A narrative review of energy drinks: from real-time energy boost to long-term health decline

Energy drinks (EDs), marketed as stimulant beverages to enhance mental alertness and physical endurance, have surged in global popularity since their late 20th-century inception. Characterized by high caffeine, taurine, B-vitamins, and sweeteners, EDs target adolescents, athletes, and shift workers seeking quick energy. While proponents emphasize transient cognitive and metabolic enhancements, attributed to adenosine antagonism of caffeine, taurine’s neuronal modulation, and guarana’s prolonged stimulation, emerging evidence reveals a paradoxical trajectory: short-term gains mask insidious multisystem health risks. This review synthesizes EDs’ dual role as performance enhancers and catalysts for systemic decline. Pharmacological synergy among ingredients improves attention, aerobic endurance, and metabolic rate, yet chronic consumption exacerbates psychoneurological, cardiovascular, and metabolic dysregulation. Dose-dependent links to anxiety, arrhythmias, insulin resistance, and hepatorenal toxicity highlight compounding risks, amplified by acidic additives and sugar-induced oxidative stress. Alarmingly, combining EDs with alcohol obscures sedation, promoting traumatic injury and accelerating hepatic and neuronal damage. Despite transient benefits, the cumulative burden of ED-related toxicity, spanning neurocardiac, gastrointestinal, and skeletal systems, presents a pressing public health challenge, necessitating rigorous examination of their long-term safety and regulatory policies.