New questions regarding the safety of caffeine for consumers has been
recently raised as the caffeine-containing energy drinks have surged in
popularity.
However, according to a June 23rd panel discussion at the 2014
Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting & Food Expo in
New Orleans there is a rich database of health evidence that had
confirmed the safety of caffeine for consumers at current levels of
exposure.
But the interaction of caffeine with the myriad of other ingredients
that are found in many energy drinks is still unknown. Caffeine cleared
out all the concerns over 30 years ago with extensive research for
possible links to birth defects in animals and cardiovascular disease in
humans.
James Coughlin, Ph.D. of Coughlin & Associates said that
according to them the safety issues were put to bed in the 80s but today
concerns are being raised because no one has gone back to look at the
literature and there has been a lot of bad science related to caffeine
that is fueling concerns.
In 2013, the U.S. Congress pressed
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to look harder at the safety
of caffeine and so they sponsored an Institute of Medicine scientific
workshop which focused on the need to identify vulnerable populations
that might be at risk from increased caffeine exposure and to pinpoint
research gaps that needed to be filled.
James C Griffiths, Ph.D said that CRN
believes that no new regulations are necessary concerning
caffeine-containing products, since there is overwhelming scientific
evidence demonstrating its safety but they are waiting to see what the
FDA is going to do.
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