B4: Source 2: NBC News

Section 1: Bibliographic Entry:  
Reuters. “Energy Drinks Worse for Your Heart Than Caffeine Alone: Study.” NBCNews, 26 Apr.
2017, www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/energy-drinks-worse-your-heart-caffeine-
alone-study-n751686. Accessed 5 Sept. 2017.

Section 2: Summary:  
The author’s primary claim is that energy drinks have harmful, possibly fatal consequences. Therefore, they should not be consumed by anyone, especially adolescents. Energy drink popularity and number of emergency room visits related to its consumption have a direct relationship - each have continued to rise. The author debunks the argument that energy drinks and caffeine are the same, citing a lack of proper evidence. Therefore, it is implied that the - often unlabeled - high caffeine content in these drinks is not the only concern. The mix of ingredients that make up most energy drinks are likely to blame for things such as irregularities in heart EKG (electrocardiogram) readings seen in performed studies. The author includes facts from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about what amount of caffeine is considered safe to consume over the course of one day. The author also references a study team that researched the effects of the other ingredients in energy drinks. The study looked into physical changes of men and women after having an energy drink versus after taking a separate drink with just the caffeine part included. A statistic about sick people going to poison control centers after blindly consuming these drinks is included as well in order to further support the author’s claims that energy drinks have negative impacts on health and that consumers are often unaware of these risks.

Section 3: Critical Reflection:
The author’s audience is basically anyone. The article is published on a popular, well read news source: NBC News, which means the reach and availability of this article are indefinite. By writing in a non-technical, easy to understand style the author ensures that anyone who clicks on the article will be able to understand the language. The author assumes the reader has no medical experience or foundation of knowledge on the issue of energy drink risks.  This allows the author the ability to target a broad audience that includes children and less educated readers. Throughout the article, there are related hyperlinks whose titles may grab the reader’s attention. The titles highlight multiple negative associations involving energy drinks and caffeine, mentioning events such as a college banning the use of energy drinks or the well-known and respected FDA looking into deaths associated with energy drinks, which cause the reader to think, “Wow, energy drink consumption is a huge problem. It makes me glad to see college institutions and federal agencies are taking action towards preventing more energy drink related accidents from happening. The risks seem really serious.” The author attempts to discourage the use of energy drinks. The author cites multiple studies and quotes from researchers on the topic. The author also name drops proper nouns as well as includes information from sources that are either commonly known or sound official and important such as the Food and Drug Administration, Mayo Clinic, and American Academy of Pediatrics. By citing these sources, the author attempts to improve his credibility and authority about the issue of energy drink risks. The author is pretty effective at showing people that energy drinks are controversial and when used excessively can have serious health consequences. But, the source’s quality is ineffective because it is very simplified and is a miss-mash of studies and quotes that are not very specific or detailed. This article does not have sufficient, reliable sources of evidence because the studies are not included in detail and a lot of the information seems vague and up to interpretation. In one part it acknowledges the high number of cases where people reported being sick as being between 2010 and 2013, but the article was published in 2017. The statistic is valid but it does not fully support the claim that right now in 2017 society is experiencing a major increase in energy drink related incidents compared to past years. My other source-a scientific journal about amino acids-seems more qualified because it is a report detailing three separate experiments that were statistically analyzed and published. There is also a case of missed punctuation and at least one possible spelling error in this source, which  is very different level of professionalism as the scientific journal. Mistakes can make the reader less confident in the author’s credibility. This source is a lot less professional and contains more appeals. There are appeals to logic, but there are more appeals to emotion such as fear and to the author’s credibility by name dropping and inserting random statistics.

Section 4: Quotes:  
“An ECG change known as QTc prolongation and sometimes associated with life-threatening irregularities in the heartbeat was seen after drinking the energy drink, but not after drinking the caffeine beverage, the study team reports.” (par 8)
“Even just one 16-ounce energy drink can increase blood pressure and stress hormones and could put a healthy young adult at risk for heart damage, concludes a 2015 Mayo Clinic study.” (par 19)
“The American Academy of Pediatrics says energy drinks have "no place" in the diet of children and adolescents.” (par 20)

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