Energy Drink Effects on Performance, Mood, and Cardiovascular Outcomes

Energy drinks are widely promoted to increase energy, enhance mental alertness, and improve physical performance. ccording to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) at NIH \[1\], next to multivitamins, energy drinks are the most popular dietary supplement consumed by American teens and young adults. No two energy drinks are the same, with each using different ingredients. Traditionally, energy drinks contained caffeine, sugar, ginseng and B-vitamins, but newer competitors are bringing different formulations to the market that are also low-calorie/low-sugar and that contain other performance enhancing ingredients, such as beta-alanine and l-citrulline. There are also significant concerns regarding the safety of energy drink consumption. Unfortunately, there are few studies that have (1) examined the effects of energy drink consumption on performance and cardiovascular safety, nor (2) compared these effects among brands with different formulations to examine their safety and efficacy relative to each other and such studies are desperately needed, especially with the growing popularity of energy drinks \[3,4\].