A single energy drink may increase heart disease risk in young adults

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-11/mc-mcs110915.php

Public Release: 9-Nov-2015
Mayo Clinic study: One energy drink may increase heart disease risk in young adults
Mayo Clinic

New research shows that drinking one 16-ounce energy drink can increase blood pressure and stress hormone responses significantly. This raises the concern that these response changes could increase the risk of cardiovascular events, according to a study presented today at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2015. The findings also are published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"In previous research, we found that energy drink consumption increased blood pressure in healthy young adults," says Anna Svatikova, M.D., Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic cardiology fellow and the first author. "We now show that the increases in blood pressure are accompanied by increases in norepinephrine, a stress hormone chemical, and this could predispose an increased risk of cardiac events -- even in healthy people."

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In addition to the blood pressure increase in study volunteers, their norepinephrine levels increased by almost 74 percent after energy drink consumption, compared with a 31 percent increase after the placebo drink, Dr. Svatikova says. Systolic blood pressure increased after energy drink consumption by 6 percent, compared to 3 percent with placebo consumption.

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