of The Food Marketing Experts. “This was a great way to grow throughout lockdown, when more people were gaming.”
But social problems have arisen alongside this. “The biggest drinkers of energy drinks are adolescents,” says Ruani. “In the UK and Europe, as many as seven in 10 teens consume them, and two in 10 children.”
Ruani points to evidence of multiple hospitalizations and deaths of children and adults that have been attributed to the consumption of energy drinks. “It’s outrageous that energy-drink manufacturers deny targeting kids and youngsters,” she says. “The proof is on the can: many displaying colorful designs and childhood flavors like ‘bubble gum’ and ‘ice pop.’ Couple that with the hype sparked by TikTok influencers, and it’s no wonder that kids and teens are obsessed with them.”
Dan Tai (@dantai), an online coach and fitness model with 824,000 Instagram followers, drinks about four energy drinks per week and markets them on his page. Chelsie Cahoon (@thesoberraver) works as a promo model for an energy drink brand called Celsius, despite limiting herself to just three energy drinks per year. “I never liked drinking them because of how much sugar a lot of them have,” she says. Both believe the onus is on the brands to warn consumers of the dangers, though Cahoon adds that consumers should carry out “additional research” into what they consume.
In the US, the FDA has not imposed specific restrictions or requirements on the sale or labeling of energy drinks, but the American Beverage Association’s Guidance for the Responsible Labeling and Marketing of Energy Drinks does lay out some rules, including that energy-drink packaging must declare the total amount of caffeine per drink, that they cannot be marketed at children, and that they cannot be labeled as dietary supplements. Adherence to these rules is voluntary, however, and 5 percent of energy drinks sold in the US don't follow them. And given current rates of energy-drink consumption among teenagers and children both in the US and UK, the efficacy of such rules is questionable.
Health Kick
Given all of this, the most recent transition in the energy drink market can be seen as the most alarming: their transmogrification into health drinks, with brands such as Tenzing, Brio Yerba Mate, and PerfectTed flooding supermarket shelves.
“The changes we see in the energy drinks industry is a result of wider health and wellness trends,” says Rachel Yon Choi, behavioral analyst at brand consultancy Canvas8. “While people still want energy-boosting drinks, they want that boost from a source that’s beneficial to their body and well-being. They’re moving away from sugar, synthetic, and ultra-processed ingredients to seek out cleaner, ‘better for you,’ and lower-calorie products.”
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Huib van Bockel, founder of Tenzing, took inspiration for his brand from “Sherpa tea” (typically organic black tea, with added yak butter and salt, making it rich in electrolytes, fat, and natural caffeine), as well as Tenzing Norgay, who along with Edmund Hillary became one of the first people to summit Everest in 1953. With sherpas known for seemingly superhuman feats in oxygen-depleted “death zones,” the health connotations are clear.
“We have the same amount of natural caffeine as a cup of coffee and 60 percent less sugar than a traditional energy drink,” says Van Bockel. “Because of the low sugar levels and our natural blend of caffeine, L-theanine, electrolytes, and vitamin C, you get the uplift but not the crash,” he says.
Marber, while not specifically addressing Tenzing, is clear that adding in “healthy” ingredients doesn’t magically turn an energy drink into a health tonic. “There’s nothing wrong with some caffeine and sugar, but having lower amounts than other offerings doesn’t make it ‘healthy’ any more than adding nutrients does,” he says. Again, it’s down to consumer habits. “I don’t think there are unhealthy foods, more unhealthy habits. So an average quality drink here and there is fine, more often isn’t,” Marber says.
Ultimately, Russell believes that empowering consumers to make better choices could be the solution to curbing potentially dangerous caffeine consumption. “It’s informing them as to why a cup of coffee or tea might be better than an energy drink,” she says.
Panera Bread has tried this. On October 30, the brand added prominent warnings to its Charged Lemonade in stores and online, reading: “Use in moderation. NOT RECOMMENDED FOR children, people sensitive to caffeine, pregnant or nursing women.” At the time of writing, three “Charged” drinks remain available on Panera’s website, including Blood Orange Charged Splash (150–219 mg of caffeine) and Strawberry Lemon Mint Charged Lemonade (158–237 mg). And the buzz around these and other highly colored, high-power drinks is showing no signs of slowing down.
Updated 12/15/23, 2:15 pm EST: This piece has been updated to add more detail around the quantities of caffeine in certain drinks and the impacts of caffeine consumption.
