Energy drinks do not only have an adverse effect on the dental health by creating cavities and teeth staining, but they can also harm general health. The 5-Hour energy drinks are also quite dangerous, and the FDA reported that there are 92 illnesses and 13 deaths linked to consumption of this particular drink.

The AERs or the Adverse Event Reports can be filed by anyone- family members, personal doctors or even by the patient himself. These reports actually say that the consumption of the given energy drink might have caused illnesses and even the death of the patient. However, until detailed investigation shows these illnesses and deaths have been really produced by the energy drink, the FDA cannot remove the products from the market.

Officer Shelly Burgess, an FDA representative says that until they find a direct link between the regular consumption of these energy drinks and the general health harm produced by them, they cannot eliminate these products from the market.

The Adverse Event Reports mostly point out that consumers of 5-Hour energy drink, Monster or Rockstar have suffered the following health problems:

-5-Hour energy drinks- deaths caused by heart attack due to consumptions of the energy drink, one miscarriage, deafness and internal bleeding

-the Monster Energy Drink- loss of consciousness, heart attack, hospitalization of the patient because of arrhythmia, and vomiting

-Rockstar energy drink- irregular heartbeats, psychotic disorder, loss of consciousness or stroke

Even a document issued by the Government has shown that the number of people who need medical care after consuming energy drinks has considerably increased. Most of the energy drinks manufacturers state that they do take very seriously all these reports, but that their products are safe for the health, if consumed as directed.

Many youngsters combine energy drinks with alcohol consumption or consuming drugs combined with energy drinks and these mixes are specifically dangerous for the health.

The results of the research have been published in the Journal of General Dentistry, by consuming energy or sports drinks for only as little as 5 days consecutively, the teeth are already exposed to a high risk of decay and enamel damage. Moreover, the energy drinks have proved twice as harmful for the teeth as the sports drinks.

Jennifer Bone, who is the spokesperson for the Academy of General Dentistry says that quite often, patients come to her office with oral health symptoms such as tooth sensitivity or tooth decay, and they simply cannot find a reasonable answer for these symptoms.

Certainly the dentists make a thorough review of the patient’s everyday diet or snacking habits, and of course they ask the patients about what type of drinks they do consume. The patients are basically stunned to find out that it is the sports drinks or the energy drinks the ones that cause these symptoms in the first place.

Researchers from the Southern Illinois University School of Dentistry have analyzed many different types of sports drinks and energy drinks. According to the findings, the sports and the energy drinks from different brands contain different amounts of acidity levels.

The researchers even put tooth enamel samples into these drinks in order to notice the damage caused by the fizzy beverages. They allowed these samples to be soaked for about 15 minutes, and then soaked the samples in artificially created saliva.

In as few as five days, the researchers could notice quite some damages to the tooth enamel on the samples. Dentists highly recommend that people who consume such sports or energy drinks on a regular basis, should always rinse their mouths with water after drinking.

This way, all those bad sugars which will be later transformed into harmful acids by the bacteria, will be flushed away and the damages can be thus avoided.

On the other hand, you need to drink a lot but you need to drink only the healthy stuff. It doesn’t mean that in order to keep your body hydrated you will drink 2 liters of coke which is filled with sugar, caffeine and many other synthetic agents which are harmful for the health in general and for the teeth in particular. The enamel of your teeth can get destroyed only during one summer of drinking the wrong fluids.

Some health friendly drinks that you should get used to include pure ice water, mineral water with a slice of lime for the flavor, iced tea, while beer lovers can drink now and then a nonalcoholic beer.

It is very important to keep in mind that the best summer drinks and the best health friendly drinks are those which will contribute with the greatest amount of water to your organism.

Water is the one hydrating your body from the inside, while all the other ingredients such as sugar or caffeine will only do a lot of harm. Sugar adds unwanted calories to your diet, while caffeine is a diuretic, which means that you will eliminate more urine than necessary, and your system cannot hydrate properly.

Here are a few of the best tips to keep yourself hydrated while still drinking “delicious” drinks:

Pure Cold water – this will refresh your system, keep you hydrated during those torrid days. Whenever you are thirsty, make sure to begin with water. Those who cannot drink water from the tap, should purchase a good filtering system for the water.

Flavored Water – there are many types of bottled water available, which are fused with a special essence or flavor. The water does not contain any sugar or any colorants; it just has a fine and subtle aroma of strawberry, lime, lemon, berry or orange. Some of the best brands to chose from include Perrier (lemon), Geyser water, Crystal or Calistoga for instance.

Black Tea & Green Tea – again an extremely healthy solution, but you must stay away from the sweetener. Just try to drink the iced tea without any sugar, and in a few days, you will get used to it. Adding a lot of sugar to the iced tea will not do any good to your health.

