The Red Bull drink is discussed at length pages 4&5 of a National Geographic article on Caffeine "the world's most popular psychoactive drug" as the article calls it.
Briefly: <<< Last year the European Union, guided in part by the Irish study, began
requiring packaged drinks with more than 150 milligrams of caffeine
per liter to be labeled "high caffeine content" drinks. By that
standard, Red Bull and most of its competitors are high-caffeine
beverages—so is any cup of coffee, for that matter—but most colas and
other soft drinks are not. The labeling requirement applies in all 25
EU nations. Australia and New Zealand have also adopted warning
requirements. The United States has no such rule, but many canned
energy drinks sold in the U.S. carry warnings anyway.
One member of Ireland's Stimulant Drinks Committee who was not at all
satisfied with its proceedings—indeed, he decided to withdraw from the
study group—is Jack James, a psychologist who believes there is little
to be gained from labeling some drinks high caffeine. He says that
such a label implies consumers are perfectly safe in drinking
beverages with lower levels of caffeine, a conclusion he says isn't
supported by the evidence. While consumers around the world continue
their intake of the drug year after year, James sits in his spartan
office at the National University of Ireland's Galway campus,
documenting the reasons they should stop. A colleague once dubbed him
a caffeine crusader. An Australian native with curly hair, wire-rim
glasses, and a steely determination, James sips at a glass of tepid
water over the course of a four-hour interview. Previously a daily
consumer of caffeine, he's mostly sworn off the stuff for years.
"People at the scientific meetings say to me, 'Hey, Jack, want a
coffee?'" >>>
Saturday, March 5
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