Behind the Story: Energy drinks and a fine for Google

Age restrictions on the sale of energy drinks to children are supported by more than three in four people, according to new research from Safefood.

The research found high levels of consumption among younger age groups, with more than half (54%) of 15 to 24-year-olds surveyed drinking energy drinks at least once a week, and 12% consuming them every day.

Sarah Keogh, registered dietitian with Eatwell.ie, told RTÉ's Behind the Story the caffeine content is something parents should be aware of.

"For a small can of energy drink, you're looking at usually around 80 milligrams of caffeine – which would be about the same (as) if you had an expresso," she said.

"The larger energy drinks would have around the same as if you had two expressos.

"We don’t give coffee to six, seven and eight years old – even for teenagers they’re not getting two to three cups of coffee in a day."

Parents 'unaware’

Ms Keogh said such drinks are at a caffeine level "which their bodies are not ready for in terms of even just being able to comfortably handle it".

"A lot of parents aren’t necessarily aware that these are caffeinated, and heavily caffeinated, drinks," she explained.

"We know not to give (children) a whole lot of coffee, but maybe these drinks are slipping under the radar for parents."

Ms Keogh said the large amount of sugar contained in these energy drinks is also concerning.

"With sugar that’s dissolved in drink like this you can take in a really huge amount," she said.

"When we drink sugar, as opposed to eating sugar, how it behaves in the body is a little bit different.

"Normally when you’d eat a certain amount of food, your body measures the calories and adjusts your appetite later in the day to balance – whereas with soft drinks it misses it."

Ms Keogh said while she would be "wary" of a ban on energy drinks to children, "I’m not sure how else we’d get the message out to parents".

She also stressed the need for education around these types of drinks.

Google fined

Google has been fined €403m by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) over the processing of location data. It’s the first major penalty against the tech giant.

Work & Technology Correspondent Brian O'Donovan joins the podcast to discuss why these investigations take so long and why many tech companies chose to appeal the fines.

You can listen to Behind the Story on the RTÉ Listen app.

You can also find episodes on Apple here, or on Spotify here.