If you’re an adult, it’s doubtless you must have been told, Don’t consume energy drinks, still, your next gulp of energy drink is just a minute or two away. Well, like they say, this is not a drill, this is the real deal.
Dion Parratt, 18, started taking at least five cans of energy drinks as a child, which caused her two miscarriages. It was later discovered she now suffers very low blood pressure and a severe heart problem which suddenly reduces her pulse causing her to faint.
Dr Graham Jackson, honorary consultant cardiologist at St Thomas’ Hospital, told MailOnline ”the caffeine in energy drinks is a stimulant, causing the heart to beat faster. ”While energy drinks have long been linked with heart palpitations, it is unlikely they would cause the pulse to slow and the person to pass out’‘, he said.
He explained that she is wearing a heart monitor box, with wires connected to an ECG machine, which sends reports about the heartbeat back to doctors. She probably had an underlying heart problem that was discovered when she went to the doctor about heart palpitations. ‘Now they are monitoring her for what is causing her pulse to stop. They are probably trying to find out what the underlying problem is.’
Drinking two cans of energy drink a day is ‘dangerous’ as this could equate to around 800mg of caffeine. ‘Up to 400mg is the safe level. Any more than that and you might get heart palpitations. ‘You could get caffeine withdrawal symptoms when you stop – feeling shaky, feeling awful.’
He added that most young people who stopped drinking caffeine once they discovered problems would recover.
In her first year of secondary school, she barely ate in a bid to lose weight Miss Parratt began drinking the beverages, which contain stimulants caffeine and taurine and drank multiple cans a day to give her energy. She claims doctors realized she had a heart problem after having two miscarriages.
‘It wasn’t until I lost the second baby that they found a problem with my heart. Honestly, go get checked you don’t wanna die young,’ she said.
Speaking on the issue, her mother, Debby Frost said, ‘It’s really not nice watching your 18-year-old daughter go through this. Passing out when her heart rate drops so low, and then having this machine strapped to her.. Heartbreaking.
‘If you only stop one of the people that have read and shared this post from drinking these killer drinks, that’s one less person/family that have to go through what you are.. One proud mum here.’
Debby praised her daughter’s bravery and urged others to stop drinking energy drinks.
A spokesman for the British Soft Drinks Association, who represent energy drink manufacturers, said: ‘The recent EFSA opinion confirms the safety of energy drinks and their ingredients and therefore does not provide any scientific justification to treat energy drinks any differently to the main contributors to daily caffeine intake including tea and coffee.
‘It’s worth remembering that coffees from popular high street chains contain the same or more caffeine than most energy drinks. However, like all food and drink, energy drinks should be consumed in moderation and as part of a balanced diet.’
A slew of studies have linked the drinks to cardiac problems.
Just one can raised stress levels, increased blood pressure and the heart’s ability to contract, and increases arousal and alertness in the brain. These changes could predispose otherwise healthy, young adults to heart problems, the researchers warned.
And the dangers are even greater in people with underlying heart problems.
Spanish researchers warned consuming just one energy drink a day could trigger erratic heartbeats and heart attacks in healthy teenagers.
A number of deaths have been linked to the drinks, causing campaigners to call for the industry to be regulated.
These include 16-year-old Lanna Hammam of Peoria, Arizona, who had a cardiac arrest following drinking energy drinks but no water, and 19-year-old Joshua Merrick, from Manchester, who had been drinking high-caffeine drink Animal to boost his workouts.
In November, US researchers again warned just one large can of energy drink a day may raise the risk of heart problems in young adults.
This is not a drill. Watch what you drink.
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