BY MATT CASEY, BEVNET.COM STAFF WRITER
After an Idaho teen last week complained of demonic possession
and threatened to harm herself with a knife, her psychiatrist blamed her
actions on energy drinks.
“She held a knife to herself and was going to kill herself,”
Dr. Craig Denny told Idaho Falls and Pocatello, Idaho -based KIFI ABC affiliate
Tuesday. “This all started when she was drinking this new energy drink that’s more powerful than all the others.”
That energy drink, as it turned out, wasn’t an energy drink
at all. It was an energy shot called Zantrex-3 Insta-Shot, according to one of
Denny’s colleagues at the hospital.
Denny said the girl was consuming several of the five-hour
energy shots each day, and his colleague said the youth was simultaneously
consuming Zentrex’s diet pills – which also claim to supply energy.
The patient demonstrated symptoms about a week after she
started consuming the energy shots, Denny said, and the symptoms subsided
within days after she stopped.
“There’s no limit to what these kids can buy and drink,”
Denny said. “I don’t want to see this happen to any other kids and we as a
society can be more responsible with what we market to children.”
Denny said he didn’t have animosity toward the companies
that make energy drinks and energy shots, but said parents should more closely
watch what their kids consume – whether It’s energy drinks, soda or fast food.
“If it were up to me you wouldn’t be able to buy anything in
a store until you’re 18,” Denny said.
Denny also spoke to KPVI, the NBC affiliate based in the same
cities, and noted a sharp increase in energy drink consumption among his
patients.
The reporters noted that dozens of students
at Idaho Falls High School use their lunch break to trek a block and a half
down to the Texaco station to buy energy drinks. KPVI’s story quoted one
student as purchasing a Rock Star energy drink, and KIVI’s story featured a
picture of Full Throttle Blue Demon – neither of which are energy shots.