That’s what I don’t understand too. They can just buy a doubletripple espresso and add a lot of sugar to ease the taste. Maybe a bit of cinnamon hint too. What’s the real difference here?
The difference is popular conception. Laws aren’t set based on science. They’re set based on what enough people believe. People believe energy drinks are worse and thus they get regulated whether or not it’s true.
Advertising, audience, and stereotypes play a part in this too. Coffee is stereotypically consumed by older people, whereas energy drinks are often younger people (who older people find annoying). Coffee also has a much greater social acceptance that would make it controversial to regulate. End result is that it’s popular to limit energy drinks but unpopular to point out that coffee has far more caffeine.
It’s a weird trend. Products that are popular with youth and “seem” un-healthy get banned by populistic laws, despite limited evidence proving them actually being un-healthy.
The other prominent example I can think is vaping. I don’t even vape, but it’s weird to see it demonized as much as cigarettes, when the evidence for it being as harmful is very limited.
It’s the convenience I think. You can carry an energy drink in your backpack all day and consume it whenever. A coffee is more motivated so you order it when you want to drink it. But of course there are exceptions. It seems the goal of this is just to cut down the caffeine by making large doses less convenient, not to remove caffeine completely.
That’s what I don’t understand too. They can just buy a doubletripple espresso and add a lot of sugar to ease the taste. Maybe a bit of cinnamon hint too. What’s the real difference here?
The difference is popular conception. Laws aren’t set based on science. They’re set based on what enough people believe. People believe energy drinks are worse and thus they get regulated whether or not it’s true.
Advertising, audience, and stereotypes play a part in this too. Coffee is stereotypically consumed by older people, whereas energy drinks are often younger people (who older people find annoying). Coffee also has a much greater social acceptance that would make it controversial to regulate. End result is that it’s popular to limit energy drinks but unpopular to point out that coffee has far more caffeine.
That is big problem in our societies.
It’s a weird trend. Products that are popular with youth and “seem” un-healthy get banned by populistic laws, despite limited evidence proving them actually being un-healthy.
The other prominent example I can think is vaping. I don’t even vape, but it’s weird to see it demonized as much as cigarettes, when the evidence for it being as harmful is very limited.
It’s the convenience I think. You can carry an energy drink in your backpack all day and consume it whenever. A coffee is more motivated so you order it when you want to drink it. But of course there are exceptions. It seems the goal of this is just to cut down the caffeine by making large doses less convenient, not to remove caffeine completely.
You can literally buy a coffee in the super market and it isn’t really better than an energy drink health wise.