When you reach for an energy drink you get much more than caffeine. You get a mouthful of difficult to pronounce chemical compounds, food coloring and unhealthy additives that your body can do without. The side effects of energy drink consumption range from indigestion to irregular heartbeat and, in extreme cases, addiction, liver damage and death.
Drinking 400 milligrams of caffeine (the equivalent of four 8-ounce cups of coffee) is considered safe by most physicians. However, energy drinks can contain as much as 1200 mgs of caffeine – an amount three times higher than what is generally considered acceptable. This overload of caffeine is then “turbo-charged” with the addition of natural stimulants like Guarana and Yerba Mate in certain energy drinks.
Before you decide to suddenly quit the energy drink habit consider the side effects that you are likely to experience: headaches, lethargy and nausea. It’s better to stop gently and best to never start at all.
