Energy drinks are becoming an increasingly important topic in public health, nutrition and food policy, with global sales more than doubling from 2018-2023 and product selection expanding by 20% since 2021.

Just as sales of the drinks have surged, so has their caffeine content, elevating concerns about childhood energy drink consumption. A new paper co-written by experts in food marketing and food policy from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Tennessee Knoxville gauges the U.S. public’s preferences for and perceptions of energy drink policies and marketing.

“Although public health researchers and governmental agencies acknowledge that children are consuming energy drink products and have warned against childhood energy drink consumption, we have little information on how the public believes these concerns should be addressed,” says Maria Kalaitzandonakes, a professor of agricultural and consumer economics at Illinois.

Read more from the Illinois News Bureau.