High-energy Drinks May Provoke Aortic Dissection

Abstract

High-energy drinks have become extremely popular after Red Bull's promotion at 1987 in Austria and 1997 in the United States. Since then, we witnessed spectacular increase in different brands, caffeine content and market consumption all over the world. However, there are no reports published in the scientific literature related with detrimental side effects after heavy consumption of high-energy drinks. We report a series of three high-risk cardiovascular patients who had aortic dissection (De Bakey type I and II) following significant consumption of high-energy drinks. All of them required emergency surgical procedure and were remaining stable after surgery. We propose that uncontrolled consumption of high-energy drinks, especially in patients with underlying heart disease, could provoke potentially lethal cardiovascular events as well as acute aortic dissection.