MRI technique shows how energy drinks alter heart function
>>
Long-term effects?
While Dörner and colleagues concluded that energy drinks have a short-term effect on cardiac contractility, they do not know exactly how or if this greater contractility affects daily activities or athletic performance. Also unknown is the degree to which consumption may lead to an adverse cardiac event, such as a heart attack or arrhythmia.
“We cannot say if there is a risk for people with known heart disease, but that is a good question to answer in further investigations,” Dörner said. “Because cardiac disease is not that obvious in people drinking energy drinks in high amounts — and maybe in combination with alcohol or drugs — it may be possible to have arrhythmia that can be harmful. We don’t know that yet because all our subjects were healthy, with no known heart disease, and the dosages were very low.”
Dörner and colleagues plan to continue their research with extended timelines to see how long the effects of energy drink consumption may last.
“It is already known that caffeine concentration can last four to six hours,” Dörner said. “Taurine is different; it depends on the metabolism of each subject. So it’s hard to say how long the energy drink effects may last.”
In the meantime, the researchers recommend that children and people with known cardiac arrhythmias avoid energy drinks, given that changes in contractility could trigger arrhythmias.
They also advocate additional research to assess the potential risks of consuming energy drinks with alcohol.
<<
via Radiology, News, Education, Service.
