City of Toronto to target energy drink consumption
Agenda items to update policy on mixing with alcohol, selling and marketing to Toronto youth.

thestar.com
By LAURA BEESTON
March 16, 2017

The Toronto Board of Health is targeting caffeinated energy drinks on its agenda Monday by drawing awareness to the dangers of mixing caffeine and alcohol.

A second item encourages restricting marketing and sales to those under the age of 19 in Toronto.

The Municipal Alcohol Policy update would require event organizers and bartenders to be familiar with Health Canada’s warnings to not mix energy drinks with alcohol, and request they consider not selling them at all.

The Medical Officer of Health believes health concerns are sufficient enough to bring attention to energy drinks, even if the agenda items themselves are tame - it is up to provincial and federal governments to issue and enforce an all-out ban.

“It’s precautionary,” said Monica Campbell, the Director of Healthy Public Policy with Toronto Public Health, “(with) an emphasis on education, raising awareness and voluntary action.

Health Canada has banned energy drinks in premixed alcoholic beverages since 2012, noting that “adverse events involving co-consumption were most common among young adults, a group of relatively inexperienced alcohol consumers.”

The Canadian Beverage Association issued a statement in response to the agenda items saying that “Canada’s energy drink companies are committed to responsibly manufacturing, marketing and labelling energy drinks in full accordance with Health Canada’s requirements.

“The recommendations in these reports reinforce the strict regulatory environment already in place in Canada.”

The CBA also reiterated findings from a 2013 risk assessment that up to two servings of a typical energy drink per day “is not expected to pose any health risk” and that energy drink consumption “remains low among teens.”

A second agenda item before the health board tackles the concern that these beverages are being explicitly marketed to youth, asking city agencies to consider not selling them to those under the age of 19.

The city of Toronto has already adopted restrictions of energy drinks at Parks, Recreation and Forestry facilities.

The motion extends the recommendation to city agencies, including The Toronto Zoo and The Ex, but cannot require them not to sell them, said Campbell. “What we really want is these other municipal agencies to look at the Municipal Alcohol Policy and implement it on a voluntary basis.”

“We’re just trying to get more agencies and, quite frankly, more parents aware of them to protect their children.”

While the long-term health consequences of caffeinated youth are still being researched, the sugar content in energy drinks remains a concern for many dietitians and health researchers.

Dr. Ahmed El-Sohemy is an expert on how caffeine is processed in the body and said the city’s attempt to limit accessibility of energy drinks to minors is “a prudent measure,” since young people metabolize caffeine more slowly.

“There is basically nothing good in caffeinated energy drinks, so it’s not like there’s any harm or danger in not making it accessible to kids,” he said.

These beverages have more caffeine than is recommended for youth anyway, agreed Christy Brissette, a registered dietitian at 80 Twenty Nutrition. “A can of Rock Star has 62 grams of sugar; that’s about the same as 590mL bottle of cola or two chocolate bars.

“We should limit added sugars to six teaspoons a day but energy drinks have 16 teaspoons or more! Just from a sugar standpoint it’s scary.”

Dr. Hayley Hamilton, a scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, said data shows that youth who are drinking energy drinks “engage in higher risk taking behaviours and are high-sensation seeking.”

They are at greater odds for using tobacco, cannabis and other substances, binge drinking or having an injury that requires medical treatment, according to the Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey, which added energy drinks use to the questionnaire in 2011.

The good news, says Hamilton, is that they’ve noticed a decline in energy drinks use since they started tracking the data. Only 35 per cent of youth in Grades 7 through 12 across Ontario have reported to drink energy drinks in the last year, down from nearly 50 per cent.