Tread carefully on that caffeinated drink
YOU may have consumed an energy drink — that soft drink with a variety of stimulants to boost energy. Energy drinks have flooded the market and are popular among young adults because they are perceived as classy.
Do you often take coffee or an energy drink to re-energise? Titus Serunjogi writes why this might not be a good idea
YOU may have consumed an energy drink — that soft drink with a variety of stimulants to boost energy. Energy drinks have flooded the market and are popular among young adults because they are perceived as classy.
Some people punch their vodka with an energy drink, while others consume the energy boosters whenever they are worn out and need to accomplish a task.
But for whatever reason you consume the drink, did you know that over consumption of energy drinks can be dangerous?
In some countries including France, Denmark, Norway and Uruguay, a popular energy drink was banned, following the death of an athlete after consuming the drink. Three people were also reported dead in Sweden in 2001 after drinking a cocktail of alcohol and energy drinks.
Dr. Hanifa Bachu, a nutritionist, says: “Energy drinks are only meant to supply mental and physical stimulation for a short time. It is alright to take one can or two when you are very tired and yet must do physically strenuous work.
But should you consume four to five energy drinks in one sitting and not do physical exercise afterwards to expel the excess energy, this can lead to complications ranging from a minor headache and vomiting to high blood pressure and stroke.â€
She says to give you that burst of energy, many energy drinks mainly combine caffeine and sugar, among other ingredients.
“One feels tired when the level of sugar in the blood drops, so by taking an energy drink, you are providing your body with rapidly digestible sugars, which the body burns down instantly to give you a quick burst of energy,†she says.
But the drawback of the sugar in the energy drink breaks down faster in your organs, releasing too much energy — more than your organs can process at once.
Bachu says this puts your body under stress as it tries to maintain its functions. In the long-term, energy drinks affect the absorption of nutrients, causing huge spikes of sugar, and shortly after, drops in blood sugar levels.
The body also has to work very hard to digest, detoxify and eliminate the sugars. Besides, the energy from refined sugars gets spent rapidly, but the organs keep working at a higher rate, demanding more energy.
This is why you feel extremely tired a few hours after having had an energy drink — the reason many people respond by having another drink to get more energy.
Caffeine
Caffeine acts as a central nervous system stimulant that temporarily wards off drowsiness and restores alertness. It is meant to give you an instant burst of energy, but shortly after, you feel ‘empty’.
Over time, caffeine behaves like an addictive drug. You need to keep taking it to avoid headache and excessive fatigue. In small doses, it can help you stay awake and focused on a boring task, relieve pain killers and help you ignore aches.
But the more caffeine you take, the faster your heart palpitates and the thicker your blood becomes because caffeine drains water from the blood, Bachu says.
Several studies reveal that strong doses of caffeine can increase hypertension, trigger heart disease and induce irritability, anxiety, panic attacks, headache and insomnia.
An energy drink contains about 80mg of caffeine, which is just about the same amount found in a cup of coffee. However, caffeine from energy drinks gets absorbed more rapidly into the blood.
And worse still, energy drinks are punched with many pure sugars, amino acids and vitamins which the body is not accustomed to taking at once.
Who should not take energy drinks
Bachu says energy drinks are not recommended for people with hypertension, heart diseases, diabetes, asthma, epilepsy and children as well as pregnant women. She warns that people on consistent medication should consult a doctor before taking an energy drink.
Caffeine slows down the body’s ability to absorb water and thickens blood. Also, normal usage of energy drinks stimulates the body to produce excess urine, consistently depleting the body of vital nutrients like calcium and potassium, increasing the risk of kidney stones and weak teeth and bones.
People who have just done physical exercise should desist from quenching their thirst with energy drinks because they hinder the body’s ability to absorb water, leading to a lot of water being passed out as urine and sweat.
Everest Mubuuke, a nutritionist with the National Chemotherapeutics Research Laboratory, says energy drinks take the body through sudden changes it is not accustomed to, interrupting a person’s natural rhythms and disrupting the functioning of the heart, brain, liver and kidney.
Caffeine, particularly from energy drinks, increases the activity of most body organs, causing the liver to release more sugar into the blood system to give that spurt of energy.
