Positive negative effects of energy drinks

Positive And Negative Effects of Energy Drinks

Energy drinks are a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide. People consume them to increase alertness, concentration, and energy. Sugar, caffeine, taurine, herbal extracts, and vitamins are some of the ingredients used to cause this effects.

As energy drinks become more popular, we’re starting to learn more about the side effects. Some healthcare professions even caution against consuming energy drinks due their health effects.  This article evaluates the positives and negatives of drinking energy drinks.

Positive negative effects of energy drinks

Benefits of an energy drink

More Energy
As mentioned before, energy drink provides energy. Drinking them in the right amounts produce alertness, productivity and wakefulness.

Standardized amount of caffeine
With tea and coffee, the amount of caffeine differs from one drink to another. Consuming it in permissible amounts helps in warming up the body and stimulate the brain function. This is treated to be beneficial especially in cold weather months.

Available in a lot of flavors
Energy drinks can be obtained in various different flavours that makes it an interesting beverage option. This feature is not present in other popularly consumed form of beverages like coffee and tea.

Additional form of supplements
Energy drinks contains several health beneficial ingredients in it such as taurine, ginseng, glucuronolactone and B vitamins. All of them are seen to improve their effect. They can provide long-term energy advantages than an instantly perceived effect.

Refreshing
An energy drink is highly refreshing in nature. These drinks when served chilled and carbonated feels not just delicious but also refreshing. Due to this reason, they are more appealing as compared to other hot caffeinated beverages.

Convenient:
This is a big positive effect of energy drinks. You don’t need to brew it or heat it. It makes them an easy and quick to prepare RTD caffeine product.

Quick recovery post exercise:
Another important reason to consume energy drinks is that it provides gym goers, fitness enthusiasts and athletes to recover at a fast rate from exercise. This is because of the carbs and caffeine contained in it.

Negative effect of energy drinks

A lot of sugar
Most of the energy drinks available in the market are loaded with a lot of sugar. Consuming so much amount of sugar will cause the sugar levels in the blood sugar to increase. If you are suffering from any ailment like diabetes, blood pressure, obesity etc. and want to keep your blood sugar levels in control, then you must not consume energy drinks. Consuming these sweetened beverages results in elevating the levels of blood sugar, increasing oxidative stress and inflammation. All this can lead you to health issues if you have diabetes.

Costly
Energy drinks are expensive as compared to other beverages. It is difficult for a middle-class person to consume energy drinks on a regular basis.

Its combination with alcohol leads to acute health risks
Many people have the habit to drink these beverages with alcohol. This incredibly popular trend among youth presents a significant public health concern. Caffeine in energy drinks cause a stimulating impact that when combined with intoxicating effect of alcohol can cause bodily impairments.

It has been seen that people who consume energy drinks in this way have reported heavier consumption of alcohol. It can pose serious consequences at the time of drinking and driving in this condition.

Energy drinks are not good for children
As per the study conducted by the US Pediatrics Academy, 2011, energy drinks are not safe to be consumed by teenagers as well as children. The caffeine present in these drinks can make teenagers and children dependent and addicted to it.

It can even possess negative impact on the development of issues related to brain and heart. Due to the potential negative adverse impact of caffeine in the body, leading healthcare agencies discourage the consumption of these beverages by teenagers and children.

Other important health issues
Consumption of guarana and caffeine can cause an increase in the heart beat in a person. It can even lead to other bodily discomforts such as sleeplessness, anxiety, nausea, nervousness, depression, abnormal heart rhythms, blood pressure, arrhythmia, late-term miscarriage and irritability. A few energy drinks have also been seen to interact with supplements and so advised to be checked before the consumption.

Alan Behrens

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