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What Red Bull really does to your body and mind

Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

A woman  in Northern Ireland says she gained so much weight from drinking Red Bull that her brain has swollen to the point where she’s going blind.

The mother of three told the Daily Mail that she had been consuming 28 cans of the energy drink a day, for a total of 3,000 calories daily, for months.  She collapsed in June and was admitted to hospital, where she was diagnosed with idiopathic intracranial hypertension. The condition is marked by abnormally high pressure in the skull, leading to headaches and vision changes due to swollen optic nerves.

IIH is rare, and so is the consumption of more than two dozen Red Bulls a day, every day, for weeks on end. Nevertheless, downing the energy drink regularly can have serious side effects.

Aside from vitamins B12 and B6, a 240-mL can of Red Bull contains 77 milligrams of caffeine and 26 grams of sugar (sucrose and glucose), the equivalent of just over five teaspoons. (The sugarless versions have aspartame and acesulfame K, a non-caloric sweetener.) Then there’s taurine and artificial flavour, in addition to 27 grams of carbohydrates (which are said to improve endurance in exercise lasting 60 minutes to several hours).

Physiological effects vary from person to person, but here’s what could go down in your body after you put back a Red Bull:

Within the first 20 minutes:  Your blood sugar spikes and nerve cells are stimulated. A 2011 study by the Oregon Health and Science University that looked at glucose and sucrose found that glucose significantly raises the level of neural activity for about 20 minutes after infusion. Glucose causes the pancreas to release insulin and bolsters the production of leptin, which suppresses hunger.

Within 15 minutes to two hours: Caffeine absorption is virtually complete 45 minutes after consumption, but peak concentration may take up to 120 minutes. The firing of neurons in the brain increases now; caffeine blocks adenosine receptors to prevent drowsiness. The pituitary gland releases hormones that trigger the adrenal glands to produce adrenaline. Also  known as the fight of flight hormone, adrenaline can lead to dilated pupils, increased heartbeat and blood pressure, tightened muscles, and slowed blood flow to the stomach. It also releases glucose from the liver into the bloodstream for extra energy.

Taurine may crank up alertness now, too. An amino sulfonic acid, taurine is found naturally in the brain, retina, heart, and platelets, with the best food sources being meat and fish. It’s used as a supplement to improve mental performance, but its effectiveness as an exercise supplement is controversial. Taurine taken one hour before 90 minutes of exercise had no effect on time trials in endurance-trained cyclists.

Within an hour: You may need to urinate, as caffeine may have diuretic effects. However, some research suggests that the need to pee occurs only in those who haven’t built up tolerance to caffeine.

Within eight to 14 hours: Caffeine has a half-life of three to five hours, meaning that’s how long it takes for the body to eliminate half of the substance. However, according the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, effects of the remaining caffeine can last from eight to 14 hours.

There was a sharp increase in the number of emergency department visits in the U.S. involving energy drinks between 2005 (1,128 visits) and 2008 and 2009 (16,053 and 13,114 visits, respectively), representing about a tenfold increase between 2005 and 2009, according to the U.S. Drug Abuse Warning Network.

About half of those visits made by patients aged 18 to 25 involved combinations of energy drinks with alcohol or other drugs. More than two thirds of visits were classified as adverse reactions.

“Energy drinks are a bit of a science experiment,” says Toronto nutritionist Meghan Telpner, founder of the Academy of Culinary Nutrition. “We’re consuming high doses of concentrated stimulants in levels we don’t find in nature. That’s the scary part. We hear horror stories about short-term effects of high concentrations of these drinks.

“It’s also important to recognize that there is no long-term data on what these drinks do to health ongoing,” she adds. “Light, irregular use for a healthy individual likely would have no lasting negative health implications, but what happens after one year of a few drinks a week, or a few years? We just don’t know what this will do.”

While experts agree that occasional consumption of energy drinks is one thing, heavy use, like that woman in northern Ireland showed, is quite another.

“Moderate intake of caffeine is not problematic, but high concentrated doses can contribute to mood instability, anxiety, depression, weight gain, hormonal imbalance, adrenal fatigue, and insomnia,” Telpner says.

Niraj Naik, founder of the Renegade Pharmacist—whose infographic on What Happens One Hour After Drinking a Can of Coke recently went viral—notes that energy drinks and fizzy drinks can be especially problematic in people with stress-related illnesses or who take  long-term medications for conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.

“The key to living a full and healthy life is moderation,” Naik tells Yahoo Canada by e-mail. “My advice to my clients and everyone else is to learn to live a healthy lifestyle, stay active, manage your stress, have a nutritious and pure diet as much as possible, and view things like fizzy drinks and energy drinks as treats, not to be had with every single meal.”

The makers of Red Bull, meanwhile, maintain the functional beverage is safe.

“Red Bull Energy Drink is available in more than 167 countries, including every state of the European Union, because health authorities across the world have concluded that Red Bull Energy Drink is safe to consume,” its website says. “One 250 ml can of Red Bull Energy Drink contains 80mg of caffeine, about the same amount of caffeine as in a cup of coffee. With regards to the other key ingredients the European Food Safety Authority concluded in 2009 that these are of no health concern.”

The website also lists occasions when to drink Red Bull: on the road, during lectures and study sessions, at work, while doing sports, while playing video games, and while going out day and night.