Stomach pain, headaches and sleep problems – we reveal the hidden dangers of energy drinks
What really is in these drinks? We give you the sugar, caffeine and calorie content of 250mls of seven favourites
ENERGY drinks packed with a caffeine and sugar can give you stomach pain, headaches and sleep problems, experts warn.
The fizzy pop favourites are also associated with binge drinking and drug use and researchers want to ban the sale of them to under-16s.
Some 500ml cans contain almost 16 teaspoons of sugar - the recommended daily intake is seven - and 160mg of caffeine, when an average coffee has 71mg.
A 330ml can of Coca-Cola has 34mg caffeine, 139 calories and 35g of sugar.
But Brits are spending £1.1billion a year on 500million litrtes of these drinks and sales have soared more than 150 per cent since 2006.
Lens Lupari from County Antrim, Northern Ireland, was going blind after drinking 28 cans of Red Bull a day.
And Martin Bowling of Little Wakering, Essex, almost died of a heart attack after swigging eight cans of Red Bull on a night out.
Sun Nutritionist Amanda Ursell says: "Public Health England recommends just 30g (seven teaspoons) of sugar a day.
"For children and teenagers, these sugary drinks could cause obesity and tooth decay. If a teenager is consuming a 500ml can of energy drink a day, they experience restlessness, difficulty concentrating and problems falling asleep.
"They could also have caffeine dependency, which could lead to other addictions such as alcohol abuse and using recreational drugs."