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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Mac's convenience store employee Ponine Suarez said the shop sees a lot of older people purchasing energy drinks but when it comes to youth he puts his foot down.

"I sell it to only adults, not to kids," he said. "It's bad for them and as a parent of two kids I'd be concerned if they were taking these energy products.

Ponine Suarez holds up a 2 oz. container of 5-hour Energy, a product sold around the city containing more than 1,700mg of an "energy blend" that includes the caffeine equivalent to one cup of premium coffee. - Andrew Livingstone/NNSL photo

"I don't understand why kids take them."

NWT's chief medical officer Dr. Andre Corriveau said parents need to be more aware of the energy products their kids might be consuming.

"It's important to make people aware that it's not completely benign," he said. "Sometimes it's marketed as a health drink or something to boost your stamina. It has side-effects and some can be more serious than others. It's not something that should be encouraged, in my view at any age, but more importantly in youth."

Ingesting 300 mg of caffeine, depending on your size, can cause caffeine intoxication or caffeine overdose. The symptoms of caffeine intoxication are not unlike overdoses of other stimulants. They may include restlessness, nervousness, excitement, insomnia, flushing of the face, increased urination, gastrointestinal disturbance, muscle twitching or irritability. In cases of much larger overdoses mania, depression, lapses in judgement, disorientation, hallucinations and even death might occur.

Corriveau said youth who ingest a lot of caffeine daily may be prone to addiction issues further down the road, but there isn't much research on it yet.

"Caffeine creates dependence," he said. "It's not associated with hardcore addiction but people know not getting their cup of coffee in the morning can cause withdrawal.

"It's been voiced as a concern that it could make it easier to become addicted to nicotine and other drugs down the road. We don't have good evidence around that yet."

A popular energy product available in Yellowknife is 5-hour Energy, a 2-oz. drink containing an "energy blend" of more than 1,700 mg of energy-enhancing ingredients including caffeine. One of the ingredients in the energy blend is citicoline, a psycho-stimulant. Other examples of psycho-stimulants include amphetamines, methamphetamines and cocaine.

Corriveau said the caffeine level and other ingredients in the energy products available in Yellowknife stores can be dangerous for youth to consume.

"Some drinks can have the equivalent of up to five cups of coffee," he said. "If you're an adult, it's still a heavy dose, but most people can handle that amount of caffeine. If you're younger and a lot smaller it can lead to side-effects or to caffeine overdose. It can cause heart palpitations, nausea, and increased blood pressure.

"If the dose is not calibrated to your body size and state of development it will have more serious impacts. It's a good debate to have if we should have more regulations around it."

A debate over banning energy products from youth was sparked recently when four youth were sent to hospital to have their stomachs pumped after consuming a large amount of energy drinks and caffeine pills.

When asked about banning the substances, Corriveau said inter-jurisdictional work is needed to ban them.

"It's not something that one jurisdiction in Canada could do alone," he said. "There would need to be a broader debate. It starts with the federal government and their ability to label foods and how it's marketed. Obviously if there was to be a ban to sale to minors it would have to be co-ordinated between provinces and territories. There might be legal challenges if one jurisdiction tried to do it on its own."