Do Energy Drinks Cause Kidney Stones?

Yes, energy drinks can cause kidney stones. An energy drink is loaded up with two main ingredients, caffeine, and sugar.

All the beverages containing caffeine and excessive sugar like soda, tea, coffee, and energy drink can be unhealthy for your body.

There have not been numerous medical advantages connected to drinking caffeinated beverages, and they have progressively become more normal.

While caffeinated drink utilization has been connected to different side effects like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart irregularities, and behavioral disorders, it can also cause kidney stones in your body.

These energy drinks are very popular among youngsters and the consumption ratio is increasing day by day. An estimated 1.1 million people were heavy energy drink users in Great Britain from 2014 to 2020.

Overconsumption can lead to kidney stones even in youngsters and children. Kidney stones are solid crystals that are formed from the minerals and salts in the urine.

Kidney stones can obstruct the passage or flow of urine which can cause infection in the body and can harm your kidney. This can even lead to the failure of the kidney. A person can undergo severe pain due to kidney stones.

Why Do Energy Drink Gives You Kidney Stones?

Kidney stones are produced from the chemicals in the urine. Analysts have connected the utilization of energy drinks to be one of the reasons for the development of kidney stones. Urine contains different wastes that are dissolved in it.

When there is a lot of waste in excessively minimal liquid, it starts to form kidney stones and these stones get larger. An energy drink contains different chemicals that are taurine, caffeine, ginseng, and guarana. The excess of these chemicals in the body can lead to kidney stones.

Kidney stones are of four types:

• Calcium Oxalate
• Uric Acid
• Cystine
• Struvite

Let’s talk about the reasons why energy drink gives you kidney stones.

Calcium Oxalate

Oxalate is a chemical compound that is found in drinks and food. It exits the body through urine when consumed. Overconsumption of calcium oxalate can contribute to the formation of kidney stones. Energy drinks are known as one of the most significant sources of oxalates.

Also, other caffeinated beverages such as tea, coffee, and even food like chocolates are the sources of oxalates in a body. If you drink energy drinks on regular basis, this can lead to excessive oxalates that can combine with the calcium in the urine and cause the formation of kidney stones in your body. 

Dehydration

Energy drinks are full of caffeine and sugar. Caffeine is a chemical that causes the kidney to make more urine. The formation of kidney stones is not easy if you have plenty of water in your body which prevents stone-forming crystals from staying together.

Dehydration can cause uric acid stones in the kidney. Caffeine in energy drinks makes you pee frequently and this causes dehydration in your body.

With the excessive consumption of energy drinks, if you also drink other caffeinated beverages like soda, tea, and coffee, you are more likely to form kidney stones in your body. So, it is significant for you to drink plenty of water along with energy drinks to stay hydrated.

Diabetes

An energy drink contains a high amount of sugar, which can increase the sugar levels in the body and cause different health issues. Another factor that can form kidney stones is the presence of sugar in an energy drink.

An energy drink contains sugar in different forms like sucrose, glucose, and fructose. So, if you check the ingredients of an energy drink and don’t find sugar in it, look for them as they are the forms of sugar an energy drink contains.

The excessive consumption of energy drinks can increase the risk of becoming diabetic. But an intriguing reality about kidney stones is that people who are experiencing diabetes have a higher tendency of confronting issues of kidney infections including the development of kidney stones.

These are a few reasons why energy drinks can form kidney stones. To avoid the formation, one must not consume these drinks in excess.

How Many Energy Drinks Can Cause Kidney Stones?

A person should only consume 1 or a maximum of 2 cans of energy drink in a day to avoid different health hazards like kidney stones and heart diseases.

Energy drinks are not so good for your health. Gulping down an energy drink boosts the energy in your body. These drinks are formulated to make you more energetic. Energy drinks are known as dietary supplements that make you more alert and focused.

But the huge consumption of these energy drinks can be a health hazard and causes many health issues, including heart problems and even kidney stones. It is important to have a controlled consumption of energy booster beverages.

But what is the right amount of energy drinks that can be consumed by an individual? To know the right answer, you need to know what and how many ingredients an energy drink contains. Energy drink contains caffeine, taurine, guarana, ginseng, antioxidants, and sugar. Excess of these ingredients can form crystal substances or kidney stones.

Caffeine

Caffeine is the most important ingredient of an energy drink and makes it a power pack beverage. The excessive intake of caffeine in the body can be very dangerous. The average daily consumption of caffeine is up to 400 milligrams. Caffeine is one of the main ingredients in an energy drink. An energy drink contains caffeine typically around 70-240mg per 16fl oz. serving.

