I’ve just returned from ‘school pick-up’ – that time of day when mums and dads gather at the school gates to collect their children and gossip. My mind was on energy drinks and as I chatted to a friend about writing this story another mum interrupted me. “Are you talking about those energy shots?” she asked. “They are terrible. My daughter was at a disco last week and a boy gave her a Demon shot to drink. It wiped her out. She became really nauseous and shaky. It gave her and her friends a big fright.” No wonder! That innocent looking 60ml bottle that anyone can buy at the local store or service station contains 200mg of caffeine. That’s more than a double shot espresso!

How many people do you know who drink double strength coffee with 10 sugars? I don’t know any. But I do know that thousands of people are getting exactly that when they drink certain ‘energy drinks’. Some are artificially sweetened – like the Demon shot mentioned above – but plenty are packed with sugar to add to the ‘energy’ boost you experience.

Measure out eight teaspoons of sugar. It’s quite a pile. When you eat or drink that straight, as you do with an energy drink, it’s absorbed into the blood, and the cells, pretty quickly.  It gives your body a surge of energy, or to be more scientific – kilojoules (calories). A can of Mother has ten teaspoons of sugar and almost 1000kJ (233cals). It doesn’t take that much energy to sit in class or drive a car. So what happens to the energy you don’t use? It gets stored either as glycogen or more likely, fat.

Coca Cola and Red Bull are very similar in sugar and kilojoule load except Red Bull has over double the caffeine. A 355ml can of either has about  eight teaspoons of sugar and almost 700kJ (160 calories). The amount of caffeine in energy drinks varies widely so it’s wise to read the label and check how much is in the one you are about to drink. Otherwise you may wonder why your heart is racing and your hands are shaking. As a guideline, a teaspoon of instant coffee has 60-80mg caffeine while a single shot espresso has about 90mg caffeine.

Caffeine can increase alertness, concentration and energy. Too much can cause irregular heartbeat, irregular breathing, light headedness, jitteriness, nausea, diarrhoea, indigestion and frequent urination. It is addictive so if you miss you usual ‘fix’ your body can go into withdrawal with symptoms such as nausea, headache, nervousness, reduced alertness and depressed mood. It can take from two to seven days for the body to recover.

Energy drinks are filling up the drink shelves everywhere. They’re aimed at the teenage to 30 age group and they have dark, rebellious names that appeal to teenagers, especially boys. I felt I should have been wearing a studded leather jacket and sporting a tongue ring and a tat as I read the label of Mother! One energy drink is named after a class A illegal drug while another has a name that I could never write on this page let alone say! I may sound like an old fogey but the way I see it is society has only two directions to move – either towards light or dark. We spend millions of dollars trying to sort out the increasing violence, drugs and depression in society and we shake our heads at horrific news reports. Which direction are these drinks leading us?

Finally, if you need energy do you really have to drink one of these drinks? A carton of flavoured milk, a banana and a big glass of water will give you heaps of energy, hydration and natural nutrients – and last you a whole lot longer than a caffeine sugar hit.

Related : Crackdown on energy drinks | Australia