I recently made a road trip to Colorado during which I was the “driver.” Although I split the going trip into two days, I drove straight through on the way home – an 18-hour drive. It took serious concentration.
And I consumed an energy drink - the 5-Hour Shot brand. I had only one, but in order to prevent me from getting sleepy when everyone else in the car was asleep, I drank it. However, I’m a healthy person, and I consume caffeine on a regular basis.
Energy drinks are promoted to increase energy and stamina, promote weight loss, improve concentration and enhance athletic performance. Since they are categorized as dietary supplements, there are no regulations requiring manufacturers to prove their claims of efficacy or safety.
These particular drinks consist of a lot of caffeine. It is not unusual for me to drink two or three cups of coffee during the day, along with a coke mixed in somewhere. Also, I suffer from migraines, and caffeine is the leading drug to help those headaches, so the medicine I take for them is full of caffeine. I would most definitely have a difficult time weaning myself off the drug.
However, not all people are as de-sensitized to caffeine as I am, especially young people. In a recent news article, a 14-year-old Maryland teen, Anais Fournier, drank two 24-ounce Monster Energy drinks in a 24-hour period. She lived for six days in a coma, and was then pronounced brain dead. She also suffered from heart arrhythmia, a disease in which the heart beats irregularly. Clearly, this child should not have been consuming energy drinks. In an autopsy, caffeine toxicity, which prevented her heart’s ability to pump blood, caused her death.
This teen’s case is one of five Monster Drink related deaths reported to the FDA, which is now investigating the safety of energy drinks, chews, and shots (such as what I drank).
Although these products provide a temporary energy rush, they also contain a significant amount of caffeine, sugar, and other ingredients that can sometimes lead to serious side effects such as insomnia, an increased or irregular heartbeat, agitation, irritability, seizure, and death.
An energy drink might start with less caffeine than a cup of regular coffee, but guarana and other substances contain additional caffeine, which increases the amount the drinker receives. With names such as Monster, Rock-On, Rock Stars and Killer Buzz, the drinks definitely focus on the younger, risk-taking generation. Wired X505 contains 500mg of caffeine with a tag line of, “Get Wired - Stay Wired.”
Since it would be impossible to make caffeine a controlled substance, how do we go about handling this problem? Several doctors and other news media sources are focusing on these potential problems related to the drinks:
1. Many contain large amounts of caffeine – about three times the amount found in a regular cup of coffee. Caffeine can cause heart cells to release calcium, which can affect one’s heartbeat, leading to arrhythmia. The drinks might also disrupt the normal balance of salts in the body, which also has been linked to arrhythmia. However, more study is needed to determine a safe, consumable amount.
2. Impaired cognition. Some students rely on energy drinks to pull all-nighters to study for exams. However, a study in 2010 found that drinking moderate amounts of caffeine, about 40 milligrams, improved performance on a test of reaction time, but drinking higher amounts, such as the levels found in a 250 milliliter can of Red Bull, worsened performance on the reaction test.
3. In a 2010 study, Red Bull and V accounted for almost two-thirds of the energy drink-related cases referred to the NSW’s poisons centre, followed by Mother and Pulse. There were no reports of caffeine toxicity caused by cola drinks or coffee during the study period.
4. Germany has tracked energy drink–related incidents since 2002. Reported outcomes in that country include liver damage, kidney failure, respiratory disorders, agitation, seizures, psychotic conditions, muscle breakdown, rapid heartbeat, irregular heartbeat, hypertension, heart failure, and death.
Energy drinks do not pose a problem for those who drink the beverage for an occasional boost of energy. The at-risk people are the ones who drink one or more a day, and our young people. Until we know more about the dangers of these drinks, moderation is a good key to safety.
Some information from: www.yahoo.com, www.nydailynews.com, www.fda.gov