Nikki Sommer, a nurse with Key West Surgical Group, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning for Medical Matters.
Caffeine pouches are becoming popular, but they are really not good for you.
Sommer explained, “Last week we talked about nicotine patches. So they’re a tiny little patch that looks just like the nicotine ones. It’s the same thing, you place it between your gum and your lip, and it’ll deliver a hit of caffeine. It’s absorbed in your mouth.”
Brands have been launched by the same companies that make vape products.
Sommer said, “I guess they’re trendy. They have colorful tins. I guess they’re pushing them on social media platforms where teen and young adults spend a lot of time.”
The caffeine pouches are being promoted as alternatives to sugary energy drinks, but what are the dangers?
Sommer said, “There’s real danger when we talk about caffeine. I don’t know if you remember, it was a couple of years ago, the young girl, her name was Sarah Katz, she bought a charged lemonade from Panera, and she had a heart condition called Long QT syndrome, and she died. When they you have those caffeinated beverages that are available in sizes, like small, medium and large, I don’t think people realize, the amount of caffeine in a small is different than the amount of caffeine in a large. So she ingested in one serving 390 milligrams of caffeine. That’s more than three Red Bulls. The trend started with Red Bull, and then all these companies came out with all these different energy drinks, and that amount of caffeine just seems to keep going up that they put in them.”
The amount of caffeine a person consumes really should be monitored.
Sommer said, “A lot of adults, they’ll drink energy drinks. There are a lot of people that don’t like coffee and they would drink soda, and somebody got the bright idea, well, let’s make a carbonated beverage with caffeine and fill it with fruity flavor. But if you’re already doing that, and even, like pre workout supplements, I think, contain some caffeine, the pouch can contain up to 200 milligrams of caffeine. So if you already had your two cups of coffee, and then you’re going to work out, and you do a pre workout, and then mid afternoon you crash, you can easily ingest another 200 milligrams of caffeine and even if you think you’re healthy, it still can cause heart palpitations, insomnia, high blood pressure, irritability, anxiety, panic attacks. You’d be surprised how many people that drink a lot of caffeine have anxiety. They come in to the office like, I’m anxious all the time. Well, how much caffeine do you drink? Oh, like four cups a day.”
The caffeine pouches are ingested all at one time.
Sommer said, “Now there’s a lot of negativity around vaping, so it’s kind of like, what else can we do? We can act like it’s a safe alternative, sure.”
What should parents and teens know about the caffeine pouches?
Sommer said, “Parents, when you have a teenager and or even a young adult, 21, the girl that passed away, she was a college aged student. So, teens become adults going through college, and they pick up habits. So it’s harder once they go away and they’ve kind of been on their own. But younger ages, like we said, there’s no really age limit, anybody could buy it. So look for tins that resemble mints. The pouches are similar to what a nicotine pouch looks like, and they’re, I believe, their flavored too. So that’s the other thing is, like they make them sweet enough you have one. What’s to say you’re not going to grab another one like it’s candy? Talk to your teens and explain caffeine is harmful in high doses, just be real with them.”
Energy drinks also have a high caffeine content.
Sommer said, “So these are the popular, I guess, like, kind of like the most popular brands that are out right now, and when you hear the caffeine amount, that’s per serving, not per can size, that’s the other thing. Like the Panera charge lemonade, which they have taken away, it’s no longer available in the 30 ounce cup. So a lot of times, people think I’ll drink 30 ounces because I’m dehydrated, and I’ll get my fluid. But there was 390 milligrams in that 30 ounce cup. When you look towards the middle of the list, you’ll see like a regular Red Bull, which I want to say, kind of started the trend, but a regular Red Bull is 80 milligrams per 8.4 ounces.”
The FDA says the safe daily limit for adults is 400 milligrams a day.
Sommer said, “These are still on the shelves. Bang, Rain Total Body Fuel, I’ve never seen that, but Celsius, definitely, and I don’t know if they do it now, but Celsius, because there’s somebody in my office named Octavia that loves to drink Celsius, it didn’t tell you how many milligrams of caffeine on the can. I haven’t looked recently. C4 Energy, still 200 to 300 milligrams, per can. Monster, which is another big one that kind of came out around the time of Red Bull and it’s 160 milligrams, but it’s for 16 ounces. So you say Red Bull has 80 per eight, Monster has 160 per 16. Then your jump to the top ones we talked about, that’s a 16 ounce can with 300 milligrams of caffeine.”
Does a high caffeine intake affect surgery?
Sommer confirmed, “Yes, it does. Caffeine is a stimulant. It can raise your heart rate and cause high blood pressure, which increases your anesthetic risk, meaning your risk under anesthesia and can lead to cardiovascular instability while you’re actually having the surgery. So something to keep in the back your mind, especially if you already have your own blood pressure medication, where you have other disease processes going on, and you tend to drink a lot of caffeine. So, yes, it can also interfere with anesthesia. Some anesthetics and sedatives can actually interact unpredictably with caffeine, making it harder to control your blood pressure and your heart rate during surgery. Sometimes it’s not uncommon, and I’m not saying caffeine is the culprit, but it’s just age related, what other diseases are going on, like high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, you go into anesthesia and you you have an arrhythmia. So adding caffeine to that would make so much worse. Caffeine is also a diuretic, meaning it pulls all the fluid out of your system, which increases your risk of dehydration and increasing your risk of post surgical complication. Again, especially if you’re on certain medicines. So a lot of times high blood pressure medicines have a diuretic in them. Add caffeine on top of that, you’re completely eliminating, and dehydrating the fluid out of your body.”
Some patients are asked to stop high dosage caffeine 24 to 48 hours before surgery.
Sommer said, “It’s not something that when you ask people medicine, they’re not going to say, oh, I take caffeine every day.”
The caffeine pouches are potent and unregulated.
Sommer said, “So they’re flying under the radar. They’re marketed for teens and young adults. I know older adults that’ll be attracted to it because they’ll think, oh, I’m driving, let me grab a pouch. But just remember, the tragic death of that girl, Sarah Katz, and how caffeine isn’t benign, and I don’t know the whole backstory. I don’t know if she knew she had that long QT interval syndrome. Not every teen and young adult knows that they have a problem with an arrhythmia until later. So that’s what makes it scary. Sometimes it’s just not picked up.”
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