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It’s a beverage that can be found in just about every gas station, grocery market, and convenience store in America and abroad. Many people love it and some drink it to excess or even mix it in with alcohol. There is no denying that energy drinks, like the market leader Red Bull, are incredibly popular.
The amounts being consumed have sky rocketed in recent years and now the sugary, caffeine laden drink is being blamed for the sudden death of a healthy 16 year old girl. Lanna Hamman, a 16 year old girl from Arizona, was on vacation in Mexico when she went to the beach with her friends.
According to those with her at the time, she had been drinking Red Bull all day and no water when she suddenly suffered a heart attack. Tragically, she ended up dying and now many are saying that the energy drinks she drank before her death are what likely caused it.
Specifically, the excessive caffeine she consumed, in conjunction with dehydration, led to her fatal heart attack. Lana’s mother, Kris Hamman, said that her daughter regularly drank Red Bull and she believes it’s likely that the beverage contributed directly to her death.
Cardiologist Jack Wolfson agrees with her and places the blame on the drink’s high sugar and caffeine content. He told the local Arizona news station KSAZ Fox 10 that “There is medical evidence that these things do harm, they can cause changes in the heart rhythm, and impact blood pressure.”
In recent years, energy drink related hospital and ER visits have sharply increased to levels not seen before 10 years ago. People come in complaining that they feel sick and unwell, and many turn out to be dehydrated and experiencing irregular heartbeats. The majority of them are also teenagers and young adults.
Energy drinks are notorious for being bad for our health and bodies, yet many people continue to consume them. While what happened in Lanna’s case is an extreme example of what can happen when you drink Red Bull excessively and forgo water, it’s also eye opening.
She was a completely healthy, normal, athletic teenager and what happened to her can happen to anyone.
Do you still drink this stuff?
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