Feds Raise Hackles Over 5-Hour Energy Drink( Say it ain't so!! )

Weekly Standard ^ | 12:55 PM, Dec 13, 2012 | ALEXANDER KAZAM

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

The FDA is raising hackles over the equivalent of an espresso shot in a bottle: the popular 5-Hour Energy drink that has billions of dollars in sales over the past decade. 5 hour

The hubbub over 5-Hour Energy, which has some fans stockpiling 12-packs of the bottles in anticipation of a possible ban, was sparked by an article in the New York Times claiming that 5-Hour Energy has been “linked” to 13 deaths reported to the FDA in the past four years.

In truth, millions of bottles of 5-Hour Energy are consumed every week, and there is no evidence whatsoever of a causal connection. But anything printed in the Times is considered news, no matter how absurd the premise, and numerous major news outlet have run with their own version of the story. Even the Onion got in on the action, with a story titled, “5-Hour Energy CEO: Deaths Just Collateral Damage In War On That 2:30 Feeling.”

[Jonty30]

Yes, exactly. Druggies have few concerns, once they are in their own little world, experience, the uniqueness of the drugs they are taking.

[Eagle of Liberty]

It’s not the stuff that gets you, it’s when you down 5 of them at a time, then chase it with vodka, that it gets you.

Bingo!! Nothing says DEATH like telling the body to rev up and slow down at the exact same time.

[brivette]

“new design”. credit Neil Young “Sample and Hold”.

[Jonty30]

Bingo!! Nothing says DEATH like telling the body to rev up and slow down at the exact same time.

---

Or you could do what this guy did. He downed a couple of teaspoons of basically pure caffeine. About 70 cups of coffee at once.

Yeah, he’s dead.

http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/10/30/15889811.html

[ClearCase_guy]

I caught you knockin’
at my cellar door
I love you, baby,
can I have some more
Ooh, ooh, the damage done.

I hit the city and
I lost my band
I watched the red bull
take another man
Gone, gone, the damage done.

[Gator113]

“......13 deaths reported to the FDA in the past four years.”

OMG.... If this trend continues, it won’t be long before this horrible 5hr death rate catches up to all of the baby killing that’s done in this country.

I wonder how such this striking 5hr death toll compares to deaths resulting from constipation.

Recommendation: For you guys that have low energy, get your testosterone level checked... you might be surprised.

[bassyak]

I guess it never crossed their minds how many more than 3.25 deaths/year are going to be caused by people falling asleep doing whatever it is that they do.

Coming soon: MANDATORY 8 hours sleep per 24 hour period.

It’s a little unnerving thinking about how that will be verified.

[Wolfie]

We like that the government has this power. Hell, we APPLAUD it. Just ask your average pro-drug war idiot.

[Eagle of Liberty]

but the ultimate goal of the liberal feds is to legalize (un-ban) elicit reality-altering drugs.

Yep! How many deaths can be traced to FDA APPROVED and Prescription Administered Ambiem (and now "GENERIC" Ambien) and Oxycontin?

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

If you are prone to prostate cancer raising your testosterone is not advisable.

[brivette]

thank you, another Neil Young classic.

[TADSLOS]

...and she has plenty of 5 hour energy left in her to make you a sammich afterwards. Bonus!

[Wordkraft]

The problem is that this product is something people want. Therefore it must be banned.
It is just one more step toward a reality that whatever is not banned is mandatory.

[arthurus]

I call BULLSHIT without asterisks. 5 Hour is nothing but 500 units of vitamin B-12. There is a small shot of caffeine in it to give one the perception that it is doing something right now. B-12 does not work suddenly, I don't use 5-Hour but have in the past. It does not justify the expense when one can go to WalMart and buy a bottle of 200 B-12 sublingual mini tabs with the same amount of B-12 for less than the price of a single 5-Hour. Put one mini tab under your tongue and let it dissolve (less than a minute). It does not jerk up your eyelids but a couple of hours later you are not sleepy, not nodding as you had expected you would be. I started a night job 7 years ago and for months I had a hard time staying awake and a hard time sleeping in the daytime(I suspect the two phenomena are related).

I had seen the 5-Hour on store shelves and had tried the cans of wake up juice-"energy drinks"- before. The wake up cans were just caffeine and much more expensive than a more pleasant cup of coffee. Coffee wakes me up but the effect lasts for 30 minutes or so. The 5-hour was expensive but I gave it a shot. It woke me up and I stayed alert way beyond the 30 minutes of a caffeine jolt. I repeated a couple of times then finally looked at the little label on the back of the bottle and saw that it was just B-12 and caffeine. AHA! epiphany- I had seen the B-12 "microdots" on the shelf at WM and really could not justify the high expense of the 5-Hour every night. Upshot is that my sleep-wake cycle got successfully turned around in less than a week after I started taking the microdots every night when I went to work. I am back on dayshift, sort of, but take the B-12 every day. I am generally more alert all the time now.

With the amount of 5-Hour that is sold, it is very possible that the relatively miniscule number of deaths is actual. If consumption of milk or other normal foods or vitamins were studied the result would be warnings or bans on everything. I am sure deaths can be attributed to ingestion of cucumbers.

[Lazamataz]

MAKE ME A SAMMICH, DAMMIT!

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

I would imagine more people per year die from choking on grapes.

[ConservativeTeen]

Heck, one can die from drinking too much water. Ban H2O! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication

[brent13a]

Yep! How many deaths can be traced to FDA APPROVED and Prescription Administered Ambiem (and now "GENERIC" Ambien) and Oxycontin?

Well, considering that those are 2 of the most common 5 prescription pills (I see on the job) that get sold (by the people they're prescribed too) for illegal usage (crushing and snorting)....the deaths can be pretty high.
Ultimately why have any oversight at all? Why not just get rid of the prescription system altogether and let the chips fall where they may?

[Gator113]

Thanks, I didn’t know that.

[MarineBrat]

I’ll stick to my coffee, thank you. I think it’s good for you this week.