SACRAMENTO, Calif — Health experts say you should think twice when choosing an energy drink for your morning pick-me-up. Cardiologist and ABC10 Health Expert Dr. Payal Kohli says those drinks are her least favorite thing people consume.
"In fact, I feel like they should come with a warning because a lot of people do take energy drinks and of course they feel better on it because it's a stimulant. It raises your heart rate. It raises your blood pressure. It makes your heart work harder, it whips your heart," said Kohli.
There are viral videos on social media where people claim energy drinks caused severe health problems, including heart failure. Kohli says there are case studies proving it's possible. She feels real concern when a patient of hers says they drink them daily.
"The first thing I tell them to do is they have to stop that, because energy drinks are not innocuous. Not only can they result in adverse cardiac events, they can result in all types of other things as well and they're not well studied," said Kohli. "We've actually seen a number of case studies including one when I was in training myself, of young people having cardiac failure. The heart gives up because of the fact that it's being whipped all the time with this regular energy drink consumption, and then once the heart gives up, the way that it's pumping blood to the other organs, the kidneys, the brain, the lungs etc., they all start going into multi-organ failure. So, I think it's time to raise a red flag on the energy drinks."
Kohli says it's time to advise people against using them as a way to get around a lack of sleep.
"Not only do they have caffeine, they have other stimulants that can really have long term consequences," she said.
