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Issue 71
May 2008

Welcome to the 71st edition of Flash, our bi-weekly alert for science, health and medical journalists. Flash is a courtesy service with access to ScienceDirect, Elsevier’s online platform, providing full text access to some 2,000 scientific, technical and medical journals.

If you report a story, we would ask that you credit Elsevier’s journal as the source.

Please use your Flash login and password to access each article’s full text on ScienceDirect. For a new password, forgotten passwords or if you have any feedback, please contact Anna Hogrebe at newsroom@elsevier.com or at +31 20 485 3269.

ARTICLES

1. ENERGY DRINKS: THE NEW EYE-OPENER FOR ADOLESCENTS

Feeling fatigued? Need a jolt? Forget coffee and colas – an increasing number of individuals are turning to energy drinks to get the buzz they need. From brands like Red Bull to SoBe, this growing beverage segment has grown into a $3.5 billion annual industry, and adolescents are especially drawn to the aggressive marketing techniques employed. Elsevier’s Clinical Pediatric Emergency Medicine takes a closer look at the pharmacology and toxicology of these caffeine-fuelled drinks.

The key ingredient of these drinks is caffeine but they are also typically supplemented with a wide variety of amino acids, B vitamins and herbal supplements. These drinks often contain between 14 and 31 mg of caffeine per 100ml. And while their caffeine concentration is similar to coffee, energy drinks are often packaged in significantly higher volumes, resulting in increased caffeine intake. In addition, these drinks also usually contain caffeine-containing herbal ingredients such as kola nut, tea, yerba mate and cocoa.

So what does this mean for the individuals consuming these energy concoctions? Well, in some instances these drinks have resulted in adverse side effects and caffeine toxicity. From headaches to nausea to palpitations and insomnia, caffeine overload can be dangerous. In 2005 alone, more than 4,600 calls were made to the American Association of Poison Control Centers for questions regarding caffeine. Of those, 2,600 involved patients younger than 19 years, and 2,345 required treatment in a health facility.

As the energy drink market continues to soar, the study recommends that clinicians should screen for energy drink use amongst their patients and learn to recognise the symptoms of toxicity. Additionally, more research is needed to determine the long-term effects of energy drink consumption on adolescents.

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2. TAKING A BROADER LOOK AT WOMEN’S HEALTH

When it comes to women’s health, considerable attention is paid to the topics of sexual and reproductive health. But there’s more to a woman’s body than babies and ovaries. Over a life span, women face many different health issues – ranging from cardiovascular disease to cancer to mental disorders.

Elsevier’s International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics takes a closer look at broader women’s health issues, utilising the 2005 WHO Global Burden of Disease database which organises information by disease type, world region, age group, and sex. Significant differences in the leading causes of death are noted by region as well as by age group.

The causes of death in younger women vary significantly by world region. For example, reproductive-age women living in sub-Saharan Africa are most likely to die from infectious diseases, while women living in Europe and the Americas are most likely to die from non-communicable conditions. But in women of post-reproductive age, non-communicable conditions like heart disease and cancer are the most common cause of death in all world regions.

The burden of disease caused by a number of different conditions – ranging from respiratory infections to malaria to maternal health conditions to diabetes and cancers – is detailed. Statistical breakdowns of women’s mortality by age and region for each health condition are also provided.

These findings illustrate that health prevention, planning, implementation, and evaluation strategies for women must be tailored by age group and to specific regional, socioeconomic and cultural populations. Targeted interventions for improving the health of women are an essential component of global health efforts.

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DISCLAIMER:
The summaries of published papers in this email are intended to be read as accessible signposts towards the original abstracts and articles, which of course have been peer-reviewed. However, the summaries in this email have not been peer reviewed, nor have they been approved by the authors of the articles or their editors.
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1. doi:10.1016/j.cpem.2007.12.002
2. doi:10.1016/j.ijgo.2008.01.025