Health Risks of Energy Drink Essay

Introduction People want immediate results in the middle of the busy day, after exercise, or any other activity which requires them to recharge themselves. So, instead of focusing on key natural ways such as sleep habits, improving diets we used to go for certain energy drinks available in the market without knowing the pros and cons of these drinks related to our health. Recent researches on the consumption of energy drinks have proved that the excessive use of these types of drinks can cause severe health risk including increase in systolic pressure, insomnia, and various other discussed later in the paper. It is the common phenomena that energy drink used to rebuild the energy lost during the exercise, which is not right. Similarly, it does not help burn calories, neither it speed ups the metabolism nor it provides long lasting energy to our body. Energy drinks are the fastest growing beverages market (Bornstein, 2011). Youth is reportedly consumers more energy drinks than other demographic variable. There are various energy drinks available in the market targeting the same type of crowd with different slogan and appeals. Some have focused on athletes, some on teenagers and students etc. Excessive caffeine can cause various health problems such as insomnia, jitters, nervousness, gastrointestinal problems, and heart palpitations. Background Statement We see various TV ads focusing on red bull, 5-hour ENERGY, monster etc so are these drinks shelved at the supermarkets. However, American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and UK drug inspecting agencies has reported severe health related issues on the consumption of energy drinks. The sales of energy drinks in UK and other parts of the world is increasing so are the concerns after the researches made on this particular subject. Hence, the need is to review the myth surrounding energy drinks consumption. What are energy drinks? According to UK soft drink report (2012), soft drinks are â€Å"traditional glucose based energy drinks; functional or stimulation energy drinks which claim a particular energy boost from caffeine, Guarani, turbine and ginseng or other herbs or some combination of these ingredients†. The ingredients used in these energy drinks act as a stimulant to the central nervous system of our brain. These include caffeine or Guarani and vitamins etc. Health Risk There are various serious health risks associated with the consumption of energy drinks. Some of these health risks are discussed in this section. Drinking energy drinks in moderation is not necessarily harmful. Excessive consumption of energy drinks containing caffeine, however, can result in the same health effects related to consuming too much caffeine, such as insomnia, jitters, nervousness, gastrointestinal problems, and heart palpitations. Like sodas, the amount of sugar and empty calories (calories that do not contain nutrients) in energy drinks contribute to poor dietary health when consumed regularly. Hence, the affects of these drinks are short term as well long term. These affects are categorized below: Short term affects †¢ Hurts performance †¢ Increased heart rate †¢ Abnormal heart rhythm and other problems †¢ Crabby †¢ Trouble Concentrating †¢ Negative interactions with medications †¢ Increased Blood Pressure Long term affects †¢ Caffeine Addiction †¢ Liver Failure †¢ Sleep Apnea †¢ Kidney Failure †¢ Cardiovascular Disease So, it is better to be aware of these health issues and do not use more than 100mg/day of the caffeine as per health official recommendation. Conclusion After reviewing the ingredients, myths, and other factors surrounding the energy drinks it can be concluded that excessive use of caffeine i.e. by consuming more energy drink will certainly lead us to the several health risks which might be short term as well as long term. So, the need for the people is to get educate themselves, so is the responsibility of the energy drink manufacturers to warn the customers of the potential health hazards associated with the particular drink. References Roy-Bornstein, C. (2011). Just Say No to Energy Drinks. Pediatrics For Parents, 27(7/8), 11. UK soft drink report (2012) Available at: http://www. britishsoftdrinks. com/PDF/UK%20soft%20drinks%20report%202012. pdf.