Doctors in the UK say a young man’s years of consuming heavy energy drinks. A new report this week sets out how the man developed heart failure, which is likely related to his habit of drinking four energy drinks a day for two years in a row. Although he was admitted to the intensive care unit as a result, he happily survived.
According to the report, published Thursday in BMJ Case Reports, a The 21-year-old man from the UK went to a local hospital with complaints of breathing and swelling in the abdomen. His symptoms, which also include weight loss, tremors, a heartbeat and general fatigue, started four months earlier and got worse. His health has such deteriorated that he had stopped going to school three months earlier. Tests soon revealed that the man had both heart and kidney failure damages his brain and causes delirium.
The man denied using alcohol or other drugs, and nothing else in his family history indicates a unique vulnerability to heart issues. But he does often describe the drinking of energy drinks, up to four 500-milliliter cans per day for the past two years.
Eventually, the doctors conclude that the man’s heart failure is most likely caused by his consumption of heavy energy drinks, which probably slowly damaged his heart over time. His renal failure, on the other hand, was caused by a chronic blockage of urine in his kidneys and urethra. but was probably not related to his energy drinking habit or the consequent heart damage.
Both conditions threatened to kill him without intensive treatment, and by day three thereafter when he was admitted, he was transferred to a specialized hospital. He was to spend 58 days in the hospital, many of whom were on dialysis, but were eventually discharged in relatively decent health.
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‘There is no doubt that if his heart failure had not been detected and treated, including the treatment of blood clots found in his heart when it was very bad, he would have been at a very high risk of dying as a result of heart failure or possible stroke, ”author Andrew D’Silva, a cardiologist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and researcher at King’s College London, told Gizmodo by email.
As the authors note, this is not the first case of heart damage associated with the use of energy drinks in young and seemingly healthy people. In 2012, doctors report a similar case of a 24-year-old man whose heart failure had to put him in a ventilator. And just last year, doctors report a case in which a 26-year-old needed 10 months of treatment, including mechanical support, after heart failure linked to energy drinks.
These cases appear to be rare, bit is still not clear how these drinks can contribute to heart damage. One likely culprit is the jumbo doses of caffeine they give per drink. Stimulants such as caffeine can make the heart beat faster and stronger than it would be otherwise, D’Silva remarks. But he also suspects that some people are just more susceptible to the negative health consequences that caffeine use can cause than others.
‘In some individuals, it can temporarily weaken the heart if it beats faster than necessary for a long time. If the heart is stimulated to beat stronger, it can be overstimulated and down-regulates its receptors for stimulants, including normal body hormones such as adrenaline and noradrenaline, which are part of the normal ‘fight and flight response’ ‘, he said. “This can result in a temporary weakness as the heart becomes less sensitive to normal controls.”
For now, these possible explanations are still speculations. And in general, more research needs to be done to investigate the link between energy drinks and heart problems, including finding out if some individuals are more vulnerable to it.
As for the little ones manSaid D’Silva he is doing very well as he has since stopped using energy drinks. While his kidneys are still weakening, and he may eventually need a transplant, his heart seems to be almost normal again tests. He can also walk miles without problems, and he no longer experiences problems such as shortness of breath or fluid retention. Wwhile there may be many unknowns about the dangers of using energy drinks, he is with the hope that people can learn from his experience.
‘I think there needs to be more awareness of energy drinks[s] and the effect of its contents. I believe they are very addictive and far too accessible to young children, ‘the man wrote in an accompanying perspective. ‘I think warning labels, similar to smoking, should be made to illustrate the potential dangers of the ingredients in energy drinks[s]. ”
Doctors should be on the lookout for the possibility that energy drinks may cause these heart problems, but only after extensive investigation to rule out other causes, D’Sliva said..