The United States Poison Control Center has reported more than 5,000 cases of people incurring serious side effects from drinking energy drinks from 2010 to 2013. Half of them are children that do not know that they are drinking energy drinks. This was discovered by a study presented at the American Heart Association last November 17.
The team of researchers found out that most of the cases of serious side effects involved seizures, irregular heart beat or rhythms and high blood pressure which are dangerously high. For children who are below 6 years old who consumed energy drinks but don't realize what they are consuming.
Energy drinks contain high amounts of sugar and caffeine that is as much as one cup of coffee contains. However, they are many other ingredients that are incorporated in energy drinks such as taurine and l-carnitine which are common in ginseng.
"They didn't go to a store and buy it; they found it in the refrigerator, or left by a parent or an older sibling," said study co-author Dr. Steven Lipshultz, from the Children's Hospital of Michigan.
Dr. Lipshultz noticed way back in 2007 that both children and adults who have drank energy drinks are arriving in the emergency room not feeling well or are sick. He then conducted a tracking data from poison control centers worldwide. By 2011, the team reported cases of ailments in connection with energy drinks and these increased drastically. Consequently, serious side effects like liver damage, seizures, heart problems and death have been increasing. In another study, the United States government discovered that emergency room cases linked to energy drink consumption have increased in five years from 2005 to 2011.
They analyzed the reports from poison control centers from 2010 to 2013 and found out that there are 5,156 cases that were reported and that amounts to 40% involving children who are 6 years and below.
"You can't really dissect out what is the effect of ginseng, what is the effect of taurine, what is the effect of guarana, what is the effect of caffeine," Lipshultz said.
Those who have health conditions like a seizure disorder, arrhythmia or high blood pressure should know the risks involved in drinking energy drinks. Also, caregivers of children should keep energy drinks from small kids.
