‘Gaming Fuel’ Sales to Young Raise Health Issues
青少年能量飲料引疑慮
By Hilary Stout

Two popular video gamers posed as snipers wielding real semi-automatic guns at an outdoor range, blasting orbs of fruit and cups of deep orange liquid in ultra slow motion. “Introducing Blood Orange,” announced a video of the spectacle.
兩名很受歡迎的電玩客打扮成狙擊手，在戶外靶場手持真的半自動步槍，在超慢動作特效下打爆各種水果和裝有深橙色液體的瓶瓶罐罐。播出此一奇觀的錄影帶宣稱「介紹血橙」。

In the days afterward, online followers ordered tubs of the latest flavor of a powdered energy drink called G Fuel that is marketed as a secret sauce to enhance focus and endurance for virtual battles.
幾天後，線上玩家大量訂購最新口味的沖泡能量飲料G Fuel，號稱由秘方調製，能提升線上遊戲玩家的注意力和耐力。

“Oh, this is gonna taste so good!” exclaimed one cherub-faced YouTuber.
「哦，這肯定很好喝哪！」長著娃娃臉的YouTuber使用者麥可高呼。

G Fuel and a competitor called GungHo are a new incarnation of energy drink, growing in popularity while the energy drink industry has been under scrutiny because of deaths and hospitalizations linked to consumption of caffeine- and sugar-laden beverages. Traditional energy drink makers have played to the growing gamer culture too.
在飲料含過量咖啡因和糖分導致住院甚至死亡案例，整個能量飲料界受到嚴密檢視之際，G Fuel和競爭對手GungHo代表愈來愈受歡迎的新一代能量飲料。傳統能量飲料業者也迎合規模日增的遊戲文化。

Dr. Marcie Schneider, an adolescent-medicine specialist in Greenwich, Connecticut, worries that most parents do not recognize the dangers of the drinks.
康乃狄克州格林威治市的瑪西．史奈德是青少年醫學專家，對於大多數父母沒有看出能量飲料的危險感到憂心。

“I feel like we have a better sense of how many kids are smoking pot than how many kids are using energy drinks,” Dr. Schneider said. She was an author of a study for the American Academy of Pediatrics that recommended that children and adolescents should never consume energy drinks because of caffeine’s potential to disturb sleeping patterns, increase heart rates and slow brain development.
史奈德說：「我覺得我們對多少孩子在吸大麻，比對多少孩子愛喝功能飲料更清楚。」史奈德是美國兒科學會一項研究報告的作者之一，該研究結果建議孩童和青少年根本不該喝能量飲料，因為咖啡因可能會影響人的睡眠習慣，讓心跳加快，延緩腦部發育。

The industry is tapping into the celebrity allure and online fan base of “professional e-athletes,” analysts say, with sponsorships of gaming competitions and players. Gamma Labs, the company selling G Fuel, heavily promotes a Call of Duty clan including those would-be snipers in the video ad.
分析家說，能量飲料產業以贊助遊戲比賽和玩家的方式，開發名人魅力和「職業級電子運動員」的線上粉絲基本盤。生產G Fuel的伽瑪實驗室就強力宣傳《使命召喚》遊戲俱樂部，其中就包括那些在廣告裡扮演狙擊手的玩家。

While major energy drink makers – including Red Bull, Rockstar and Monster – voluntarily agreed to stop marketing to children under 12, a United States congressional report released this year excoriated those companies and others for continuing to target teenagers.
包括紅牛、搖滾之星和怪物高能在內的能量飲料生產大廠雖然主動表示，不會向12歲以下的孩子推廣產品，但是美國國會今年發布的一項報告痛批這些大廠和其他廠商持續鎖定青少年做行銷。

The newer gamer drinks are sugar-free and vitamin-infused, but they often contain caffeine that rivals or exceeds that of some other well-known products, according to Caffeine Informer, which provides information on caffeine levels in food and drink.
新一代的遊戲玩家專屬飲料不含糖並添加維生素。但專門提供各類食品和飲品中咖啡因含量資訊的「咖啡因資訊提供者」指出，玩家專屬飲料的咖啡因含量和某些知名的同類產品相比，往往有過之而無不及。

But business is still booming. Sales of energy drinks and shots internationally are projected to rise to $21 billion by 2017 from $12.5 billion in 2012, according to Packaged Facts, a publisher of market research.
這門生意依然興旺。市調出版商Packaged Facts估計，能量飲料和濃縮能量飲料的國際營業額，2017年預計會從2012年的125億美元增至210億美元。

In Melbourne, Australia, Finlay Sturzaker spent 100 Australian dollars to order several tubs of a powdered G Fuel drink, only to have his father confiscate it, he said. Finlay, 14, said he found out about the drink on YouTube through the FaZe Call of Duty clan in the commercials.
在澳洲墨爾本，芬利．司徒柴克花了100澳元訂購了大量G Fuel飲料粉，全被父親沒收。芬利今年14歲，他說在YouTube上的《使命召喚》FaZe俱樂部頻道看到G Fuel的廣告。

“It makes me more focused while playing Call of Duty and I definitely see improvement, and it gives me very natural energy,” he said. G Fuel’s caffeine content, 150 milligrams per 355 milliliters, is higher than many of the Monster and Red Bull drinks, according to Caffeine Informer.
芬利說：「G Fuel能使我在玩《使命召喚》時更加專注，我肯定看到進步，飲料給我一股很自然的力量。」「咖啡因資訊提供者」統計，G Fuel每355毫升含有150毫克的咖啡因，含量比怪物高能和紅牛的許多產品都要高。

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has asked energy drink makers for more data on caffeine. Caffeine is not the only concern, Dr. Schneider said. Taurine and guarana, a plant extract, also act as stimulants, she said.
美國聯邦食品藥物管理局已經要求能量飲料業者提供更多關於咖啡因的資訊。史奈德說，咖啡因不是唯一讓人擔心的成分，還有牛磺酸和萃取自植物的瓜拉拿糊，此二者也被用作興奮劑。

Ethan Yorke, a high school junior in California, said drinking G Fuel helped him improve his home run average significantly on a baseball video game he plays.
加州高中生伊森．約克說，喝G Fuel讓他玩棒球電玩時多打出很多支全壘打。

“It really feels like you have genuine energy, like you’ve just had a 30-minute-to-an-hour nap,” he said. “And you just have pure energy.”
「喝G Fuel真的能讓你感覺精神煥發，就像是小睡30分鐘到1小時，」他說：「渾身是勁」。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/20/business/energy-drink-industry-under-scrutiny-looks-to-gamers-to-keep-sales-surging.html

2015-06-09聯合報/G9版/UNITED DAILY NEWS 張佑生譯 原文參見紐時週報八版下