Energy Drinks and Pre-Workout Supplements Linked to Heart Attacks in Young Adults

Doctors in the UAE say they are seeing a pattern in young patients: high blood pressure, anxiety, chest pain and, in some cases, fainting, often after heavy use of caffeinated energy drinks. A new study, due to be presented Friday at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions, adds weight to those observations, though it stops well short of proving a cause.

Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine reviewed more than 28,000 adverse events reported to the US Food and Drug Administration between 2017 and 2025. They compared reports tied to caffeine products with reports tied to other items, including soft drinks, meal replacement shakes, protein bars, smoothies and vitamins. Caffeinated drinks were linked to heart problems far more often than regular beverages.

The gaps were large. Cardiac arrest appeared about 11 times more often in reports involving caffeinated drinks than in those involving caffeine-free products. Reports involving energy drinks and supplements were about 4.5 times more likely to include heart attacks, and four times more likely to include abnormal heart rhythms or palpitations. Elevated heart rate, chest pain and fainting were more than twice as common among people using products with caffeine or other stimulants. Almost half of the reports tying caffeinated products to cardiovascular events involved people aged 18 to 34, a group not normally seen as high risk, and the pattern was similar in men and women.

The researchers noted that many of these products are sold as everyday pick-me-ups, shelved beside soda and bottled water, without warning labels. The article's figures on dose are stark: about five cups of coffee a day is generally considered safe, yet some energy drinks hold three times that amount of caffeine. Pre-workout supplements may be worse, carrying 12 times as much caffeine per fluid ounce as regular coffee.

Dr Gregory Marcus, chairman of the American Heart Association, called for more research on how caffeinated drinks affect young people. He said the study raises concerns that very high-caffeine products may harm the cardiovascular system, and that there are biological reasons the link could be real. But he cautioned that it does not prove caffeine products cause these events, because other factors may have shaped the results.

In Dubai, Dr Hesham Tayel, a consultant cardiologist at International Modern Hospital, said he has treated more such cases over the past few years. Most, he said, are not dramatic cardiac arrests or heart attacks but young patients arriving with heart problems after large quantities of energy drinks, often combined with pre-workout supplements, nicotine products, lack of sleep or intense exercise. He stressed that these drinks are not simply coffee in a can: many contain several stimulants, and some people drink multiple cans in a short window without grasping the total caffeine. A seemingly healthy young person, he said, may carry an underlying electrical disorder, a predisposition to arrhythmias or a tendency toward coronary vasospasm that only surfaces after heavy stimulant exposure. Doctors rarely know in advance who is vulnerable.

The mechanism is straightforward. Caffeine raises adrenalin-like activity, so the heart beats faster and harder and blood pressure climbs. Many energy drinks also contain guarana, which adds caffeine, and some pre-workout products include other stimulants, so the true dose can far exceed what a label suggests. Dehydration, common during hard exercise, amplifies the effect.

Dr Zaidoun Hajali, a consultant interventional cardiologist at Medcare Hospital, Al Safa, described how the drinks have become routine for students, young professionals and shift workers, used for exams, long hours, gym sessions and late-night gaming. Most of his young patients, he said, do not count energy drinks as caffeine: asked about coffee, they say one cup, but asked about energy drinks, pre-workout powders and iced coffees, the real total is often much higher.

The UAE already leans on policy. Energy drinks carry a 100 per cent excise tax, under-16s cannot buy them, and products bear warnings aimed at people with heart disease or hypertension and women who are breastfeeding. They are barred from public and private school canteens, educational institutions and medical centres. Euromonitor International research showed the taxes cut sales by up to 65 per cent in the first 15 months, and the Federal Tax Authority says they pushed producers to reformulate or expand healthier options. What to watch now is whether further research can separate caffeine's role from the other factors, and whether other markets move toward similar rules.