Crime Link To Caffeine In A Can
Sun Herald
Sunday November 11, 2001
TAKING heavy doses of caffeine can trigger headaches, agitation and sleeplessness but an armed robbery conviction has raised concerns that it might lead to crime.
A Darwin student drank up to 11 cans of a caffeine-laced energy drink the day before he robbed a supermarket of $17,000 at knifepoint.
The 17-year-old whose identity cannot be revealed apparently used energy drinks to help him get through his final year of high school while holding down two part-time jobs and doing community work.
Psychiatric and medical evidence tendered to the court suggested that he could have been suffering from ``caffeinism", a psychosis triggered by consuming too much caffeine.
Judge Stephen Bailey found that caffeine intoxication might have influenced the teenager's actions, but did not excuse them. He took the youth's good character and remorse into account and sentenced him to a four-year suspended jail term. The teenager had no police record.
Twenty people have died of caffeine toxicity in Australia, including a 25-year-old woman in Western Australia with a heart condition. She had a heart attack a few years ago after drinking a guarana tonic, unaware that it contained high caffeine levels.
The NSW Education Department has banned energy drinks in tuckshops, while swimming associations have told youngsters that the caffeine in the drinks could be enough to have them banned from competition.
Energy drinks such as Red Bull, V and Black Stallion are the fastest growing sector of the soft-drink market, with sales doubling to $150million in the past year.
A recent report on energy drinks by the Australian Consumers' Association said their health claims were dubious and the side-effects serious enough to warrant prominent warnings and restricted sale.
``That's the model they use in European countries," said the ACA's Rebecca
Smith. ``They're only available in pharmacies."
GETTING A KICK ... CAFFEINE CONTENT MEASURED ENERGY DRINKS Lift plus (250ml) 135mg Black Stallion (250ml) 80mg Red Bull (330ml) 80mg Red Eye (Platinum) 65mg Ikon 40mg COFFEE Drip 140mg Brewed (percolator) 100mg Short black (espresso) 80mg Cappuccino 80mg Instant (decaffeinated) 2mg
© 2001 Sun Herald