A Prime candidate for parliamentary review

As recently as January 4, 2022, two popular American influencers and social media giants, Logan Paul and KSI announced that they had founded a new drinks company known as Prime Hydration.

With more than 40 million young followers between them, these energy drinks took much of the world by storm and had to be rationed in some areas due to their popularity.

Caffeine and Potassium fears

The problem is that according to several sources, these drinks are full of either caffeine or potassium and it has been suggested that a single 355ml drink has the same amount of caffeine as two Red Bull energy drinks, four cups of espresso, or six cans of Coca-Cola.

Sales controlled

Already sale of the drinks has been either heavily controlled or completely banned in such diverse countries as Australia, Canada, Denmark and The Netherlands and now schools, parents and health authorities in the Czech Republic are expressing concern on the effect that the drinks have on local children.

“I would call that almost a horse dose. It’s definitely not healthy for anyone, let alone children,” nutrition expert Martin Jelínek told Seznam Zprávy.

“Caffeine is such an age-old classic. It is used by all manufacturers because it is the cheapest, most accessible and, in principle, actually the most effective variant of the stimulant.”

Expensive drink

They are not cheap, costing between CZK200 and 300 (€8-12) per bottle according to reports in the Czech media, so parents aren’t exactly happy, especially when a can of Coke Zero costs a not inexpensive CZK29 (€1.20).

There is a caffeine free version of Prime but that has significant traces of potassium which whilst possibly beneficial to athletes has the potential to be harmful to children.

Some schools in the Czech Republic have contacted parents pointing out the potential problems the children may face if by drinking Prime they are kept awake and consideration is being given in Parliament to making then only available to those over 18-years of age.