In Korea, both adults and teenagers consume too much caffeine. This is because adolescents who have lack of sleep excessively drink beverages with caffeine such as coffee, to stay awake. Energy drinks typically contain caffeine, citric acid, and taurine which help to keep consumers awake. Taurine is a white powder attached on the surface of fish and shellfish which contributes to recovery from fatigue. Citric acid is also known to help reduce fatigue as well.
Despite the benefits, what makes this a problem is the amount of caffeine in energy drinks. When consumed in moderation caffeine has the effect of temporarily preventing drowsiness by reducing fatigue and keeping us to be awake. For those who work at night, it is a measure to clear their minds and help them with right judgment and endurance. However, when there is an excessive intake of caffeine, various symptoms such as irritability, anxiety, nervousness, insomnia, and headache are bound to appear. In particular, this appears more severely in children and teenagers than adults, and problems such as deficient calcium supply, delay in bone growth may cause them to end up with brittle bones as adults. In severe cases, stomach pain, dizziness, loss of appetite as well as heart attack may occur.
For this reason, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has recommended to limit the daily intake of caffeine to 400mg for adults, 300mg for pregnant women, and 150mg for adolescents, based on average weight of 60kg. However, energy drinks contain high amount of caffeine, ranging from 60 to 200mg, and our caffeine intake in a single drink is not small, either: caffeine coffee contains 74mg; mixed coffee, 69mg; cola contains 23mg.
Thus, if you consume too many drinks with a high concentration of caffeine to keep yourself awake, you will lose concentration instead, which will likely interfere with your study and may do fatal harm to your health. How about trying to keep yourself healthy and awake with enough sleep or washing your face with cold water instead of relying on caffeine as the source of your energy?
76th Edition of The Monday Times (March 28, 2022) <저작권자 ⓒ 먼데이타임스 무단전재 및 재배포 금지>
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