Energy Drink Side Effects
Are there side effects from the ingredients in Energy Drinks?
As the safety of an energy drink debate rages on, we thought we would take a look at what harmful consequences could result from consuming to many energy drinks.
It’s important to understand that energy drinks contain supplements and therefore, most brands contain some type of warning label about consuming more than the recommend serving. In moderation, most people will have no adverse, short term side effects from drinking energy drinks, however, the long term side effects from consuming energy drinks aren’t fully understood as of yet.
We will take a look at the most common energy drink ingredients and list the potential side effects that could result from ingesting too much of them through your favorite energy drink.
Caffeine
Of course this is the most common energy drink ingredient and most of you know the side effects, but the list wouldn’t be complete without it. Caffeine can be disguised as guarana, green tea extract, and coffee extract so be aware of this when reading energy drink labels. Caffeine can produce the following side effects;
- Dizziness, irritability, nausea, nervousness, jitters.
- Allergic reactions can include; rash, hives, itching, difficulty breathing, tightness in the chest, swelling of the (mouth, face, lips, or tongue), diarrhea, shakiness, trouble sleeping, vomiting.
- Headache and severe fatigue from withdrawal.
- Breast shrinkage in females.
It’s hard to pinpoint a safe dose because it varies from person to person and according to a person’s tolerance. Between 500 milligrams to 1000 milligrams in a 24 hour period will probably result in some of the above side effects.
Sugar
Most energy drinks are high in sugar in the form of high fructose corn syrup and/or cane sugar. Some use creative names to make their version of sugar seem healthier, like “natural cane juice” or they’ll call it “glucose”. High sugar drinks are linked to the obesity epidemic and the rapid increase of type 2 diabetes. The sugar in energy drinks causes insulin spikes which later result in a “crash like” feeling.
Taurine
No side effects from Taurine in energy drinks have been documented. Some countries ( France, Denmark, and Norway) originally banned energy drinks because of their taurine content, but have since accepted that taurine consumption is safe based on the evidence to date.
B Vitamins
- More than 35mg of Niacin (B3) can cause flushing of the skin. Intake of 3000mg or more can result in liver toxicity.
- More than 100mg of B6 can cause sensory nerve problems (burning sensation) or skin lesions.
Inositol
No known side effects have been reported, but ingesting large quantities has been linked to diarrhea. Large doses have been used to treat certain psychiatric disorders.
Ginseng
- Some studies have linked it to sleeplessness, while others refute this.
- Other possible symptoms include; nausea, diarrhea, headaches, nose bleed, high blood pressure, low blood pressure, and breast pain.
Glucuronolactone
While no side effects have been reported there’s still debate on its safety which has lead Canada, England, Germany, and France from allowing it in non-prescription products.
Artificial Sweeteners
If you like the sugar-free energy drinks variety there is ongoing debate over the safety of these. Here’s good article from diet-blog on the subject.
Ginkgo Biloba
- nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, dizziness, heart palpitations, and restlessness.
- Can interact with other medication such as blood thinners and anti-depressants.
L-Carnitine
- vomiting, nausea, headache, diarrhea, stuffy nose, restlessness and sleeping difficulty.
L-Theanine
This amino acid is derived from green tea and many energy drinks and shots have begun putting “green tea extract” in their products. It produces a different type of alertness than caffeine and there hasn’t been any scientific evidence of it causing adverse side effects. Some have reported feeling light-headed when consuming a dose of more than 300mg of L-Theanine.
Conclusions
Its important to note that with some of the energy drink side effects many ingredients can have similar negative effects, so with much of the information being anecdotal from patient’s records, it’s hard to say which ingredient actually caused the problems if the patient was ingesting several combinations of these at one time.
I think, overall, the evidence supports the safety of energy drinks within the context of moderation and knowing your body i.e. allergies, tolerance etc. However, we still don’t know any long-term energy drink side effects that could result, if any, because energy drinks haven’t been around long enough to draw any conclusions from their long-term effect on the human body.
If you drink responsibly and use energy drinks when you need a boost of energy and not use them as a replacement for water, then you most likely will avoid energy drink side effects.
Sources:
The National Institutes of Health
131 Comments
RECENTLY ADDED CAFFEINE
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Can you die after drinking a monster? Oh and I’m 13 soo I want an accurate answere!
