According to a study published this week by BMJ Case Reports, a 50-year-old man could have developed acute hepatitis caused by the intake of energy drinks.
The unidentified man arrived at the emergency room presenting a lack of appetite, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. He thought that this was just the symptoms of the regular flu, but got alarmed when his urine became dark-colored, and his eyes and skin yellowed.
The University of Florida College of Medicine made a background research on the diet and habits of the patient before getting sick. It turns out that he didn’t have any alcohol, tobacco or drug addiction, nor any recent change in the food that he consumed every day. The patient didn’t take any prescription medicines in the past days, didn’t receive blood transfusions, and never had high-risk sexual relations, which completes all the general causes that produce hepatitis. Even his family didn’t have any history of liver diseases, according to this report.
The only thing that seemed out of order, in an otherwise clean health report, was the intake of five energy drinks daily for three weeks in a row.
According to the health tests, the man presented a chronic hepatitis C infection. However, the specialists said that this virus wasn’t directly related to the acute hepatitis. The explanation is that the antibodies that were found in the blood of the patient, that are common after ten weeks of acute hepatitis, were present when the symptoms appeared after only two weeks.
One person can become ill from hepatitis for several reasons. In most cases, hepatitis is related to the spread of the virus in blood or body fluids; this is why having unprotected sex or getting in contact with contaminated needles could provoke the infection. However, HCV can’t be transmitted by food or water, according to reports from the CDC. Also, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that in about 75 percent to 85 percent of the acute hepatitis cases could develop chronic infections.
This working-man was taken under a series of tests to determine the reason for his severe liver damage. He underwent biopsies, blood tests, and ultrasounds. Finally, the medical workers confirmed that the infection was directly related to the consumption of big amounts of energy drinks.In fact, after the patient
In fact, three days after the patient stopped consuming energy drinks, the symptoms started to vanish, and he left the hospital before the first week. It seems that energy drinks are very harmful to the body when consumed beyond recommended doses. More studies are needed to confirm the link between HCV and energy drinks .
Source: CNN