Energy-Drink Consumption is Associated with Allergic Diseases

• Energy drinks are beverages that contain caffeine in combination with other ingredients, such as sugar, taurine, amino acids, various herbal extracts, and B vitamins.

• Globally, energy drinks hold 47.3% of the functional beverage’s overall market share and have experienced the largest volume growth and increase in annual sales, reaching $4.8 billion in 2008 in the United States alone.

• In a European study, the largest energy-drink consumers were adolescents aged 10–18 years old (68%), followed by adults over 18 years (30%) and children under 10 years (18%) [4].

• Allergic diseases are complex chronic inflammatory diseases with clinical heterogeneity and multifactorial pathomechanisms triggered by various environmental factors in a genetically susceptible population. Dietary factors such as the consumption of fast food have been thought to play important roles in allergic diseases.

• This investigation evaluated the association between energy drinks and various allergic diseases, including asthma, allergic rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis, in a large representative Korean adolescent population.

• In this study, frequent energy-drink consumption was positively associated with asthma throughout life and within the last 12 months, allergic rhinitis within the last 12 months, and atopic dermatitis within the last 12 months after controlling for potential confounders in adolescents.

• Frequent energy-drink consumption is associated with allergic diseases, including asthma, allergic rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis, in Korean adolescents.

Published: 30 November 2020

source:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41430-020-00812-2

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-020-00812-2