Energy Drinks and the Effects They Cause

Let’s face it we all consume things that well just aren’t good for the human body. Are you familiar with the harm that you are inducing?  Do you know what the outcome can bring you later in life?  Even though there are so many things out there today that may be harmful we choose to eat or drink them anyway. The topic that I would like to address is Energy Drinks.  In the last decade, Energy Drinks have been flying off the shelves.  However what the consumer doesn’t know is what the outcome may cause to your body, if any that is. This is going to be somewhat of a difficult topic to research simply due to the fact of the time it has been out, and what actual effects that haven’t been media-based.

We are living in a world of social media today, the biggest problem is the simple facts. When the news gets a hold of the subject it isn’t always true or fact-driven. Recently there have been multiple cases in which these Energy Drinks have been known to harm and even kill people.  The problem with all of this information is that it is nearly impossible to figure out the facts and other possible conditions that may have been involved.  The main points that I would like to address are the harms now and the effects later in life. Due to so much recent activity in the headlines, certain research sites are indeed going to need to be watched carefully to make sure that the information is accurate. There have been several cases recently in the last couple of years where Energy Drinks like Red Bull and Monster have been known to cause death. The only main problem with this is again the social media. When the media caught wind of this it was immediately blown up and put way out of context.  The news anchors were just reporting a story and not providing cold hard evidence.  In the cases in which there were actual deaths involved was because there were other substances in the body, most of which were illegal to consume. There was another case that sticks out where the teen had a history of heart problems not just with themselves but throughout the entire family.

Now there should be a certain age at which these drinks should be allowed to be bought and consumed.  I am a strong believer in the fact that these people who died should have had a little more responsibility and or need a bit more parenting. The last case of death involved a girl who was of the age of 14.  She had a much older boyfriend and a family that didn’t seem very involved until this case was released and they felt that there was reciprocation involved. Another case was with a child who had a history of bad heart problems and should not have drunk a lot of caffeine.  All of these cases where the youth has died have all gone without a biopsy to prove exactly what was in their system before.  Monster Energy is going through a lot of legal matters currently with the case of the fourteen-year-old who was a bit of a misfit.  I know that when these energy drink companies go around town and promote to people of all ages they do have an age limit on who is allowed to be sampled.  This is simple to protect their selves and their brand.  Let’s face it kids have enough energy as it is already, do they need more? Mom and Dad, this question is directed toward you.

So what exactly is in these energy drinks?  Well, let’s start with the obvious, sugar, taurine, and caffeine.  Yes, there are thousands of milligrams of vitamins and whatnot.  Just think, do we need three thousand the amount of daily b-12 added to our bodies from a drink?  No one person should be consuming a drink with a serving size of two per can with over thirty grams of sugar per serving.  This is asking for problems.  This gives you such a high probability of inheriting that thing called diabetes that nobody wants to have in life.  The amount of caffeine consumed in one day isn’t the healthiest either.  If one needs to consume a massive amount of “energy” as soon as they wake up then they simply need more sleep.  Now before I give energy drinks a bad rep I don’t think that all are bad.  I know that brands like Monster Energy make a product that has zero sugar and zero carbs.  However what about all the other artificial ingredients that chemists have to put together?  I can’t believe that you don’t need an I.D. when purchasing these drinks at gas stations.

Now let’s get down to the nitty-gritty effects of drinking energy drinks, here are some of the short-term effects. When thinking about the effects we don’t only look at the energy drinks themselves but also what they are mixed with.  When people go out to the bars and drink some energy drinks maybe before they go out and start drinking or the occasional mixing drinks, this is when energy drinks are mixed with alcohol. Energy drinks are stimulants while alcohol is a depressant, this takes a toll. This mixing of effects confuses your body on exactly how much alcohol you have consumed allowing you to drink more of it not knowing your limit and possibly getting alcohol poisoning. It is also proven that people who mix the two who get their blood alcohol concentration (BAC) tested show a higher amount. These drinks have been under high research to determine the exact effects as there haven’t been much-proven facts…yet.  It is proven however women who are pregnant and consume high amounts of caffeine while pregnant have a higher risk of a possible miscarriage.  There were studies done on over 1000 pregnant females in 2006, comparing those who induced high caffeine and those who did not.  After all of this research, the risk of miscarriages happened at around 20 weeks of their pregnancy.

There is still so much research that is happening worldwide by many different types of organizations to prove the exact effects of these energy drinks.  These are both for the pros and cons, of getting the drinks both on and off the shelf. Until these studies have been proven a lot of the statements on whether these drinks are good or bad are purely opinions. When these opinions get in the hands of the media it tend to blow up, they say if you want to sell a lie get a hold of the media.