Teenage boy's kidneys fail after consuming 8 liters of acidifying energy drink in 16 hours

Sunday, March 23, 2014 by: L.J. Devon, Staff Writer
Tags: energy drinks, kidney failure, pH balance

(NaturalNews) "I was playing Call of Duty. Then everything went dark and I passed out."

"When I woke up, I was terrified."

These are the words of 14-year-old Henrik Eide Dahl, who had downed 8 liters of energy drink in a 16-hour period during a video game marathon party.

14-year-old boy's kidneys fail, as he falls into a coma

Dahl, who was flown immediately to a Norwegian hospital in Lillehammer, quickly fell into a coma. His kidneys began to fail. Kept alive by a respirator and a drip, the teenager was practically on his death bed. The doctor who treated him, Anne Duns, spoke about his condition, saying, "It was life-threatening. The central nervous system, cardiovascular system, lungs and kidneys were affected."

She continued, "We find no underlying disease in Henry, so for now we are attributing this to the consumption of large amounts of energy drink."

The 14-year-old remembers waking up for the first time after the incident: "The first thing I remember from the hospital is that my brothers were sitting at the edge of the bed and crying."

After spending almost two weeks in the hospital, recovering from the effects of the energy drink binge, Dahl said the incident was "very scary" and that he learned "it is not good to drink that much energy drink." Dahl is currently being treated for high blood pressure.

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health's Helle Meltzer commented on the issue, stating that Dahl's collapse could be from more than just caffeine overdose; he may have collapsed due to an overdose of artificial sweeteners and other acidifying substances in the energy drinks.

People seek caffeine boosts because they are not utilizing real nutritional energy of whole foods

Those with poor digestion, who lack the proper enzymes and good bacterial balance in the gut, show poor nutrient absorption and utilization. This can be due to eating a diet full of processed and chemically "dumbed down" foods. Many simply aren't receiving the energy from the food they eat, so they turn to energy jolts from sodas, coffee or energy drinks.

Teenagers living on a diet of fast food may rely on these quick-fix jolts of energy like using performance enhancing drugs. These commercial energy drinks, like Red Bull, can contain a host of artificial colorings and sweeteners that create an acidic state in the human body, ultimately working against cellular health.

Caffeine isn't necessarily the problem - it's the way these energy drinks are marketed and consumed

A doctor who specializes on the topic, Dr. Dr. David Agus, said that the availability and lax attitude toward energy drinks practically encourages teens to take these as "performance enhancing drugs."

And it's not the amount of caffeine in the drinks that makes them harmful. Commercial energy drinks usually contain between 80 mg and 215 mg of caffeine per can. A small 12-ounce Pike Place Roast Starbucks Coffee contains way more -- 260 mg. It's the way these energy drinks are consumed that makes them dangerous. Coffee is consumed in a slow process, allowing caffeine ingestion to occur slowly. Energy drinks are marketed and consumed as "shots," while delivering caffeine faster -- all at once. The way the drinks are marketed doesn't help. In the US each year, at least 2,500 caffeine overdoses are recorded at hospitals for those 19 and under.

Energy drinks create an acidic state in the body and are made from junk vitamin science

Energy drink manufacturers often boast health claims on their labels, listing B vitamin ingredients as "healthy" additives. "Vitamins are essential micronutrients that are required for maintaining normal body functions," Red Bull claims on its website. What Red Bull and other energy drink manufacturers fail to mention is that these drinks are made with ingredients that make the body's pH more acidic, compromising cells to be more susceptible to cancer. The added vitamins really come from synthetic sources and are basically fractionated isolates that cannot be properly absorbed by the body. As a matter of fact, when you check out this chart and research, energy drinks are found to be one of the most acidifying substances when introduced into the human body.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.nydailynews.com

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk

http://www.huffingtonpost.com

http://www.corehealthproducts.com

http://energydrink-us.redbull.com

http://science.naturalnews.com