A group of health campaigners warns that an average energy drink contains up to 20 tablespoons of sugar, which is more than three times the maximum an adult should consume in a day.
As a result, they called for the sale of energy and sports drinks to children and teenagers to be banned.
To reach their findings, they tested almost 197 products which were sold in major supermarkets. They found out that eight of 10 of these drinks should be branded as red label for containing high amounts of sugar. Apparently, more than half have the same amount or more than the soda drink, Coca Cola.
Concerns about sugar consumptions have always been the issue these past few years as they consider it as the new tobacco. In addition, the sales of these energy drinks have boomed as children and teenagers love drinking them due to its supposed benefits.
The research was conducted by a group called Action on Sugar (AoS), a health campaign group that warned children being duped into thinking that these products would boost their performance in sports events and even in their education.
The group claims that this new fad with energy drinks serves no purpose but to make children addicted to caffeine and sugars. They termed it as 'fuelling the obesity epidemic' as it greatly contribute to weight gain among children not only in Europe and the United States, but worldwide.
The drinks they tested were sold at major supermarkets including Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, The Co-op, Marks and Spencer, Morrisons, Aldi, Lidl, Ocado, Boots, and Holland and Barrett.
According to Professor Graham MacGregor, chairman of Action on Sugar and professor of cardiovascular medicine at Queen Mary University of London, "Children are being deceived into drinking large cans of this stuff thinking they are going to improve their performance at school, during sports or even on a night out. In reality all they are doing is increasing their risk of developing obesity or type 2 diabetes which will have lifelong implications on their health. Type 2 diabetes is a leading cause of blindness, limb amputation and kidney dialysis - hardly the image of a healthy, active person."
The researchers even found out that some of the energy drinks contain more caffeine than two cups of coffee and some of them do not print in their labels the actual ingredients in them. Approximately, a 170 ml of coffee contains around 71mg of caffeine, which is less than half the 160mg found in two energy drinks which also contain high sugar content.
They reitertate that this ban may solve the growing predicament on childhood obesity.