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Parents want better labeling and stronger regulations for these drinks...
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They’re highly caffeinated, but there’s no way to track just how much.

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Most experts say the fatal dose of caffeine for an adult would be almost impossible to drink – actually 50 to 60 times of what is contained in an energy drink. But critics worry about children with underlying heart problems drinking them, and are warning that energy drinks may be more hazardous than coffee because of the temperature.

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Energy drinks are the target of some lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin. The Illinois Democrat is seeking to impose caffeine limits on the beverages...

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Frito-Lay spokesman Chris Kuechenmeister told the Boston Globe that Cracker Jack’D is not for children. “Cracker Jack’D is a product line specifically developed for adult consumers and will not be marketed to children,�

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On Monday the company’s lawyer and two doctors it hired said their examination of Fournier’s medical records found no evidence that Monster energy drinks caused the girl’s death.  They noted that she had been receiving treatment for a heart condition since childhood.

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“I promised my late son Brian, that I would continue to advocate until youth were safe and that's my plan,� said Sheperd.

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Brooklyn father Cory Terry, 33, died during a basketball game after downing the caffeine-laden beverage — and his relatives are blaming the world’s largest energy drink maker.

Their $85 million lawsuit, to be filed Monday, is believed to be the first wrongful death suit against Red Bull.

The popular drink contains “extra stimulants that make it different than a cup of coffee,� said lawyer Ilya Novofastovsky. “They are more dangerous than what Red Bull lets on.�

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Terry, a construction worker from Bedford-Stuyvesant who left behind a 13-year-old son, was a healthy, active nonsmoker — and an avid Red Bull drinker, his grandmother Patricia Terry said.

“He drank that stuff all the time. He said it perked him up,� she recalled.

On the evening of Nov. 8, 2011, Terry was playing hoops in a gym at Stephen Decatur Middle School. After about 45 minutes, he gulped a can of Red Bull, became lightheaded and collapsed, records show.

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Between 2004 and 2012, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration received 21 reports from doctors or hospitals connecting Red Bull with a long list of symptoms, including fatigue, dizziness, chest pain and more, records show.

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Novofastovsky said the lawsuit could also raise people's awareness to potential risks of the stimulating swig.

“We’re trying to make this death mean something,� he said. “We’re trying to make sure that we prevent more.�

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Categorized as a supplement, caffeine powder is available online from private pharmaceutical labs in bulk quantities as big as 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds). It can be found at sites such as Amazon, GNC and Vitamin Shoppe.

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With many products, the serving size is one-sixteenth of a teaspoon, which yields about 250 milligrams of caffeine, a little less than a small Starbucks coffee. Most of the products come with a micro-scale, explicit serving sizes and directions for its users.

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"The difference between a safe amount and a toxic dose of caffeine in these pure powdered products is very small," the FDA said. "Furthermore, safe quantities of these products can be nearly impossible to measure accurately with common kitchen measuring tools."

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A 14-year-old with a heart condition died after going into cardiac arrest shortly after she drank two caffeinated energy drinks in 24-hours. A 19-year-old Connecticut resident who took a dozen caffeine pills. And a healthy Ohio teen who was a high school wrestler died after consuming powdered caffeine.

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The agency warned the five companies — PureBulk, SPN, Kreativ Health, Hard Eight Nutrition and Bridge City Bulk — that they have 15 days to respond or risk legal action and seizure of their products.

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The advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest said the FDA's warning letters "show progress on the issue, but the agency’s action today falls short of a comprehensive ban and recall of the product. ... Pure caffeine never should have been sold to consumers. A teaspoon is a fatal dose for a child, and two teaspoons would kill most adults. FDA has clear authority to ban such a hazardous product and should do so."

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Irritability and anxiety are the most commonly seen emotional effects of caffeine, but caffeine enables all of your emotions to take charge.

The negative effects of a caffeine-generated adrenaline surge are not just behavioral. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that large doses of caffeine raise blood pressure, stimulate the heart, and produce rapid shallow breathing, which readers of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 know deprives the brain of the oxygen needed to keep your thinking calm and rational.