Consumer's knowledge of energy drink ingredient interaction with their prescribed psychotropic medications

Abstract

Each of the 300+ energy drinks currently on the market has a unique mixture of ingredients. Little is known whether consumers know what ingredients are in their drinks, especially those consumers who also take medications. Particularly consumers who take psychiatric medication can be at risk for adverse events due to potential drug/ingredient interactions. The purpose of this study was to examine energy drink consumer's knowledge of potential ingredient interactions with their mental health medications. In this study, 67% of respondents (n=6) stated they were not aware of any interactions be-tween their psychiatric medications and the ingredients of their energy drinks. An unexpected finding emerged when all respondents made unsolicited comments about their energy drinks being 'bad', although this did not deter them from consumption. If these results are replicated in further studies with larger and more diverse samples, a targeted education initiative for consumer safety could be developed.