In 1997, energy beverages were first introduced in the United States beginning with Red Bull which brought on competitors (Higgins et al. 2010). The intended use of energy beverages was to provide a person with more energy throughout the day while providing many necessary vitamins (Higgins et al. 2010). Energy drinks have grown increasingly popular where there are now more than a hundred different brands of energy beverages being sold and consumed worldwide (Higgins et al. 2010). Today, the top four most common energy drinks sold in the market are Red Bull, Rockstar, Monster, and Full Throttle (Higgins et al. 2010). After energy drinks became popular, the energy shot was developed and marketed as well to increase alertness and …show more content…
2010). In 2011, 68% of adolescents ages 10-18 years old, 30% of adults, and 18% of children consume energy drinks regularly (Breda et al. 2014, p.1). Caffeine has been proven to be one of the main ingredients in most energy drinks (Seifert et al. 2011). In typical caffeinated beverages like coffee and soda, there is a caffeine regulation level set by the FDA. However, energy drinks claim to be natural dietary supplements and do not have to follow the FDA’s regulations (Seifert et al. 2011). Therefore, it is unclear on how much caffeine is actually in each energy drink. This paper will test the different caffeine levels in popular energy drinks among Culver-Stockton College’s campus to determine the safety levels of energy drinks by comparing the levels of energy drinks to the FDA’s regulation levels on typical caffeinated beverages. A school-wide survey will be used to determine the most popular energy drinks that will be tested in this experiment as well as provide additional information about energy drinks at a college campus level. The different caffeine levels of either the energy drinks or the other caffeinated beverages will be determined qualitatively and quantitatively using two laboratory techniques: extraction or thin-layer