When it comes to diet and high blood pressure, salt often grabs center stage. And to be clear, it’s important to take advice to minimize your daily sodium intake with way more than a grain of, well, salt. The American Heart Association suggests keeping sodium consumption to 2,300 mg daily—about a teaspoon—though the ideal limit is 1,500 mg, especially if you have hypertension.
Still, salt isn’t the only ingredient that deserves a shake-down if you’re looking to get blood pressure numbers in a healthy range.
“Oftentimes, there are ingredients in our food and drink that can be sabotaging our efforts to live a healthy lifestyle,” shares Dr. Karishma Patwa, MD, a cardiologist with Manhattan Cardiology in NYC and labfinder.com contributor. “There can be sneaky ingredients in our food and drink that are increasing our risk factors for serious diseases.”
One of those sneaky ingredients is something many of us feel we can’t get through the day without: caffeine. Coffee is the best-known source of the energy-boosting ingredient, but there are several others. Cardiologists reveal that one popular caffeinated drink can also make your hypertension worse and may have a more significant effect than coffee. They spilled the type of caffeinated drink that can raise blood pressure, why and how it compares to a cup of Joe.
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This Caffeinated Drink Might Make Your Blood Pressure Worse, Cardiologists Warn
“Energy drinks can raise blood pressure,” warns Dr. Zubair Jafar, MD, an interventional cardiologist at Nuvance Health with Vassar Brothers Medical Center in New York. Dr. Jafar says energy drinks contain caffeine and other ingredients that can affect blood pressure.
Research supports this claim. A small Journal of the American Heart Associationstudy of 34 adults indicated that those who consumed 32 ounces of energy drinks in one hour had higher blood pressure for up to four hours afterward.
Another small study in Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine, involving children and teens, suggested that excessive consumption of energy drinks raised blood pressure in healthy participants. The authors discouraged caregivers from allowing children and teenagers to consume energy drinks, especially those with underlying health conditions.
Related: Here’s Exactly What Happens to Your Blood Pressure if You Skip Breakfast
Why Energy Drinks Affect Blood Pressure
Dr. Patwa explains that caffeine is the primary reason that blood pressure can increase after you guzzle an energy drink. The caffeine activates the sympathetic—or autonomic—nervous system. This nervous system is responsible for activities that you can’t control, including changes in your heart rate and the muscles surrounding your blood vessels after consuming caffeine. She says that caffeine can increase heart rate and cause “vasoconstriction of the arteries” (a clinical term for the muscles around the blood vessels tightening). As a result, you can experience high blood pressure.
“It can also boost stress hormones, such as epinephrine, which has similar effects on the central nervous system,” Dr. Patwa warns.
However, you’ll want to check on the ingredients in your energy drink of choice. Caffeine isn’t the only one that can have these effects on your stress hormones, nervous system and (therefore) blood pressure.
“Energy drinks have other stimulants, such as guarana and taurine, which can further raise blood pressure and increase stress hormone levels,” shares Dr. Cheng-Han Chen, MD, a board-certified interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center.
In fact, Dr. Jafar reports that guarana and taurine can increase the amount of time you may experience a blood pressure spike after downing an energy drink.
“Caffeine’s half-life is typically 3 to 5 hours, but stimulants like bitter orange may prolong cardiovascular effects even further,” he explains, adding that the most intense short-term effects of caffeine and other stimulants on blood pressure can last for several hours, but it’s tough to give a precise time. He says it depends on:
- The dose consumed
- Individual sensitivity
- Whether the person has underlying health conditions
Related: The First Thing To Do if Your Heart Races After Coffee
How Much Caffeine Is In My Energy Drink?
It depends on the brand. “Energy drinks typically contain 80 to 160 mg of caffeine per 8-ounce serving, but some products may have higher concentrations, and large-volume consumption can exceed recommended limits,” reports Dr. Nishant Kalra, MD, an interventional cardiologist and regional chief medical officer at VitalSolution, an Ingenovis Health company. “The generally recommended daily limit for caffeine intake is 400 mg for healthy adults.”
What can get confusing with energy drinks is that many—like soda—actually come in 12-ounce cans. Dr. Jafar shares some intel on the caffeine content of some popular energy drink brands:
- Monster: 86 mg per 8 ounces or 120 mg per 12 ounces
- Red Bull: About 80 mg per 8 ounces and 111 mg per 12 ounces
- Celsius: 140 mg per 8 ounces and 200 mg per 12 ounces
How does the caffeine in energy drinks compare to a cup of coffee?
“The caffeine content in energy drinks is comparable to or sometimes exceeds that in coffee,” Dr. Kalra says. “A standard cup of coffee contains 80 to 120 mg of caffeine, while energy drinks may contain similar or higher amounts per serving, and some products deliver much more if consumed in large volumes.”
Dr. Jafar adds that double-dipping by sipping coffee and an energy drink can increase blood pressure risks even more.
Related:7 Foods Cardiologists Always Eat for Heart Health
Can I Drink Energy Drinks If I Have High Blood Pressure? Short and Long-Term Risks
Proceed with caution—the potential for blood pressure spikes and other cardiovascular complications is higher in people with underlying heart conditions.
“We recommend limiting caffeine intake in people with underlying cardiovascular conditions, such as hard-to-control high blood pressure or irregular heart rhythms. In these patients, excessive caffeine can potentially lead to serious cardiovascular complications such as stroke or arrhythmias [abnormal heart rhythms],” Dr. Chen says.
Dr. Kalra shares that other short-term issues linked to energy drink consumption (especially excess) include:
- Palpitations (such as feeling “flutters” or skipped beats)
- Heart attack
- Sudden death
Whoa, right? Dr. Kalra clarifies that these risks are higher with excess or chronic consumption, and the definition of that is highly personal. People without pre-existing conditions are less likely to experience these issues if they consume one energy beverage to get through work after a night of poor sleep or during an exceptionally long road trip.
“While occasional energy drink intake is not likely to result in long-term consequences, having energy drinks daily or many times a day could potentially result in clinical hypertension and increased risk of abnormal heart rhythms,” Dr. Chen notes.
Up Next:
Related: When To Worry About Changes in Your Blood Pressure, According to Cardiologists
Sources:
- Shaking the Salt Habit to Lower High Blood Pressure. American Heart Association.
- Dr. Karishma Patwa, MD, a cardiologist with Manhattan Cardiology in NYC and labfinder.com contributor
- Dr. Zubair Jafar, MD, an interventional cardiologist at Nuvance Health with Vassar Brothers Medical Center in New York
- Impact of High Volume Energy Drink Consumption on Electrocardiographic and Blood Pressure Parameters: A Randomized Trial. Journal of the American Heart Association.
- Energy Drinks: Effects on Blood Pressure and Heart Rate in Children and Teenagers. A Randomized Trial. Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine.
- Dr. Cheng-Han Chen, MD, a board-certified interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center
- Spilling the Beans: How Much Caffeine is Too Much? FDA.
- Dr. Nishant Kalra, MD, an interventional cardiologist and regional chief medical officer at VitalSolution, an Ingenovis Health company