For Coffee lovers there is always the iced coffee available – if you can, choose the decaffeinated version, because it is much healthier. Also, make sure to add only low-fat milk or cream to your iced coffee, and then you can sip one or two such coffees during the day.

Natural juice + water – Have you got a god juice extractor at home? Then, it is time to throw some apples, oranges, carrots and a slice of lemon and make some juice. You should mix half water and half juice and drink this healthy and nourishing drink to stay hydrated during the day. Make sure to add no sugar!

Energy drinks are extremely popular. But some have got a bad rap for potential side-effects, particularly in kids and young adults, eg agitation, heart throbbing and hypertension.

Which has opened the door to relaxation drinks, some of that may trigger their own set of health issues.

Such drinks contain herbs like valerian root and the hormone melatonin, which can produce feelings of relaxation — and will even prompt sleep.

That is the problem.

Some health mavens stress about folk grabbing a drink off the store shelf and then driving an auto, attending a session or operating machinery while beginning to get increasingly unfocused or maybe groggy.

The drinks generally have alert labels, but clients may not notice.

Chillout, a new “natural relaxing drink,” made its debut at the Expo. The 8.4-ounce canned drink contains chamomile, valerian, lemon relief and vitamins.

The drink doesn’t come with an alert label. Chillout isn’t to be confused with Just Chill, another new drink that does not contain valerian or melatonin of kava. Just Chill, the product of a grouping of Southern California surfers, has selected to circumvent the arguable ingredients, asserted Caleb Davidge, the L. A. representative of the Chill Group Inc.

The drink contains the amino acid L-theanine as the important ingredient for relaxation. “We see our drink as more for stress relief,” he announced.

“it doesn’t cause drowsiness.”

In total, two thirds of the world’s population will be faced with this problem.

Over the past century, the growth rate of water consumption is almost twice faster than population growth.

Researchers tell that today 1.1 billion people don’t have access to clean drinking water, 2 billion are constantly faced with scarcity of supply and another 2.6 billion do not have at their disposal necessary sanitary facilities (e.g. water supply).

70% of water consumed by mankind is used in agriculture.

In some developing countries agriculture’s zone reaches 90%.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), today four out of every ten people in the world do not have access to common toilets with dump wells and two out of ten are forced to constantly use contaminated water.

WHO operates the following statistics: 1.8 million people die each year from diarrhea diseases (including cholera), 90% of whom are children under 5 years old.

These diseases in 88% of cases are caused by using contaminated water and inadequate sanitation.

Improved water supply reduces diarrhea morbidity by 6-25%. Improving the quality of drinking water may reduce the incidence of diarrhea by 35-39%.

Improving access to safe water sources and hygiene practices can reduce trachoma morbidity by 27%.

In particular, Alzheimer’s disease – a progressive brain disease whose symptoms include reduced intelligence, memory loss, disorientation.

“Natural antioxidants reduce the vulnerability of cells to disease and aging – said Alan Crozier, professor of plant biochemistry and nutrition at Glasgow University (UK). – In addition, they improve health and protect against chronic diseases.”

The richest in antioxidants is dark grape juice.

For its medicinal properties the researchers liken it to red wine.

Unclarified apple juice is on the second place, and on the third – cranberry juice.

Doctors also advise to drink grapefruit juice regularly.

In a rapidly changing and aging world more and more people suffer from age-related decline of intelligence or dementia.

Scientists are looking for more new methods to combat it, because this illness dramatically reduces the quality of life of the patient and often leads to the necessity of reconsidering the ways of living of all family members.

Flavonoids and antioxidants that are found in cocoa beans may be good sources of medicine in this situation.

Ian MacDonald, the scientist from Nottingham, United Kingdom, describes an experiment in which young women were drinking a cup of cocoa before performing complex tasks and performed them under control of a magnetic resonance imaging procedure.

The device showed a significant acceleration of cerebral blood flow in the group.

The next step was to study the impact of cocoa on the brains of people who have initially reduced cerebral blood flow.

According to the researchers, the benefits that cocoa brings were discovered during the investigation of health of the tribes of South America who drink this beverage in very large quantities.

However, the problem lies in the fact that cocoa powder which is delivered to the shops is poor with flavonoids. They are artificially extracted from raw materials, as flavonoids give this drink a bitter taste.

The researchers also fear that patients will “look” the same substance in chocolate that will lead to problems with obesity. Chocolate is food for pleasure and it will never improve health as opposed to cocoa in anticipation of bright future, scientists say.

Many of the problems that are associated with age-related changes or alcohol abuse, such as cirrhosis of the liver and Parkinson’s disease can be caused by usual soft drinks.

After spending a huge amount of time on experiments in his laboratory, Professor of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, P. Piper came to the conclusion that sodium benzoate (E211), a widespread preservative in food industry being accepted by relevant authorities in different countries, can be very dangerous for your health.

