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Red Bull gives you... heart condition???? Tr00f or Bollox?
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| emc^2 |
So, I overheard some ppl talking about Red Bull, while I was purchasing mine and decided to poke around. Found several "concerning" articles... here's one:
| quote: | Red Bull drink lifts stroke risk: Australian study
Thu Aug 14, 2008 10:26pm EDT
By Rob Taylor
CANBERRA (Reuters) - 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 on Friday.
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 told Reuters.
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 3.5 billion 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.
"If you have any predisposition to cardiovascular disease, I'd think twice about drinking it," he said.
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Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSSYD5846120080815
While sample of 30 people is hardly conclusive, there's enough anecdotal evidence strewn around the interwebz. I've had several anxiety onsets myself in the past, which I attributed to cafeine.
I wonder what does the wise c0r collective think about this? Tr00f or Bollox? |
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| nchs09 |
| Thats a news article.. any empirical proof? |
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| Silky Johnson |
A new study, done over a 25 year period of 1000 coffee drinkers and 1000 non-coffee drinkers, has shown that caffeine actually has positive effects on cardiovascular health.
I'll have to find a source for this...I read it in a peer reviewed advanced practice nursing journal though, so I know it's legit. |
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| denys envy |
| that's why you mix it with vodka. it clears the arteries. |
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| squirrelly |
| quote: | Originally posted by emc^2
Red Bull could be deadly when combined with stress or high blood pressure |
If that were true, every last person in my office would be dead right now. |
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| Halcyon+On+On |
I have often read that Red Bull actually contains slightly less caffeine than an average cup of coffee. I drink my coffee black as the night though, and about every day. Sometimes up to 2 pots per day on the weekends. So who knows just how representative their "average" is.
I have a hereditary disposition towards high blood pressure as well, but my particular blood pressure has always, always been extremely low. I don't really exhibit any signs of stress or stroke or other cardiovascular conditions, but then again I am fairly young still.
If there is something harmful in Red Bull, I am, first off, completely screwed because I have already drank about a million of them in my lifetime, but also sceptical that it would be caffeine that is truly "harmful" in the sense of the article. If anything, I'd say it's the other chemicals they stick into Red Bull. Taurine, for example, was granted its name because it was originally extracted from cow bile. Not to mention the cocktail of other acids and vitamins they put into it, it's easy to see how there could be something harmful to humans in there, somewhere. |
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| MrJiveBoJingles |
| It's been known for a long time that caffeine can predispose you to arrhythmias. If you have heart palpitations, one of the first things a doctor will ask you is how much caffeine you drink. I don't know if it has much long-term effect on an otherwise healthy person, though. I'm guessing it doesn't. But if you already have CV problems stimulants can send you over the edge. |
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| Cpt.Cocaine |
| quote: | Originally posted by jennypie
A new study, done over a 25 year period of 1000 coffee drinkers and 1000 non-coffee drinkers, has shown that caffeine actually has positive effects on cardiovascular health.
I'll have to find a source for this...I read it in a peer reviewed advanced practice nursing journal though, so I know it's legit. |
Yeah but redbull contains alot more than just caffeine. |
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| Silky Johnson |
| True. But just pointing out that caffeine isn't the devil that everyone thinks it is, according to this study. |
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| Cpt.Cocaine |
| I blame ginseng. |
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| Halcyon+On+On |
Red Bull doesn't have any ginseng in it. :o
Have you ever had straight ginseng though? I mean actual tea made out of the root.
You'll like it's your first and last time. |
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| winston |
| quote: | | A strong cup of coffee in the morning can feel like a life saver. Now, one of the largest and longest studies of coffee drinking suggests that coffee may indeed boost your lifespan - providing you drink enough of the stuff, that is. |
http://www.newscientist.com/article...rt-disease.html |
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