Energy Drinks and SADS Conditions

The SADS Foundation scientific advisors (leading national and international experts in the field of cardiac channelopathies) discussed whether energy drinks are safe for consumption by channelopathy patients. Their expert consensus is that:             

• Excessive caffeine intake can lead to many symptoms, including arrhythmia, and should be discouraged for all patients.

• “Moderate” caffeine intake, even of “energy drinks” appears safe.

• No scientific evidence exists linking so-called “energy drinks” or other caffeinated beverages with SCD, but there have been rare cases of interactions that were suspicious (most often with large exposure doses or short ingestion time)

• Given the incidence of channelopathies in the population and the very high exposure rates (30-50%) of young and middle-aged people to caffeinated beverages, including energy drinks, one would expect to see a high rate of adverse tachyarrhythmia events in new and known patients if there was a relationship, and that just isn’t the case.

May 2017

 
References

• Cardiovascular Effects of Energy Drinks in Familial Long QT Syndrome Semsarian Int J Cardiol 2017
  
  
• Red Bull: Red Flag or Red Herring? Schwartz Int J Cardiol 2017