The Health Risks Of Energy Drinks

Energy drinks contain large amount of caffeine, sugar and energy boosting ingredients that can leads to serious side effects such as insomnia, increase heartbeat, causing irregular heartbeat, agitation, irritability and seizure and can even cause death.

Caffeine

The caffeine amount can be three times more than your regular cup of coffee, but the amount is unclear.

According to K. Steven Whiting, Ph.D., of Phoenix Nutritionals in San Diego and author of Healthy Living Made Easy, caffeine targets the central nervous system directly causing dehydration and loss of water-soluble nutrients that is needed for the calming effect on the central nervous system.

Resulting in agitation and sleep problems and potentially lead to the development of long-term anxiety.

Sugar

Energy drinks are loaded with sugar, a common health risk to people with diabetes and will increase your risk of diabetes.

These drinks increases your energy temporarily, after a while your body will crash and your energy levels will drop leaving you more exhausted than before you had the drink.

Sugar also increases your triglycerides, a component of your cholesterol.

Higher triglycerides mean you are at greater risk of heart attacks and sugar weakens your immune system.

Energy Boosting Ingredients

There are soo many energy boosting ingredients in energy drinks.

Most of these products have stimulants ingredients similar to caffeine such as guarana, acai berry, taurine, ginseng, arnitine, creatine, and inositol and also ginkgo biloba.

These ingredients have shown to improve athletic performance being the reason why it is added to energy drink products.

But research on these energy boosting ingredients remains inconclusive.

Mixing Energy Drinks And Alcohol

Do not mix energy drinks and alcohol.

The presence of caffeine increases the absorption of alcohol which in return can increase intoxication and the combination of alcohol and caffeine leads to adverse effects.

Energy drinks not only contain high amounts of caffeine and sugar but also high amounts of alcohol, associated with serious side effects, including death.

Still many people continue to mix them with vodka cocktails for example.

You may think that the caffeine in energy drinks can prevent the drowsiness associated with drinking alcohol but they cannot prevent the effects of alcohol on your brain.

The Problem With Energy Drinks

Energy drinks can provide you with a burst of energy to help you get through the day.

The problem with these energy drink products is that, no one really knows how much is too much.

The manufacturers do not undertake any studies to determine the appropriate amount caffeine in their products, as caffeine is an uncontrolled substance.

And they did not put any warnings labels or precautions on these products either.

Energy drinks when you consumed in moderation and for a purpose can provide you the energy boost you need in order to perform better, stay awake longer and get through your hectic daily activities.

However, it is important to know what these energy drinks can do to you and that consuming them in moderation or not to consume more than your body can tolerate is essential to prevent unwarranted side effects.

Posted by: Mo Salle

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