Ludhiana, March 21 -- Punjab health minister Dr Balbir Singh on Thursday announced that the government would soon seek a ban on energy drinks with high caffeine concentration in schools and issue advisory for colleges across the state.

"There are some energy drinks in the market that have very high concentrations of caffeine, which can lead to spike in heartbeat, anxiety, gastric conditions, and deterioration of cardiovascular health. There are World Health Organization (WHO) directions against the consumption of these drinks by those under 18 years of age," the minister said at the Eat Right Mela here.

He added that to address the legal part of it he would write to the Union government to ban these habit-forming drinks.

The minister a...