5 days until EU caffeine crunch time
Germany’s BfR: Address the reality of high consumption
The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment’s (BfR) Anke Ehlers said it could not follow how EFSA had come to the conclusion that other common constituents of ‘energy drinks’ (like taurine, D-glucurono-γ-15 lactone) or alcohol were “unlikely to adversely interact with caffeine” given its own research on this topic.
Nor could it follow the conclusion: “Consumption of alcohol in combination with caffeine does not appear to modify the CVD risk.”
It suggested its Event-Related Survey of High Consumers of Energy Drinks be considered. This report described “realistic situations of high exposure on certain events”, something which EFSA failed to take into account in its assessment, Ehlers said.
Continuing this point, it disagreed with EFSA’s decision to exclude case reports of adverse effects from poison centres, which EFSA said was due to unreliable reporting.
BfR suggested that, along with pregnant women and non-pregnant women, people sensitive to caffeine should be considered as a specific risk group, giving the example of people with predispositions to serious ventricular arrhythmias or asymptomatic channelopathies.