Energy Drinks and Arrhythmia

It gives you wings.^[1] It can give you seizures.^[2][3] Jim Carrey likes it. In 2008 the energy drink industry did $3 billion in sales in the United States alone, which is great if you need a late night pick-me-up to cram for exams.^[4] In a 2008 article in the Dutch Journal of Psychiatry, a significant increase in focus and sustained attention as well as reaction times was seen in subjects who had consumed energy drinks like Red Bull. ^[5]

But are energy drinks like Red Bull pro-arrhythmic?

You probably already know that energy drinks have a high concentration of caffeine and sugar (though “diet” versions are seeing increased popularity). Most also contain guarana in some form (which also contains caffeine) and taurine, an ingredient that drink makers claim can boost metabolism. ^[6] A few also contain bitter orange, a substance Kathleen Miller, a research scientist at the University at Buffalo’s Research Institute on Addictions, says is “very closely related” to ephedra.^[7] Ephedra was banned for sale as a diet supplement in 2004 because of findings that it caused blood pressure increases and otherwise stressed the circulatory system. ^[8]

Anecdotal evidence abounds over what these energy drinks can do to a person’s heart. In March of 2008, four middle school students in Broward County, Fla., went to the emergency room with heart palpitations and sweating after drinking the energy beverage Redline. ^[4] In September 2008 Chloe Leach, a 21 year old social work student in the UK, collapsed and died on a nightclub’s dance floor after consuming several Red Bull and alcohol. She suffered from borderline Long QT Syndrome. ^[9] In 2001 Ross Cooney, 18, from Ireland, died after he shared four cans of Red Bull then played basketball. ^[6] A 28 year-old motorcycle racer in Australia suffered cardiac arrest shortly after taking part in a grueling race. He’d consumed 7 cans of an energy drink prior to the race. ^[10]

These events are not all that surprising when you consider Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, published study findings in The Annals of Pharmacotherapy in March 2009 that showed an increased QT interval, a 10-point increase in blood pressure and an increase in heart rate of 5-7 beats per minute in healthy volunteers, from drinking 2 cans of an energy drink per day. ^[11] The hospital issued a warning that those with existing heart conditions avoid drinking energy drinks altogether.^[12]

And the danger multiplies when you add alcohol. Though alcohol depresses function of the central nervous system, it’s a heart stimulant. Enough so that the term “Holiday Heart Syndrome” was coined after a 1978 study of regular drinkers who engaged in binge drinking suffered cardiac arrhythmias, most often supraventricular tachycardia and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. ^[13]

So if you’re a sufferer of the occasional heart palpitation or a more serious arrhythmia, it might be a good idea to cross energy drinks off your grocery list, especially if you’re a regular alcohol drinker (though you should probably cut back on that, too).

References