PSoTD

Keeping them awake so they can drink more...

Energy drinks with alcohol aimed at youths

The images, culled from social networking sites, flashed on a screen: young people laughing, partying, clutching colorful cans of drinks with names like Sparks, Joose and Tilt.

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Energy drinks with alcohol are dangerous, they are targeted at young people and are hard to distinguish from their nonalcoholic counterparts, the speakers said at a conference Friday morning at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.

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The drinks, with their sleek graphics, are referred to as a "speedball in a can," cost less than energy drinks without alcohol and are marketed on Web sites designed to appeal to young people, Ventura County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Geoff Dean told the audience.

"They are intentionally marketing these to a certain segment," Dean said.

Three cans of one of the beverages equals five shots of whiskey and contains the caffeine of 15 Diet Pepsi's, Dean said.

The stimulant of the energy drinks can mask how intoxicated a person is and prevent them from realizing how much alcohol they have consumed, according to Ventura County Limits. The stimulant effect can also make a person not realize they are drunk. Both energy drinks and alcohol cause dehydration.

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The Sheriff's Department was recently successful in getting one major grocery chain to separate alcohol energy drinks from nonalcoholic energy drinks.

Weird. Alcoholic beverages cost less than nonalcoholic beverages that they're trying to emulate?

Teenage riot.

Central Dauphin School District has removed salt from the tables in its secondary school cafeterias this school year, and CD High School students are venting their displeasure on Facebook.com, the social networking Web site.

Despite the complaints, CD could be leading a trend. In recent years, schools have complied with federal regulations and state guidelines to limit fat, sugar and calories in school meals. Now they're turning their attention to sodium.

"Federal guidelines recommend no more than 11/2 grams of sodium [less than a teaspoon], and we do encourage schools to take the salt shakers off the tables, but we don't mandate it," said Margarita Maisterrena, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's food and nutrition service.

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CD senior Alex Knapp bristled at the new rule.

"We understand where they're coming from with wellness, but our concern is, why can't we as students be trusted with the decision regarding our salt intake?" he said in a phone interview. "Why are they still providing us with soft pretzels, which are covered with salt?"

Some students bring salt packets from nearby restaurants, he said.

Limiting sodium intake is meant to decelerate growing rates of metabolic syndrome, in which high blood pressure, obesity and other factors contribute to heart disease, said associate director of food services Cindy Magee, a dietitian.

I'm all for this. Who salts their food anymore? Simple preventative measures now beat the heck out of illness and medical bills in 25 years. So just shaddap and do what you're told, kids. It's for your own good. You'll thank us later. Really.