Energy drink lifts stroke risk: study
Published: Saturday, 16 August, 2008, 02:03 AM Doha Time
CANBERRA: Just one can of the popular stimulant energy drink Red Bull can increase the risk of heart attack or stroke, even in young people, Australian medical researchers said yesterday.
The caffeine-loaded beverage, popular with university students and adrenaline sport fans to give them “wings”, caused the blood to become sticky, a pre-cursor to cardiovascular problems such as stroke.
“One hour after they drank Red Bull, (their blood systems) were no longer normal. They were abnormal like we would expect in a patient with cardiovascular disease,” Scott Willoughby, lead researcher from the Cardiovascular Research Centre at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, told the Australian newspaper.
Red Bull Australia spokeswoman Linda Rychter said the report would be assessed by the company’s head office in Austria.
“The study does not show effects which would go beyond that of drinking a cup of coffee. Therefore, the reported results were to be expected and lie within the normal physiological range,” Rychter said.
Willoughby and his team tested the cardiovascular systems of 30 young adults one hour before and one hour after consuming one 250ml can of sugar-free Red Bull.
The results showed “normal people develop symptoms normally associated with cardiovascular disease” after consuming the drink, created in the 1980s by Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz based on a similar Thai energy drink.
Red Bull is banned in Norway, Uruguay and Denmark because of health risks listed on its cans, but the company last year sold 3.5bn cans in 143 countries. One can contains 80 mg of caffeine, around the same as a normal cup of brewed coffee.
The Austria-based company, whose marketing says “Red Bull gives you wings”, sponsors Formula 1 race cars and extreme sport events around the world, but warns consumers not to drink more than two cans a day.
Rychter said Red Bull could only have such global sales because health authorities across the world had concluded the drink was safe to consume.
But Willoughby said Red Bull could be deadly when combined with stress or high blood pressure, impairing proper blood vessel function and possibly lifting the risk of blood clotting. – Reuters
Source: Gulf-times.com
Speed Comments:
2 weeks back Red Bull team came to our office and offered complementary Red Bull drinks to all the staff....
On Sunday morning this article will be displayed on our office notice board - NO TO RED BULL :-)
when u die it means ur flying (the advertising is 100% right) realy u will fly, but when ............(keep drinking)..........u will know?
right SPEED ....All stimulant energy drink r very Danger drinks.....
strange people ....when some one talke about him or her self thay said ( I`m very calm, simple, Romance person....etc ( but look what he or she is drinking......... the calm and romance drink OOOOOOOps
think first and then do.....
some will say its only for fun ?..... then have afun and waiting for fly.............
If you read the can, there is a health warning - albeit a bit vague as usual..
nothing like a sugarfree redbull mixed with some sprite and ice...i dare you to try it!!!! (go on live a little).
once again another boring article on how your gonna die if you drink or eat anything! one word...moderation.
Red bull should have a health warning! Its dangerous stuff and also professional athletes wouldn't touch it......
..a stroke is when it hits you and you see thunder and lightning..
Increases the risk of stroking what exactly!!!
don't worry about blood clotting, flanostu, vodka widens the blood vessels.
i only drink red bull with vodka, so i guess i'll be alight.