TikTokers Right In Claiming Energy Drinks Are Bad For The Heart

Young people don’t normally get heart disease, but Sage Weeber, a healthy 24-year-old, was diagnosed with angina, a crushing chest pain associated with clogged arteries.

Photo Insert: Several studies, including a 2014 paper on Red Bull, a 2016 meta-analysis, and a 2022 clinical trial in children and teens, found that energy drinks increase blood pressure and heart rate as long as four hours after consumption compared to noncaffeinated beverages.

“At the top of this year, I started experiencing really gnarly symptoms,” Weeber said. “I would start to get dizzy and faint as I was driving, and my arms would go numb,” Katie Camero wrote for BuzzFeedNews.

But it wasn’t until the professional drummer was performing a soundcheck for The Ellen DeGeneres Show in February when Weeber said he had his “this is it” moment. A massive spasm in his chest finally convinced him to see a doctor, who told him he has early-stage coronary artery disease, which led to his angina diagnosis.

The drummer’s health scare inspired him to briefly share his story on TikTok, where he revealed what might have been causing his pain: energy drinks. The video has been viewed more than 6.7 million times and stitched by many people who say they’ve had similar experiences.

Several studies, including a 2014 paper on Red Bull, a 2016 meta-analysis, and a 2022 clinical trial in children and teens, found that energy drinks increase blood pressure and heart rate as long as four hours after consumption compared to noncaffeinated beverages.

A larger trial that included 34 healthy adults found that those who drank a 32-ounce energy drink containing about 300 milligrams of caffeine within an hour had higher blood pressure and signs of electrical disturbances in the heart known as QT prolongation compared to those who drank a noncaffeinated drink.

This means that energy drink consumers may be “more vulnerable to abnormal [heart] rhythms that can lead to sudden cardiac death,” Sachin Shah, the lead author of the study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, told BuzzFeed News.

A 2010 study suggested that energy drinks may contribute to conditions in blood vessels that lead to clots. But this hypothesis requires “more validation and exploration,” said Shah, a professor of pharmacy practice at the University of the Pacific.

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