A young man’s years of heavy energy drink consumption nearly killed him, doctors in the UK say. In a new report this week, they describe how the man developed heart failure, probably related to his habit of drinking four energy drinks a day for two years. Although he was admitted to intensive care as a result, he fortunately survived.
According to the report, published Thursday in BMJ Case Reports, a The 21-year-old man from the UK had gone to a local hospital with symptoms of breathlessness and abdominal distension. His symptoms, including weight loss, tremors, a fast heart rate, and general fatigue, had started four months earlier and were getting worse. His health had so deteriorated Which he had dropped out of school three months earlier. Tests quickly revealed that the man had both heart and kidney failure, to the point of damage his brain and cause delirium.
The man denied the use of alcohol or other drugs, and nothing else in his family history seemed to indicate a unique vulnerability to heart problems. But he described the regular slurping of energy drinks, up to four 500-milliliter cans per day for the past two years.
In the end, the doctors concluded that the man’s heart failure was most likely caused by his heavy energy drink consumption, which had probably slowly damaged his heart over time. In contrast, his kidney failure was caused by a chronic blockage of urine in both his kidneys and urethra but was probably unrelated to his energy drink habit or the heart damage that followed.
Both conditions threatened to kill him without intensive treatment, and on the third day after on his admission he was transferred to a specialized hospital. He was to spend 58 days in hospital, much of which was on dialysis, but was eventually discharged in relatively good health.
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There is no question that if his heart failure had not been detected and treated, including treating blood clots found in his heart when it was performing very poorly, he would have been at a very high risk of death from heart failure or potentially fatal stroke, Study author Andrew D’Silva, cardiologist at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and researcher at King’s College London, told Gizmodo in an email.
As the authors note, this is not the first case of heart damage associated with energy drink use in young and seemingly healthy people. In 2012, doctors reported a similar case of a 24-year-old man whose heart failure required a ventilator. And last year, doctors reported a case where a 26-year-old needed 10 months of treatment, including mechanical support, after heart failure related to energy drinks.
These cases seem to be rare, bBut it is still unclear how these drinks can contribute to heart damage. One likely culprit is the jumbo doses of caffeine they provide per drink. Stimulants such as caffeine can make the heart beat faster and stronger than would otherwise be the case, D’Silva notes. But he also suspects that some people are simply more sensitive to the negative health effects that can come with heavy caffeine consumption than others.
“In some people, the heart can weaken temporarily if the heart beats faster than necessary for a longer period of time. In addition, when the heart is stimulated to beat more strongly, it can become overstimulated and down-regulate its stimulant receptors, including normal body hormones such as adrenaline and norepinephrine, part of the normal ‘fight and flight response’, ”he said. “This can result in temporary weakness as the heart becomes less sensitive to normal controls.”
For now, these possible explanations are still speculationAnd in general, more research needs to be done to investigate the link between energy drinks and heart problems, including to find out if some people are more vulnerable to them.
As for the young people Man, Said D’Silva he has been doing very well since he stopped his energy drink use. While his kidneys are still affected, and he may eventually need a transplant, his heart seems to be almost back to normal based on to test. He can also run for miles without any problems, and he no longer has problems such as shortness of breath or fluid retention. W.While there may be many unknowns about the dangers of using energy drinks, he is in the hope that people can learn from his experience.
“I think there should be more awareness about energy drinks[s] and the effect of their content. I find them very addictive and way too accessible for young children, ”the man wrote in an accompanying patient perspective. “I think there should be warning labels, similar to smoking, to illustrate the potential dangers of the ingredients in energy drinks[s]
Doctors should be on the lookout for the possibility that energy drinks could cause these types of heart problems, but only after extensive research to rule out other causes, D’Sliva said