Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Hospitals University are requiring warning labels for popular energy drinks, which should inform consumers about their increased caffeine content and also the possible health risks coming with every sip of such drink including nervousness, anxiety, insomnia, rapid heartbeat and tremors.

According to a study led by Dr. Roland Griffiths, some of these drinks are said to have up to 14 times the caffeine of a regular can of soda, which is the equivalent to seven cups of extra-strong coffee. The average 12-ounce cola has 35 milligrams of caffeine. A 6-ounce coffee contains 80 to 150 milligrams, while energy drinks can have between 50 and 500 milligrams.

The bad news is that more teenagers are consuming energy drinks posing their lives at high risk, as “at the higher level, caffeine is a drug. It’s a stimulant. It’s an alerting agent, but it can also induce sweating and hypertension and rapid heart rate,” Dr. Steven Lamm, an internist at New York University said.

Caffeine intoxication is currently defined by a number of symptoms and clinical features that surface in response to recent excessive consumption of caffeine. Common features of caffeine intoxication include excitement, anxiety, rapid heartbeat, restlessness, tremors, insomnia, rambling flow of thought and speech or periods of inexhaustibility. In rare cases, caffeine intoxication can lead to death.

Worse than this is that energy drinks are marketed as supplementary (and not soft) drinks, therefore they are neither required to comply with the US Food and Drug Administration’s maximum caffeine content for soda and other beverages (71 milligrams per 12-ounce can), nor compelled to label it.

And as if this wasn’t enough, some consumers use to have energy drinks combined with strong alcoholic beverages, such as whisky and vodka, a combination known to have a noxious effects on the heart as well as on the brains. The Johns Hopkins researchers also said that caffeinated drinks can cause abuse of prescription stimulant drugs like Ritalin.

Therefore, the team of researchers from Johns Hopkins University who carried out the study said that manufacturers should note on caffeinated energy drinks’ labels the caffeine doses the products carry, and to caution on presumptive risks they pose to consumers.

Whether the study will have an impact on US health authorities remains to be seen. However, let’s not forget that we should not wait for the authorities to do something beneficial for our health. We should take our own precautions in order to avoid such risks as those coming with energy drinks.

More information on the study of the Johns Hopkins University can be found in the Sept. 20 issue of the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.