This is What Happens to Your Heart When You Indulge in Energy Drinks

 Caffeine is a substance that offers certain benefits like improving mental alertness, relieving headaches and treating health conditions like asthma and diabetes.

However, when combined with artificial sweeteners and other additives, caffeine becomes a very dangerous and toxic cocktail that increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases and heart attack.

Cory Terry, a 33-year old man experienced the fatal consequences of regularly consuming one of the most popular energy drinks Red Bull. His mother told the New York Daily News that he wasn’t a smoker and he was physically active, but he consumed energy drinks daily. This caused his heart attack.

Does Red Bull Cause Heart Attacks?

There are a lot of studies on the effects of energy drinks and one of them claims that Rd Bull and similar energy drinks could harm people with cardiovascular conditions. Moreover, they might also cause similar symptoms in healthy people.

One study involved fifteen healthy participants. They were given two cans of energy drink similar to Red Bull in terms of ingredients for one week.

The results were the following;

• Their blood pressure increased by 8 percent only four hours after drinking the energy drink, rising up to 10 percent by the end of the week.
• Their heart rates increased by 8 percent on the first day and rised by 11 percent by the end of the week.

Both of these factors cause increased risk of heart attack.

What Is In Red Bull?

The major ingredients of Red Bull include stimulants such as caffeine and taurine combined with sugars, and several B-group vitamins.

These ingredients on their own do not cause negative side effects, but there is a minimal research on their effect when combined.

Another study studied the effect of Red Bull on people during and after  a workout. The study involved 13 participants who engaged in endurance training.

They exercised three times a day, and each time before they did this they were given a Red Bull, a beverage similar to it but without taurine, and a stimulant-free placebo.

It was found that Red Bull was the only one to affect participant`s stroke volume or the amount of blood pumped by the heart.

Said differently, even though the stimulants  contained in Red Bull might not cause any serious side effects separately, they do have a significant effect on the cardiovascular system when  in combination with other substances.

All in all, Red Bull and similar energy drinks are certainly not good for your heart.

If you want bigger brain alertness and energy boost, stick to the caffeine from coffee or other drink that contains only one stimulant.

Sources:besthealthyguide.com