From Ars Technica: Man shocks doctors with extreme blood pressure, stroke from energy drinks
In the UK a man was admitted to the ER with a blood pressure of 254/150 mm Hg showing signs of having a stroke. Over time the doctors learned that the man drank 8 energy drinks per day.
Each of the 16-ounce drinks was labeled as containing 160 mg caffeine, a stimulant that can raise blood pressure. For reference, there’s about 90 mg of caffeine in a normal cup of coffee. So eight of these energy drinks would be 1,280 mg, the equivalent of a little more than 14 cups of coffee a day. But the doctors point out that the labeled amount of caffeine was only the “pure caffeine” amount. Such energy drinks contain additional ingredients, like guarana (a plant native to the Amazon used as a stimulant), that can contain “hidden caffeine.” Guarana is “thought to contain caffeine at twice the concentration of a coffee bean,” Coyle and Munshi write.
The doctors hypothesize that the combination of ingredients in energy drinks—taurine, guarana, ginseng, and glucuronolactone—can work together to boost the effects of the beverages’ pure caffeine and high sugar content, leading to stroke risk and, in the man’s case, a hypertensive crisis.
I try to be cognizant of anything I eat or drink every single day. The compounding effects of “hidden” ingredients can have a serious impact without our knowledge.