Sodium benzoate has already been the subject of concern, but at that time it dealt with its carcinogenic effect.

The fact is that in conjunction with vitamin C in soft drinks, sodium benzoate produces benzene – a carcinogenic substance. There are even cases of withdrawing of some brands of drinks from the sale due to increased benzene content.

However, in general E211 is considered a safe additive, of course, with respect to current regulations at its maximum content in products.

Peter Piper has checked the effect of sodium benzoate on living yeast cells and found that this agent affects an important area of DNA in the mitochondria. He reported that these chemicals cause severe damage to DNA in the mitochondria and completely inactivate it.

Mitochondria give you energy and if you hurt them in large quantities, the cells start to malfunction. There are many diseases that are associated specifically with defect of this part of DNA: Parkinson’s disease and several neurodegenerative diseases; and yet it is associated with aging.

As a result of his experiments, the scientist proposes to revise standards of levels of E211 in food.

He believes that the existing methods for determining the damage from sodium benzoate are not quite true. Piper is particularly concerned of children who consume carbonated drinks in large quantities.

But soda isn’t just water, corn syrup and carbonation — a can of Coke or Pepsi also contains chemical additives for coloring and flavoring. And according to one public health group, those additives could increase your chance of getting cancer.

That’s the message from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a Washington-based consumer watchdog group. CSPI has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban the “caramel coloring” that is used in Coke, Pepsi and other sodas, on the grounds that the chemicals are carcinogenic.

CSPI says the artificial brown coloring — which doesn’t have much to do with actual caramel, despite the name — is made by reacting corn sugar with ammonia and sulfites under high pressures and at high temperatures. (Just like Mom used to do it!) Those reactions produce the chemicals 2-methylimidazole and 4-methylimidazole — chemicals that government studies have found to cause lung, liver or thyroid cancer in lab rats or mice. “It’s a small but significant risk, and it’s the kind of thing that government agencies should deal with,” says Michael Jacobson, the executive director of CSPI.

Is Jacobson right? A 2007 study by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) found “clear evidence of carcinogenic activity of 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI) in male and
female B6C3F1 mice based on increased incidences of alveolar/bronchiolar neoplasms,” otherwise known as lung tumors. The state of California has also concluded that 4-MEI is a carcinogen, and is in the process of crafting regulations that may require food and drinks containing significant levels of the chemical to bear cancer warnings.

According to California’s regulators, a level of more than 16 micrograms per day would pose a significant risk — meaning it could result in at least one excess case of cancer per 100,000 exposed people. Given that there are roughly 130 micrograms of 4-MI per 12-ounce can of soda — and given that the average American drinks 14 ounces of soda a day, with young men drinking far more — that would mean that most of us would be at some risk.

As a result, CSPI has been petitioning the FDA to change the name or ban the use of the chemicals in soda and other foods, or at least force manufacturers to put warning labels on their packaging. “We think industry can solve this problem,” says Jacobson. “They don’t want to put warning labels on their products.”

The soda industry, however, is fighting back. In a statement the American Beverage Association — an industry group that includes soda makers — denied that 4-MEI posed any danger to human health:

4-MEI is not a threat to human health. There is no evidence that 4-MEI causes cancer in humans. No health regulatory agency around the globe, including the Food and Drug Administration, has said that 4-MEI is a human carcinogen. This petition is nothing more than another attempt to scare consumers by an advocacy group long-dedicated to attacking the food and beverage industry.

In California a number of industry groups — including the American Beverage Association — have filed a lawsuit against state regulators to block efforts to list 4-MEI as a carcinogen:

The state agency’s decision does not reflect sound science and failed to follow its own regulations. Also, it did not take into account all the data available on the subject in this process.

Source: http://healthland.time.com

The finding was based on a review of the literature on energy drinks, researchers at the University of Miami said in the study appearing in the journal Pediatrics.

Many of the energy drinks reviewed contain three times the caffeine of a cola and some of which have five times more, said the study.

The study showed that caffeine in the drinks can exacerbate cardiac conditions, especially in children with eating disorders, and interfere with calcium absorption and bone mineralization in young adolescents.

Energy drinks produce extra calories which can contribute to diabetes, high body mass index and dental problems, according to the study.

Also, energy drinks contain additional ingredients which may boost caffeine levels, said the study.

The study also found that many children and young adults in the United States have tried energy drinks, and some consume them heavily.

A survey of college students reported that 51 percent regularly consumed one or more of the drinks per month, and a majority of those students drank them several times a week.

Insufficient sleep and a desire for more energy were cited as reasons for such consumption, said the study.

The drinks are unregulated in the United States, and the number of overdoses of caffeine from drinking them remains unknown, the study said.

But in Germany, Ireland and New Zealand, officials have reported cases of liver damage, kidney failure, seizures, confusion and arrhythmias associated with energy drink use, according to the study.