Energy drinks are often aimed at people who want to deal with fatigue, but new research suggests that these drinks may be linked to serious conditions.
Doctors have now warned that it can lead to life-threatening conditions that require immediate treatment.
Energy drinks contain between 80mg and 300mg of caffeine per serving, compared to the 100mg found in a cup of coffee.
Many of them contain additives such as taurine and guarana, which are thought to alter heart rate, blood pressure and other heart functions.
Alcohol can disrupt the heart’s electrical system, increasing the risk of abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias) leading to serious health consequences, such as a sudden heart attack, where the heart stops beating.
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in the US looked at the medical records of 144 patients who survived cardiac arrest after emergency treatment. The results revealed that seven people, aged between 20 and 42, drank energy drinks shortly before the life-threatening incident, six required electric shock treatment and one manual resuscitation.
“Critics may call this discovery a ‘coincidence,'” Peter Schwarz of the Cardiac Arrhythmia Center at the Laboratory of Genetic Origins and Cardiovascular Genetics in Milan, Italy, wrote in a co-editorial.
“We, like the Mayo Clinic team, understand very well that there is no clear and definitive evidence that energy drinks actually cause life-threatening arrhythmias, but we will lose if we do not sound the alarm. .”
The two main stimulants in carbonated energy drinks are caffeine and sugar, what do they do to our bodies?
“Caffeine increases the heart rate, improves concentration, keeps people awake for longer and prevents them from falling asleep,” explains Dr Belinda Griffiths of the Fleet Street Clinic.
“Caffeine can be good for adults. Most research shows that two or more cups of coffee a day can be beneficial for heart disease, depending on the amount of caffeine in each drink.”
However, refined sugar—especially in the amounts found in energy drinks—is not healthy.
“We can manage quite happily without it, we get enough sugar from what we eat and drink,” says Griffiths.
“Consuming too many energy drinks contain caffeine, artificial flavors and sweeteners that can affect our energy and gut.