The hyperactive organs consume this generated energy quickly and the body starts to crave for more, thus addiction. The recommended healthier source of caffeine is green tea because it increases metabolism and boosts one’s energy moderately, without increasing blood pressure.
YOU may have consumed an energy drink — that soft drink with a variety of stimulants to boost energy. Energy drinks have flooded the market and are popular among young adults because they are perceived as classy.
Some people punch their vodka with an energy drink, while others consume the energy boosters whenever they are worn out and need to accomplish a task.
But for whatever reason you consume the drink, did you know that over consumption of energy drinks can be dangerous?
In some countries including France, Denmark, Norway and Uruguay, a popular energy drink was banned, following the death of an athlete after consuming the drink. Three people were also reported dead in Sweden in 2001 after drinking a cocktail of alcohol and energy drinks.
Dr. Hanifa Bachu, a nutritionist, says: “Energy drinks are only meant to supply mental and physical stimulation for a short time. It is alright to take one can or two when you are very tired and yet must do physically strenuous work.
But should you consume four to five energy drinks in one sitting and not do physical exercise afterwards to expel the excess energy, this can lead to complications ranging from a minor headache and vomiting to high blood pressure and stroke.â€
She says to give you that burst of energy, many energy drinks mainly combine caffeine and sugar, among other ingredients.
“One feels tired when the level of sugar in the blood drops, so by taking an energy drink, you are providing your body with rapidly digestible sugars, which the body burns down instantly to give you a quick burst of energy,†she says.
But the drawback of the sugar in the energy drink breaks down faster in your organs, releasing too much energy — more than your organs can process at once.
Bachu says this puts your body under stress as it tries to maintain its functions. In the long-term, energy drinks affect the absorption of nutrients, causing huge spikes of sugar, and shortly after, drops in blood sugar levels.
The body also has to work very hard to digest, detoxify and eliminate the sugars. Besides, the energy from refined sugars gets spent rapidly, but the organs keep working at a higher rate, demanding more energy.
This is why you feel extremely tired a few hours after having had an energy drink — the reason many people respond by having another drink to get more energy.
Caffeine
Caffeine acts as a central nervous system stimulant that temporarily wards off drowsiness and restores alertness. It is meant to give you an instant burst of energy, but shortly after, you feel ‘empty’.
Over time, caffeine behaves like an addictive drug. You need to keep taking it to avoid headache and excessive fatigue. In small doses, it can help you stay awake and focused on a boring task, relieve pain killers and help you ignore aches.
But the more caffeine you take, the faster your heart palpitates and the thicker your blood becomes because caffeine drains water from the blood, Bachu says.
Several studies reveal that strong doses of caffeine can increase hypertension, trigger heart disease and induce irritability, anxiety, panic attacks, headache and insomnia.
An energy drink contains about 80mg of caffeine, which is just about the same amount found in a cup of coffee. However, caffeine from energy drinks gets absorbed more rapidly into the blood.
And worse still, energy drinks are punched with many pure sugars, amino acids and vitamins which the body is not accustomed to taking at once.
Who should not take energy drinks
Bachu says energy drinks are not recommended for people with hypertension, heart diseases, diabetes, asthma, epilepsy and children as well as pregnant women. She warns that people on consistent medication should consult a doctor before taking an energy drink.
Caffeine slows down the body’s ability to absorb water and thickens blood. Also, normal usage of energy drinks stimulates the body to produce excess urine, consistently depleting the body of vital nutrients like calcium and potassium, increasing the risk of kidney stones and weak teeth and bones.
People who have just done physical exercise should desist from quenching their thirst with energy drinks because they hinder the body’s ability to absorb water, leading to a lot of water being passed out as urine and sweat.
Everest Mubuuke, a nutritionist with the National Chemotherapeutics Research Laboratory, says energy drinks take the body through sudden changes it is not accustomed to, interrupting a person’s natural rhythms and disrupting the functioning of the heart, brain, liver and kidney.
Caffeine, particularly from energy drinks, increases the activity of most body organs, causing the liver to release more sugar into the blood system to give that spurt of energy.
The hyperactive organs consume this generated energy quickly and the body starts to crave for more, thus addiction. The recommended healthier source of caffeine is green tea because it increases metabolism and boosts one’s energy moderately, without increasing blood pressure.