These
highly caffeinated beverages we call "Energy Drinks" didn't
hit store shelves until late 1990's/early 2000, but now it's a
multi-billion dollar industry. But is now coming under fire for
several connected deaths and hospitalizations. In Canada, Red Bull
was linked to 3 deaths and 35 having serious side effects. Rockstar
was named to four hospitalizations and 13 with Serious side effects.
Monster was linked to 5 deaths and 20 hospitalizations, including 14
year old Anais Fourtnier from Maryland who died after drinking two
Monsters in a 24 hour period. She reportedly drank one at the local
mall, then returned the next day and drank another. She then went
into cardiac arrest. An autopsy found that she died of cardiac
arrhythmia due to caffeine toxicity that impeded her heart's ability
to pump blood. 5 Hour Energy was cited in 92 reports, including 33
hospitalizations and 13 deaths.
Are
these stories just stories of irresponsible teens or do these Drinks
actually pose a threat to your health? Well, let's look at some of
the facts. First, Unlike soft drinks, energy drinks are not bound by
the FDA guidelines for caffeine in soft drinks so an energy drink
often ranges from 160mg (milligram) to 500mg of caffeine a single
serving. Consuming over 500mg a day can lead to caffeine addiction,
anxiety, irritability, heart problems, headaches and hallucinations.
In fact, by definition, Caffeine is a legal psychoactive stimulant
Drug that stimulates your central nervous system, respiratory
system and heart. This causes alteration and stimulation of brain
function, alertness and increased heart rate.
Studies
show that caffeine shows associations, addictive properties and
features shared with other psychoactive stimulant drugs such as
dependence on alcohol, nicotine, and drugs such as cocaine, morphine,
and heroin. Caffeine shows the most similarity to cocaine and
reinforces cocaine-seeking behavior, making probability of caffeine
dependence on caffeine in the body high. In most Energy Drinks, there
is also a free form amino acid named taurine. Taurine is naturally
made in the body from the amino acid cysteine, creating all the
taurine your body needs Therefore, it's not the taurine itself that's
dangerous, but in the energy drinks it's packaged in. Now taurine is
produced synthetically and shipped in by the truckload, and put in
energy drinks giving yourself an over dose. Because the drinks often
act as a diuretic in your body, makes it dangerous, leading to
dehydration, to consume one of these before or directly after
exercise. As far as adverse effects of taurine on the body, the jury
is still out and it's still somewhat of a mixed argument in the
medical community. However doctors do say that it's best if people
with liver or kidney disease avoid taurine, because it becomes hard
for the kidneys to bioaccumulate the excess taurine flowing into the
body. The over consumption of taurine may also lead to some medical
problems. Doctors also recommend that nursing and pregnant mothers
also avoid taurine. Now let's talk about our last ingredient for now,
sugar. Now, we all know too much sugar is bad for you, but did you
know, according to the USDA, the average person in America eats 156
pounds of added sugar a year? The American Heart Association
recommends that for men no for then 36g (that's 9 teaspoons or 150
calories) and for women no more then 34g (that's 6 teaspoons or 100
calories). The sad thing is, most Americans have not clue how much
sugar they are consuming on a daily basis. For example, one serving
of Red Bull & Monster both have 7 teaspoons, AMP, and Full
Throttle includes 7.5 teaspoons of sugar in a serving &
Rockstar energy drink includes 8 teaspoons a serving of sugar. This
is not to mention the sugar content in soft drinks, which is almost
as bad as energy drink sugar content. Over eating, poor memory
formation, learning disorders & depression have all been linked
to the overdose of added sugar in the body. Now, we're only beginning
to understand the relationship between the chronic intake of added
sugar with the brain. What we do know is that having a overdose of
added sugar a day, dulls our brain's mechanisms to tell us to stop
eating by reducing activity in the anorexigenic oxytocin system,
which leads us ultimately to eating more at meals and becoming hungry
more often, leading us down the road of overeating. With overeating,
comes a whole host of medical problems and issues which I won't go
into right now, but long story short, we are slowly killing our
selves with added sugar. The sugar over-eating epidemic is no more
big of a problem as smoking or alcohol addiction. Next time you go
for a pick up from a energy drink I hope you will think of this
first and think: Do I really want to put all this in my body?
