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By Elizabeth Mwai and Peter Orengo
The festive season is here. It is time to eat, drink and be merry.
As they bond with friends and relatives, many people get carried away by the Christmas cheer and end up over-indulging in alcohol or non-alcoholic beverages like energy drinks.
Walk into any supermarket and you will be spoilt for choice of energy drinks, which are increasingly becoming popular.
Some consume energy drinks because they are frequently tired or run-down. But are the drinks safe?
Energy drink may give you a temporary energy boost that lasts a few hours but health experts say they can harm your health in the long run. The boost typically results from the large amount of sugar and caffeine in the drinks. Sugar-free versions still contain large amounts of caffeine.
Consumed in large quantities, health experts say, the drinks can cause nervousness, irritability, increased blood pressure, insomnia and when mixed with alcohol, especially whisky, they may lead to strokes.
In August, Australian medical researchers reported startling findings on Red Bull, a popular energy drink, favoured by college students and physical exercise enthusiasts.
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The researchers said a can of Red Bull could increase the risk of heart attack or stroke even in young people.
"One hour after they drank Red Bull, their blood systems were no longer normal. It caused the blood to become sticky, a pre-cursor to cardiovascular problems such as stroke," Mr Scott Willoughby, lead researcher from the Cardiovascular Research Centre at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, told Reuters.
Willoughby and his team tested the cardiovascular systems of 30 young adults one hour before and one hour after consuming one 250ml can of sugar-free Red Bull.
The drink is banned in Norway, Uruguay and Denmark because of health risks listed on its cans, but the company last year sold 3.5 billion cans in 143 countries. One can contains 80 mg of caffeine, about the same as a normal cup of brewed coffee.
Dr Kamamia Murichu, the chairperson of the Kenya Pharmaceutical Distributors Association, explains that mixing energy drinks and alcohol is not good because alcohol is a depressant while energy drinks are stimulants. "If your brain is sleeping and you take an energy drink it wakes you up instantly," he says.
Effects
He says the contrary effects — depression and stimulation — trigger cardiovascular attacks.
The doctor says that despite their increasing popularity, most consumers are not aware of the drinks’ side effects.
He says in diabetics the drinks cause the blood sugar levels shoots up to dangerous levels.
A popular night club in Mombasa that runs an energy drink promotion usually stops selling alcohol to customers at midnight to sell two cans of the a popular energy drink that retails at Sh150 each for Sh100.
A patron says he usually mixes alcohol and the energy drink to sober up. Recently after taking the mixture he could not sleep for two days and his heart rate increased.
But Dr Martin Wanyoike, a cardiologist at Nairobi’s Karen Hospital, says more research is necessary to ascertain the effect of energy drinks.
But he says Kenya should not ignore evidence from other countries.
Caffeine
He says high consumption of caffeine can cause high blood pressure, increase heart disease risk and diabetes.
Caffeine revs things up in the body.
"Your heart rate goes up so your heart works harder than needed and your blood pressure goes up. If you have an undiagnosed heart defect, overindulging in energy drinks can let you know about it and not in a good way," says Wanyoike.
High blood pressure in the long run can damage blood vessels in the kidneys.
Almost everyone is born with more kidney capacity than they need so you will not die if your kidneys are lightly damaged but it is better to have the organ functioning efficiently.
Medical research have found that children who drink one 12-ounce soda a day run a 60 per cent chance of being obese. Energy drinks are equally full of sugar.
However, in spite of the health risks, energy drinks are categorised as food supplements and putting it is beyond the jurisdiction of Kenya’s drug regulator the Pharmacy and Poisons Board.
The board’s Deputy Registrar Fred Sioyi says some of the ingredients used in producing some of this energy drinks could be harmful. "The drinks need to be regulated," he says.
Specific
Dr Sioyi says unless the board gets specific complaints it cannot investigate their safety.
The chief Public Health Officer, Mr Kepha Ombacho, warns that everything taken in excess is detrimental.
Health officials have observed a worrying trend where people who do strenuous work take a lot of energy drinks.
Ombacho says locally there is no documented information showing the dangers of energy drinks.
The Food, Drug and Substance Act sets the standards of safety. "We perform regular assessment to ascertain food safety," says Ombacho.
What are energy drinks?
Energy drinks refer to beverages that contain caffeine in combination with other ingredients such as taurine, guarana, and B vitamins, and are purported to give consumers extra energy.
Consumed in large quantities, health experts say, the drinks can cause nervousness, irritability, increased blood pressure, insomnia and when mixed with alcohol, especially whisky, they could lead to strokes.
Taking energy drinks prior to exercise by individuals of any age is not recommended.
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