Can you die after drinking a monster? Oh and I’m 13 soo I want an accurate answere!
I’m 30 years old and don’t drink much caffiene. A friend talked me into drinking one monster, i did and my kidney hurt really bad for a day and a half. That can’t be good considering it takes 3 consecutive days of non-stop beer drinking to make my kidney feel that way.
If i drink them do my breasts still shrinkk even if im a guy??
wow @ the dude who drank 6 red bulls for 5 years thats just asking for health problems 13 year old kid, i would say there is a 99.9 percent chance you will not die lol
i have been drinking energy drinks for about a year now, but usually like two a day sometimes one, unless im out of town or something then i can go without. but yea i def do notice the addictive effects and the withdrawl effects even tho i dont consider myself to drink an excessive amount(once in a while maybe). i do feel a little tired if i dont have one and when i do have one i dont really get much of a boost i just feel normal. the normal feeling makes me want one(addiction). im starting to drink less tho, i drink them more now before doing something physical or if i go to a buffet or something and i stopped drinking coffee, maybe ill actually get a energy boost from them in the future!
I drink energy drinks and i sometimes feel the simtons but i trying to stop because i can see what it can do to u
i drink energy drink but i dont get none of these…
at my school not to be named , we drink energy drinks and get a buzz off of it for a short period of time and all of a sudden we feel really tired and fudgely want to go to sleep . is it normal to get cravings of food after we drink our energy drinks ? we’re not much of energy drink takers but is this normal ?
why drink the energy drinks ?
water can give you a hit of fun .
im no health freak but i do know energy drinks are no good . it rots you from the inside and thats bad .
osteoporosis is a silent disease , which causes your bones to weaken and break very easy. and you get that from energy drinks .
dont take it personal but i think its stupid how people and turn to energy drinks just to get a buzz out of it and not know the risks they’re taking .
ahhhh thank you so much. this helps my science fair research paper sooo much!
Hello def need to stop drinking caffine bevs:) if you know what i mean
OMG! Energy drinks are freakin’ bad for you it has many ways to kill you and to tell the truth it doesn’t do anything to your energy it’s you thinking it does i’m 13 and i have to tell ya’ll that(sad)…………..hahaha WOW!
I drank 4 four lokos yesterday and my heart was racing like crazy. Then earlier today I had a strange almost passed out moment(actually several). Never had that. I still feel crappy but screw goin 2 a hospital cuz they’ll run ekg tests on me. Not cheap w/o insurance. Anyone know wt I can do??? Help!
sounds like you have a virus or something…the caffeine would be out of your system a day later…not sure whats in Lokos though as I’ve never heard of it.
4 four lokos! That is some serious alcohol intake(11%). I hate the fact that they don’t tell you the amount of energy type ingredients in these drinks not to mention the sugar content. That aside you should not still be feeling bad days later. Must be something else. http://www.drinkfour.com/ You might just have a massive hangover
Okay, While energy drinks, of coarse, give us energy, I can see why all those side affects would occur. What I wonder is why would anyone want to sell a product that would cause such sucky affects?? Profits. Company’s wanna make money so they sell things that they know will attract the youth of today. So should we be holding those company’s responsible for making many have those side affects? Or do we shut our mouths, deal with it and still buy the drink?
i love energy drinks, and i know the health risks but i have yet to find another drink that taste like a monster, and im also doing a research paper over them so i know everything that can happen yet i still drink them… any ideas on how too stop, i usually drink about 15 a week
I don’t think you have to stop smeegul, the side effects mentioned above only happen after large quantities have been consumed. Just cut back to one energy drink a day. Moderation…..
If I drink relentless or monster, the only side effects I get are tiredness and a need to pee. I don’t drink it often enough to have a built up immunity to it and I’m only 14- coming 15.
ok my turn to comment, i’ve read 2 pages of comments about energy drinks and how there bad for u or don’t hurt u. ok 1. if they hurt u DON’T DRINK THEM. 2. MODERATION IS KEY HERE too many of them a day or week will hurt jus cut back on them addicting or not 3. DRINKING 1 EVERY NOW AND THEN shouldn’t be a problem except if u have heart problems but in that case jus avoid them. and last but not least if u have a probablem with them SO WHAT most people actually like having them around so stop tryin to get rid of them. me personally haven’t tryed all of them but red bull and nos are both good ( at least i think so).