Deaths due to energy drink consumption by year, age, location, and sex

FOI reference: FOI-2026-3517

You asked

I'm writing to request data held by the ONS relating to deaths where energy drink consumption may have been a contributing or underlying factor.

I appreciate that energy drink consumption is unlikely to be systematically captured through cause of death coding alone, so I would be grateful if you could advise what data, if any, is held.

Specifically, I'm looking to find out:

1. Whether the ONS holds any mortality data – including within death registration records or linked datasets – that captures energy drink consumption as a factor in cause of death, either through ICD-10 coded fields or free-text recording such as coroner's notes or narrative cause of death entries.
2. If such data is held, please provide the number of relevant deaths, broken down by year, age group, location and sex (please prioritise cases from the last 15-20 years if this request is too broad).
3. Whether the ONS has produced, commissioned, or holds any finalised analyses or reports relating to energy drink consumption and associated mortality.

If relevant data is not held by the ONS, I would be grateful if you could advise whether it might be held elsewhere. 

We said

Thank you for your request. 

Our Deaths related to drug poisoning in England and Wales bulletin provides the number of drug-related deaths involving specific substances. The dataset we use to produce this bulletin is derived by searching the cause of death and coroners' text for mentions of specific drugs. We do identify deaths involving caffeine, but we do not have any information that could identify if the caffeine poisoning was a result of energy drink consumption.

Of deaths registered between 1993 and 2024 in England and Wales, there were 78 deaths involving caffeine among males and 53 among females.

Further information can be requested through our user request service by emailing Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.