Science Media Centre

Not only humans have trouble with overdosing on caffeine — New Zealand’s  National Poisons Centre has had five calls about pets  with problems. Staff at the centre –which gets about  35,000 calls a year — said today they had received  received 128 caffeine-related calls over the seven years to the end of 2010, of which [...]

Yesterday, the NZFSA put out its caffeine risk profile, particularly focusing on which (if any) elements of the population should try to limit their consumption of high-caffeine energy drinks and shots. Their advice remained as it had previously been: children, young teenagers, pregnant women and people sensitive to caffeine should minimise their consumption of these [...]

A scientific literature review undertaken by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority has found that energy shots and energy drinks which contain high levels of caffeine are not suitable for children, young adolescents, pregnant women and people sensitive to caffeine. The finding reaffirms the NZFSA’s existing advisory on caffeine, which when consumed in high doses [...]

Anna Rushworth writes in the Herald on Sunday that research carried out by the paper showed that energy drinks can raise the heartbeats of some of the people who drink them. Concerns have arisen recently over the marketing of very high caffeine energy drinks to young people.  Heart specialists are suggesting that people not overconsume [...]

Virginia Winder of the Taranaki Daily News writes about the new ultra-high caffeine energy drinks available on the market, and why there is rising concern about their availability. The drinks, which are legally available to teens and children, also contain guarana, a stimulant more potent than caffeine – indeed, the sale of drinks containing guarana [...]

Controversy has met release onto the market of several brands of ultra-high caffeine ‘energy shot’ drinks. The shots contain as much and in some cases more than 3,300 mg (milligrams) caffeine per litre, despite the mandated maximum level allowed being 320 mg per litre. Reclassifying the drinks as ‘dietary supplements’, however, has meant that they [...]

A study published earlier this month in the British Medical Journal found that caffeine consumption during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of fetal growth restriction. As a result the Food Standards Agency in the UK has recommended pregnant women consume no more than 200mg caffeine per day.   Here in New Zealand, the [...]