What do energy drinks do to your heart

Yet mounting evidence portrays energy drinks in a different light. In the largest randomized, controlled clinical trial on the subject to date, researchers from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA, along with collaborators from other institutions, identify how energy drink consumption affects the heart.

Shah, a professor of pharmacy practice at the University of the Pacific, enrolled 34 adults aged 18 to After an overnight fast, the volunteers consumed two ounce bottles of either one of two energy drinks or a placebo , which contained carbonated water, lime juice, and cherry flavoring. The study was double-blinded, meaning that neither the participants nor the researchers knew who drank which product. Here they found a significant change in the time that the chambers of the heart needed to contract and relax.

This measure is called the QT interval. A QTc interval of milliseconds ms in men and ms in women is considered the maximum for a healthy heart rhythm.

While consumption of the placebo drink caused a maximum change in QTc interval of an average of Importantly, the researchers saw significant changes in the QTc interval length up to 4 hours after the volunteers had consumed the energy drinks. In addition to the effect on the QT interval, the researchers found an average maximum change of 3.

In the study, the authors explain that the caffeine in the energy drinks may have contributed to the change in blood pressure, but only to some extent. Other ingredients, particularly taurine, could also play a role. Instead of 3 big meals a day, try eating several small meals or snacks during the day. Feeling stressed takes a lot of energy. Try things like yoga, meditation, or spending quality time with friends and family.

Up to milligrams of caffeine a day—about the same as in four cups of coffee—is safe for most healthy people. A large study done in England last summer found that up to 8 cups of coffee a day reduced death rates.

Wonder how healthy your blood vessels are? Ask your doctor about tests that look for signs of harm in them, as well as tests of TMAO.

These tests can help you understand your specific risks for heart attack and stroke, and take steps to reduce them. Take a short nap. Blood tests, scans, and ECG readings revealed that he had both heart and kidney failure, severe enough to warrant his being considered for a dual organ transplant. While he is still likely to need a kidney transplant, because of an unrelated condition, his heart symptoms and function improved significantly with drug treatment and after he cut out energy drinks completely.

This is just one case report, but there have been several others as well as review articles that have highlighted mounting concerns about the potential cardiovascular system harms of energy drinks, note the authors.

Overstimulation of the sympathetic nervous system by caffeine may be a factor; energy drinks are also known to raise blood pressure and can trigger heart rhythm abnormalities, say the authors, by way of an explanation for the published findings to date.