The Great Harm Of Energy Drinks

The results of a national survey on the nutrition of students from 1st to 12th grade in Bulgaria, conducted in late 2010 by the National Center for Public Health and Analysis and the University Hospital of Pediatrics in Sofia show that a significant proportion of children, especially boys over the age of 10 they often consume significant amounts of energy drinks.  

Of the children from 1st to 4th grade, 5.7% consume 5 times and more often energy drinks, and 4.7% of boys at this age drink energy drinks more than once a day. Children in grades 5-7 have a higher frequency of consumption - 19% of them drink 5 times or more a week of energy drinks, and children in high school have the highest frequency of use of these drinks - 20.8%.

Consumption is especially high at this age for boys - 24.5 percent of the surveyed students consume more than 5 times a week energy drinks, and 9.1 percent of them drink such drinks more than once a day.

These data outline that the problem of overuse of energy drinks by children in Bulgaria is serious and are the basis for taking additional regulatory measures to reduce possible health risks.

Due to the variety of physiological and psychological effects on the body and the consumption of so-called "energy" drinks mainly by young and active athletes, the ingredients contained in them in recent years have been the subject of research and evaluation. It is considered that there is no health risk with a single daily intake of energy drinks. When consuming two or more drinks a day, due to increased intake of caffeine in combination with other ingredients with a stimulating effect, adverse effects on the body are possible, associated with high blood pressure, risk of heart attack and diabetes. Here are some more proven harms from consuming this type of product :

Headache and migraine

The use of artificial stimulants overloads the body, depriving it of the necessary rest. On a different from the natural principle, he must stay awake, which is expressed in various unpleasant symptoms such as headaches and the development of migraines . The main culprit for this is caffeine in quantities above the allowable.

Insomnia

Frequent use of energy drinks can lead to chronic insomnia. The feeling of fatigue the next day pushes the person to the next can of the harmful drink and closes him in an extremely insidious cycle of overload and abuse of very risky substances.

Addiction

People can become addicted to caffeine and taurine. The most common cause is the aforementioned insomnia. This can lead to a total inability to function without consuming an energy drink.

Risk interaction with alcohol

The combination of energy drinks with alcohol is very dangerous, according to a study by American scientists from the Medical Institute at the University of Texas at Houston. It is about the consumption of popular energy drinks, which have a higher caffeine content than coffee, experts say. The study's lead author, Dr. John Higgins, explained that a typical energy drink could contain a quarter cup of sugar and between 70 and 200 milligrams of caffeine. This amount is more than in coffee. For comparison, a glass of black drink contains between 40 and 150 milligrams of caffeine.

The combination of caffeine with some of the other ingredients often used in energy drinks, such as the amino acid taurine, some minerals and vitamins, can affect heart rate, blood pressure and even mental state.

The risk to health becomes even greater when large amounts of energy drinks are consumed or they are combined with alcohol.

Bad habits

Teenagers who consume energy drinks eat unhealthily, smoke and stagnate too much in front of the computer and TV .

That's according to a study by researchers at the University of Minnesota and North Carolina. They found a link between weekly fluid intake and harmful habits in adolescents. The researchers collected data from a one-year study involving 2,793 adolescents.

During the period, their height, weight, energy intake, diet, physical activity, smoking, addiction to computer games and television were reported. It turned out that although stimulant fluids help endurance and strength, very few young people consume them with the "noble goal" of sports. They even lay down and led an unhealthy lifestyle.

According to study lead author Dr. Nicole Larson, teenagers who drink energy drinks spend several hours more in front of the TV or computer than their peers.