How Safe are Energy Drinks?

 "By Monday, Four Loko, the alcohol-and-caffeine-laced energy drink, is scheduled to be removed from store shelves nationwide, following a ruling last month by the Food and Drug Administration that the safety of such beverages is unproven and that they should no longer be manufactured or sold. During the resulting media coverage, surprisingly little attention was focused on a corollary topic. What about nonalcoholic energy drinks, which will remain on sale? Are they safe? Effective? Who should be drinking them? Who shouldn’t?"
Original Article 

Now that the popular alcoholic energy drink, Four Loko, is now banned, many people are questioning how safe regular energy drinks are. research says that energy drinks contain unhealthy amounts of  
"sugar (up to a quarter cup per can), caffeine and other ingredients, like the stimulatory herb guarana and the amino acid taurine." Although energy drinks are sometimes considered "sports drinks", the truth is that very few athletes actually drink the product that they advertise. Energy drinks have sugar and also
 caffeine in them. Some athletes do say that they drink the sugar free version of Red Bull and it does improve their performance.