Very little information is available on the effects of ingredients found in stimulant drinks such as Red Bull, the scientific director of the Food Safety Promotion Board, Dr Thomas Quigley, confirmed yesterday.
The FSPB's Stimulant Drinks Committee has been reviewing Irish consumption patterns since January and is to report to the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Dr Tom Moffat, in December.
The study, carried out by the new North-South body was initiated following the death of 18year-old Ross Cooney, who collapsed during a basketball tournament at the National Arena in Tallaght in November 1999. The jury at his inquest called for research into the health effects of stimulant drinks, as he had consumed two to three cans of Red Bull. Red Bull ingredients include taurine - a building block for amino acids - similar to the controversial sports additive. The FSPB was liaising with Sweden's National Food Administration to determine whether such drinks were safe. A risk assessment would commence in the autumn, said Dr Quigley.
The Swedish NFA, has advised the public not to take Red Bull mixed with alcohol or after exercise. The warning followed deaths of three healthy people, all of whom were believed to have consumed Red Bull before they died.
A spokesman for Red Bull said the claim the Swedish deaths could be linked to the company's product were extremely tentative. "We don't even know if the people who died had been taking Red Bull," the spokesman said. In the Dail last October it was emphasised no evidence had been found to indicate the drink was responsible for Mr Cooney's death. Draft EU legislation to control foods intended for intense muscular effort would be completed by December 2001, the Minister said.