Effects of energy drinks on young children

Energy drinks are getting more and more popular and seem to be in every supermarket, corner shop and household fridge in the country. Energy drink consumers are now not only athletes, but normal people, including students, working adults, teenagers and even children under the age of 6. Just recently, campaign and research group Action on Sugar has called for a ban on energy drinks and argued that they should not be sold to children under the age of 16.

According to BBC, a single energy drink has as much as 10 teaspoons of sugar per 250 ml. The caffeine concentration is also high - at least as much as a cup of coffee. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises that excessive intake of sports and energy drinks can lead to an increased risk of obesity in children.

The problem is, however, much, much worse. Livesciencereports more than 5,000 cases of people, getting sick after energy drinks just for the period between 2010 and 2013. These cases involved serious side effects, amongst which seizures, dangerously high blood pressure and irregular heart rhythms.

Moreover, a 2011 study by Seifert and colleagues confirmed that the energy drinks contain ingredients that are neither studied well, nor regulated. BBC also cites a research, conducted byLipshultz in 2007, who noticed a correlation between emergency room visits and consumption of energy drinks. In 2001, he and his colleagues also reported that cases of illness, associated specifically with the energy drinks, have increased tremendously. Excessive consumption of energy drinks led to heart problems, liver damage, seizures and even death in children and adults alike.

It is clear that the energy drinks are not only unsafe, but also can be dangerous and life-threatening to children, as well as adults. While adults can make the choice for their own, most of the children have found the energy drinks in the home fridge, rather than buying it from the store. We should consider the points, made by the Action on Sugar organization and think seriously about the danger that the energy drinks present to our children.

Shopping trolley... What a Shame... UK Food Retailers Help

We all do our shopping and likewise, I give visit to UK food retailers every week and one burning question for the last eight years I kept it to myself. That is - How come all the trolley's full of "read to eat" high fat, salt, and sugar ( ALL CLEARLY LABELLED AND COLOUR CODDED) are in the trolley?  When you go out and if you are a public health worker or a nutritionist then please make sure you just observe what you see on shopping trolley and people are checking out. When I had my trolley full of fresh leafy vegetables and fruits, it did cost me £65 for my weeks fruits and vegetables. But when I did observe the next couple of checkouts with the Ready to EAT food and alcohol, all I can see it was a weeks worth of shopping for less than £50 . So, why on earth, I can see all public awareness campaign for fruits and vegetable consumption and all the scientific evidences out there with premium price tags on them. Fruits and vegetables keeps you healthy and a lot of benefits are out there and I am not here to discuss the benefits because it is already proven and somewhere in our mind we all know about it. So, what can motivate the overweight and obese society follow a healthy trolley. I have a proposal for all the UK food retailers- " Why not we have a healthy trolley competition " Nationwide. All of us together we can do it.  If you are ASDA, Morrison, Sainsburys, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, Waitrose, Booth or anyone else I forgot to mention: please let me know your thoughts nationwide promotion together and I can share the healthy trolley campaign. If we can all get together and actually give rewards for healthy shopping that might get us somewhere in the next 10 years and you can all and I mean it all of us together can make a difference today in reducing UK's non communicable diseases risk. I pray to all the UK food Retailers to come together to promote healthy eating today and we can all make a difference.

Pregnancy related information when you are desperate to know ?

Congratulation ! Great news. You must be really happy to hear about your pregnancy news. You might have already visited your doctor or midwife for consultation but now it is late at night and no clinics are open and you are far away from any medical help? Sounds familiar. Then what ? Possibly searching for your answer on the internet. Well done. You must be swamped with information. How many times have you stumbled across forums and blog posts which shows up on the search engines? I have scanned through many of these blogs and forums. Found numerous information given or provided by the users like you and not a single solution or even in some case solutions being provided by an author who doesn't have a clue. I would say stay out and flag a big danger sign. Can we not have an unified system where pregnant or expecting mothers can just tweet / text or chat via the help of technologies and get an expert answer? I will leave this open for discuss today.  

Where do you find most of your information for bodybuilding ?

I was talking to several young  local boys in my area. Most of them regularly visits gym and play sports. That is good enough to know they are keeping up with healthy lifestyle. So, why am I writing this post? Odd enough we were chatting reading the information they get from the media and internet regarding supplimentation. Most of them are in favour of suppliment. One thing I am scared of is- how many of them can start to follow supplimentation thinking that is enough to live a  healthy life and diet isn't their concern at all. Few even said, this suppliment is good enough for me and regardless of blalanced diet, this suppliment will keep me fit forever because whatever, I am lacking, I will get it from SUPPLIMENT. I am not sure how and what else they might be doing without getting an experts suggestions. I am not against suppliment but I am worried about how young generation can be influenced by supplimentation marketing and not following a balanced diet for the work they are doing.

Long waiting time for GP's Appointment

Long waiting time for GP's Appointment

I know you might be reading this because you want to know about the long waiting time before you can get your GP's appointment. So far as a general public, I find it really difficult why I have to wait for 1-2 weeks before I can really get an appointment to see my doctor. I have the same concern and can't see how that can help public health when a person is already suffering. Various, measures have been taken by the NHS and public health England to minimise the issue but where is the solution. Am I missing something in the message. I have hear in several occasion that if you have an emergency then go and see the accidents and emergencies . By the way does this solve the problem? Aren't we increasing the burden to the A&E services? What about non major but important issues that require GP's help? What have we got now to deal with general medical problems? Tons of questions and no solution at all. If you have any view please share it with us in this blog. This is just my opinion and my views and not criticizing any system but looking for a solution or solutions to tackle public health concerns.

Where are we now with Alcohol energy labelling

I was really happy to see the BBC news on Halloween day 2014 that something will be done on the matter of Alcohol Energy labeling. By the way since then, I haven't heard or seen anything. Still, the products in the market are without their energy content and people are consuming hollow energy from Alcohol.

One good thing to remember is one website I have found to be useful was a drinkaware website and they have a good article written on "Alcohol and Energy Drinks"

Alcohol 

Let me know about your thoughts and what shall we do to make people live a healthy life.

What came up as a second search option "Nutrition"

Wikipedia

This free source of information is really good but do you know that you can even edit information on wikipedia. Students beware wikipedia is editable and by mistake, if someone change the information to an incorrect one, then you are on your own. I know there are vigorous checks and many people are editing the information but still it might be a good idea to check with a professional before you handle your nutritional needs.

My verdict about wikipedia:

Good source.
Not always scientific
Might not be backed by scientific evidence
Might not be written by a professional in the field



I hope my readers can judge it by themselves by now.