Energy Drinks side effects, risk, danger, review, people with heart disease should avoid them, and also those with history of strokes or severe hypertension

Energy drinks often contain a combination of caffeine, guarana, amino acids, and herbs such as ginkgo and ginseng. Excessive consumption of energy drinks rich in caffeine and guarana seed extract can cause side effects, including seizures. Many people who partake of these energy drinks may find their blood pressure and heart rate are increased.
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Side effects of energy drinks
Although most people who drink a can or two of energy drinks will not have any major side effects, there are reports in the medical literature of individuals who had seizures following heavy consumption of energy drinks. Once these individuals stopped using these energy drinks, they had no further seizures.
   The increasingly popular high-caffeine energy energy drinks have side effects that involve increased heart rate and blood pressure levels. Those who have high blood pressure or heart disease should avoid energy drinks because they could impact their blood pressure or change the effectiveness of their medications.
   Super-caffeinated energy drinks, with names like Red Bull, Monster, Full Throttle and Amp have become very popular. About a third of 12-to 24-year-olds say they regularly have energy drinks. These energy drinks have been linked with reports of nausea, abnormal heart rhythms and emergency room visits.

Heart and blood pressure risk, danger
People with high blood pressure or heart disease should not consume energy drinks. Dr. James S. Kalus found that healthy adults who drank two cans of a popular energy drink experienced an increase in blood pressure and heart rate. The increases in blood pressure and heart rate were insignificant for healthy adults, but could prove a problem for people with a heart-related condition. Energy drinks, marketed to enhance brain function and stamina, usually contain caffeine, taurine, sugars, vitamins, and other nutritional supplements. Dr. James Kalus studied 15 young healthy volunteers  who consumed two cans of an energy drink. The subjects' average heart rate increased 8 percent the first day and 11 percent the seventh day. Blood pressure increased at least 7 percent the first and seventh days. Annals of Pharmacotherapy, April 2009.

Quantitative determination of caffeine and alcohol in energy drinks and the potential to produce positive transdermal alcohol concentrations in human subjects.
J Anal Toxicol. 2009 Jan-Feb. Ayala J, Simons K, Kerrigan S. Forensic Science Program, College of Criminal Justice, Sam Houston State University, Box 2525, 1003 Bowers Blvd., Huntsville, Texas 77341.
The purpose of this study was to determine whether non-alcoholic energy drinks could result in positive "alcohol alerts" based on transdermal alcohol concentration (TAC). Eleven energy drinks were quantitatively assayed for both ethanol and caffeine. Ethanol concentrations for all of the non-alcoholic energy drinks ranged in concentration from 0.03 to 0.230% (w/v) and caffeine content per 8-oz serving ranged from 65 to 126 mg. A total of 15 human subjects participated in the study. Subjects consumed between 6 and 8 energy drinks over an 8-h period. None of the subjects produced TAC readings that resulted in positive "alcohol alerts". Subjects in the study consumed a quantity of non-alcoholic energy drink that greatly exceeds what would be considered typical. Based on these results, it appears that energy drink consumption is an unlikely explanation for elevated TACs that might be identified as potential drinking episodes or "alcohol alerts" using this device.

Ginseng in the drinks
Imatinib and Panax ginseng: A Potential Interaction Resulting in Liver Toxicity.
Ann Pharmacother. 2010 Mar 23. Bilgi N, Bell K, Ananthakrishnan AN, Atallah E. Division of Internal Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI.
To report a case of imatinib-induced hepatotoxicity after concurrent ginseng ingestion in a patient with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). A 26-year-old man with CML who had taken imatinib 400 mg daily for 7 years with no complications presented with right upper quadrant pain. Laboratory test results included alanine aminotransferase 1069 U/L, aspartate aminotransferase 481 U/L, alkaline phosphatase 124 IU/L, total bilirubin 1.4 mg/dL, albumin 4.0 g/dL, and international normalized ratio 1.08. Liver biopsy showed acute lobular hepatitis favoring a drug-induced etiology, and a diagnosis of imatinib-induced hepatotoxicity was made. The patient's only lifestyle modification prior to the diagnosis of liver toxicity was daily ingestion of Panax ginseng via energy drinks for the past 3 months. Both imatinib and ginseng were discontinued, and the patient was treated with a short course of corticosteroids. Imatinib was later restarted at the same dose with no recurrent elevations in his liver enzyme levels. Imatinib-associated hepatotoxicity usually presents within 1-2 years of therapy initiation, with the median time to hepatotoxicity being 100 days. Ginseng is an herb that is not known to cause harm to the liver. In vivo, ginseng is known to inhibit CYP3A4, the primary enzyme involved in the metabolism of imatinib. We propose that our patient's late-onset imatinib-associated hepatotoxicity was due to an interaction between ginseng and imatinib through CYP3A4.