Revved Up???

“It came out of nowhere! A group of friends were hovering over me asking if I was alright. I wasn’t sure why they were asking this question but what I did know: I had checked out….entering a darkness I could not control.” After repeated episodes and several trips to the emergency room with no definitive answers, Erin scheduled an appointment.

Erin had been a patient since she was a toddler. Though we hadn’t seen her in a couple years, she was a vibrantly healthy young lady the last time she was seen in our office. Scared and sitting on our examining table, she and her grandmother were describing symptoms that resembled a seizure disorder. After taking a thorough history and asking questions from every angle, we uncovered Erin’s addiction to many popular energy drinks we find teens gulping down daily. She said they helped give her energy to keep up with all her activities, homework and part-time job. As the demands and stress increased in her life, so did her consumption of energy drinks to cope. Little did she know they were taking a drastic toll on her health, potentially leading to early death.

Between the excessive amounts of caffeine, sugar or artificial sweeteners, taurine, guarana (which contains synephrine – a popular alternative to ephedrine which was banned by the FDA in 2004,) and other herbal stimulants, not only our youth but many adults are relying on this type of pick-me-up to stay on top of their fast-paced lives.

Quoting Roland Griffiths, PhD, professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore: “Drinks with the highest caffeine content should warn of potential health dangers. Many of these drinks contain as much caffeine as found in 14 cans of soda.”

Symptoms such as headaches, nausea, vomiting, high blood pressure, tremors, dizziness, numbness, fibrocystic breast cysts, rapid heartbeat, nervousness, restlessness, anxiety, insomnia, and sudden death syndrome have all been directly linked to consuming energy drinks.

Though more and more reports surface warning of the dangers of consuming energy drinks, they don’t explain what is actually causing all the negative symptoms.

Caffeine is absorbed rapidly and enters all organs and tissues of the body between a few minutes and up to an hour of ingestion, depending on speed of individual metabolism. It has a metabolic half-life of about three hours and is excreted as a methylxanthine derivative (in both urine and to a lesser extent, feces.) Methylxanthine is a diuretic agent. Caffeine is a cardiac muscle stimulant, smooth muscle relaxant, and a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant. One mechanism behind the latter is an increase in the excitability of neurons in the CNS. Caffeine stimulates gastric acid secretions, increases plasma (blood) glucose and free fatty acid concentrations.

The effects of caffeine for each individual are as varied as thumb prints to humanity. It is difficult to say what is considered safe. As with all debates on health care, there is data supporting positive effects of caffeine intake. If we are to weigh the pros against the cons, the cons far out weigh the pros.

What is becoming a larger concern for young adults is the increased consumption of mixing energy drinks with alcohol. Due to the diuretic and dehydration effects, the body’s ability to metabolize alcohol becomes more dangerous. With energy drinks being a stimulant and alcohol being a depressant, impaired judgment is heightened.

To date France, Norway, Denmark, and six German states have all banned the sale of energy and similar drinks.

My mission is to inform. All too often we consumers trust those who manufacture our beverages and foods to be safe for our health. Unfortunately, this is not the case. More often than not, it is greed that drives our manufacturing industry….not humanity’s safety.

If we as a society are to turn the tide on healthcare, we must make wiser choices about what we deem healthy and nutritious.

With fatigue being one of the chief complaints spoken in every doctor’s office, obviously pounding down energy drinks is not the solution.

Life is about choices: you make the call!