Energy Drinks Harm Health of Mentally Ill Patients

People suffering from mental illness are at a greater risk of suffering from an episode if they drink energy drinks rich in caffeine, Auckland University Professor David Menkes said. Professor Menkes recently treated a young man suffering from schizophrenia who underwent two psychotic episodes after drinking an energy drink known as Demon Shot. He said that the man was responding well to anti-psychotic medication but on drinking two 60ml bottles of Demon Shot, he complained that some people wanted to harm him.

The test was repeated a week later and Menkes said that started to initially laugh and talk constantly, but later withdrew, becoming restless and argumentative. Writing in his report in the Medical Journal of Australia, Menkes said that it proved that energy drinks to exacerbate the condition of some mentally ill patients.

“The fact that our patient had the same reaction on two distinct occasions is important. This is the evidence that some patients with treated schizophrenia may be vulnerable to exacerbation of their illness by caffeine-containing energy drinks”, he said.




Source-Medindia