Last October, 17-year-old Weslaco High School cheerleader Larissa Nicole Rodriguez died of an enlarged heart due to stress and large amounts of caffeine. Her family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the distributor of Alani Nu energy drinks, and according to her attorney, the only substance found in her system was caffeine. Rodriguez had been drinking at least one can a day, largely because of how Alani framed itself as a wellness brand.
Energy drink companies have gotten good at centering their products around self-care. Alani’s website leads with “Wellness should feel good and taste good,” yet it contains 200 mg of caffeine per can, twice the recommended amount for teenagers to consume, based on studies from Michigan Medicine. Celsius, now the parent company of Alani, uses a “Live Fit” motto with minimalistic fruit packaging. Prime, created by YouTubers Logan Paul and KSI, is advertised as zero sugar and vegan, despite packing 200 mg of caffeine per can. According to NPR, in 2023, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer called on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate Prime, the company responded that its caffeine levels in its energy drinks fell “within the legal limits of the countries it’s sold in.” Ultimately, these companies know exactly who is buying their products, and the wellness branding is a deliberate strategy to encourage consumerism.
The FDA currently imposes no restrictions on caffeine content in energy drinks and does not require manufacturers to disclose caffeine quantities on labels. However, this becomes a loophole that the industry has identified and built the entire drink market around. For instance, Panera Bread exploited the same blind spot with its “charged lemonades,” which contained up to 390 mg of caffeine—approximately four servings of an 8-ounce cup of brewed coffee—in a single cup back in 2024 and led to many other lawsuits, according to NBC News. While major energy drink companies list their caffeine content on the label, it is often overshadowed by their “healthy” marketing.
Nowadays, students carry energy drinks to school the same way they carry water bottles. Sleep deprivation and academic pressure drive energy drink consumption, but the solution that is offered by these drinks only works to make the problem worse. Caffeine risks disrupting sleep cycles and drives students to poor sleep. Student awareness of the dangers only goes as far as what they know from marketing, and more often than not, social media. The responsibility should not fall entirely on teenagers to read the fine print or regulations on a product that was designed to make them not want to.
A person should not have to cross-reference FDA databases to figure out whether a drink marketed as healthy might kill her. Larissa Rodrigeuz did not fail to do her research. She trusted a product that was framed to be trusted. We encourage the student community and beyond to treat these products with skepticism and stay informed, and to push back against the brand and influencers who promote them.
