Liver Disease Energy drinks are potential hepatitis triggers

Acute hepatitis after excessive consumption of energy drinks?
It has long been known that energy drinks pose a health hazard. After higher consumption, it may, for example, tachycardia and high blood pressure. A case from the US now suggests that the awakens could also pose a risk to the liver.

Energy drinks endanger your health
High consumption of energy drinks can harm your health. It is well known that such drinks - especially in combination with alcohol - can be a risk to the heart. But the sugar-sweet drinks are also not pure, as reported on the website "personalise.co.uk". There is a graphic showing what happens in the body after a can of Red Bull.

US physicians report a patient whose acute hepatitis may be due to the excessive consumption of energy drinks. (Image: goldencow_images / fotolia.com)

After the caffeine intoxication, you get tired again
Among other things, it is evident that ten minutes after drinking such a drink, the amount of nine pieces of sugar has been added. In addition, the pulse and blood pressure through the caffeine rise sharply. Later there is a "sugar crash". Then the short caffeine intoxication dies down again. The sugar has been processed by the body and partly converted into fat. As a result, one becomes tired again, feels irritable or nervous.

Excessive consumption may harm the liver
Even more damaging to health is a high consumption of energy drinks. The case of a young woman from Northern Ireland, for example, reported a short-term vision loss and massive intracranial pressure after consuming 28 Red Bull doses last year. And now there are indications that the excessive consumption of the watchmakers can also harm the liver.

Hepatitis by sweet awake
According to media reports, a 50-year-old man with symptoms of acute hepatitis came to a Florida hospital: nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, dark urine, and other signs suggested liver inflammation.

Also, the vitamin B levels in his liver were extremely high. With the help of a biopsy the diagnosis could be confirmed quickly.

According to the responsible physicians who report on the case in the journal "BMJ Case Reports", it was initially unclear what triggered the inflammation. Accordingly, there were no signs of the usual triggers of acute hepatitis - such as a viral infection, excessive alcohol consumption or drugs.

Condition of the patient improved after abandonment
The team around Jennifer Harb of the University of Florida's College of Medicine conducted several exams and finally found that the patient had consumed four to five energy drinks per day for three weeks.

According to a report from CNN, the scientists reported that the patient's liver was damaged "just after over-consumption of energy drinks, and it recovered after the consumption of the products stopped". According to the information, the man could leave the clinic on the sixth day.

Scientifically not confirmed
According to CNN, hepatitis cases related to energy drinks have been reported in the past. Although there are no scientific studies to support this assumption, the high vitamin B3 content (niacin) in the drinks could potentially increase the risk of liver disease.

Donnica Smalls, spokeswoman for the Viral Hepatitis Center at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said: "Energy drinks are not a source of viral hepatitis."

Also in the cases that have become known so far, scientists suspect that even more triggers have been added. (Ad)