Sugar

The second main ingredient of an energy drink is sugar. The amount of sugar consumed in a day must not exceed 30 grams. Sugar in energy drinks can be of different forms like glucose, sucrose, corn syrup, and fructose.

A can of energy drinks contains almost 26g or up to 14 spoons of sugar. If you intake sugar from food and other beverages alongside, it will certainly cause health issues for your body.

Sugar gives your body a quick energy boost but for a limited time. Sugar has many side effects like weight gain and diabetes. Excess sugar can be a cause of the formation of kidney stones.

Primarily we need to comprehend that the synthetic substances an energy drink contain are not very good for your health.

The consumption of these chemicals must not exceed the limit to avoid many health hazards. Furthermore, an abundance of these substances can cause kidney stones. Regular consumption of more than 2 cans of energy drink can have dangerous side effects and can form stones in a kidney.

Does Caffeine Give You Kidney Stone?

No, caffeine alone is very rare in forming kidney stones. When caffeine works with other substances like sugar, it can increase the risk of kidney stone formation, but caffeine independently does not cause kidney stones. Studies suggest caffeine intake is independently associated with a lower risk of incident kidney stones

 Caffeine occurs naturally in more than 60 plants including, tea leaves, cacao pods, kola nuts, and coffee beans. So, we can get caffeine from tea, coffee, soda, and chocolates. Caffeine helps in making you more alert and attentive.

It can improve your mental functioning by improving your memory. Caffeine reduces fatigue and helps you stay energetic. Caffeine is diuretic and increases urine flow which helps your body to get rid of extra substances in your body.

Synthetic or man-made caffeine is added to some medicines, drinks, and food.

Let’s take a look at how caffeine can help you in preventing kidney stones.

Salt and Water

A high salt eating routine can expand the measure of calcium lost in the urine, which can cause kidney stones. Caffeine is a diuretic hence it makes you get rid of extra saltwater through urine and prevents kidney stone formation. Various studies have shown that a decrease in salt can lessen the reoccurrence of kidney stones.

We see caffeine has several health benefits for your body but as it is said “Excess of everything is bad”. The excessive intake of caffeine can lead to many health issues including, high blood pressure, insomnia, dehydration, and even kidney stones.

To prevent the formation of kidney stones it is important to consume a controlled amount of caffeine. Caffeine can cause kidney stones when it is working with other substances as in an energy drink sugar, caffeine, taurine, etc. together increase the risk of kidney stone formation. But caffeine alone will not cause any harm in a controlled consumption.

How Much Water Does It Take to Flush Out Energy Drink?

It requires gallons of water to flush out an energy drink from your body. Energy drinks are not so good for your health but these drinks are very popular among youngsters.

Energy drink contains a high amount of caffeine, sugar, taurine, vitamins, and many artificial sweeteners which makes them a health hazard.

Drinking too much energy drink can lead to so many health issues like diabetes, dehydration, heart palpitation, and kidney issues. It takes almost 12 hours for a body to remove the effects of an energy drink completely.

The regular consumption of caffeine and sugar is not so easy to remove from your body. To avoid several diseases that can be caused due to excessive consumption of energy drinks you need to stay hydrated as dehydration is a big health hazard.

Stay Hydrated

Caffeine is a diuretic, included in an energy drink that can cause dehydration in your body and cause high or low blood pressure, headache, fever, diarrhea, and constipation. Dehydration can also lead to kidney stone formation.

Exercise alone can cause dehydration in your body and when you consume energy drinks before exercise, your body suffers severe dehydration. You lose water from your body because of frequent urination. So, to stay hydrated one must drink plenty of water and that flushes out the energy drink from your body.

Water Consumption

Drinking water at the rate between 0.5 liters and 1 liter every hour constantly is the suggested pace of hydration. But when we talk about fleshing out an energy drink, we need to consume gallons of water.

When you consume energy drinks on the regular basis, you can have multiple health issues over yourself over a long period. So, it will be necessary to flush it out of your kidney completely to have a healthy life.

Here we will discuss how much water you need to flush out energy drinks of different brands.

Red Bull

If you consume a can of 20oz of red bull, with no sugar, it takes .9 gallons of water to flush out your kidneys. It is estimated that an average person can take almost 2 days to drink .9 gallons of water. The regular consumption of energy drinks will make you drink a lot of water to flush it out of your kidney.

Monster

When you consume a can of 20oz of monster energy drink, it will take 6.3 gallons of water to completely flush it out of your kidney. An average person will drink it in almost 23 days.

The heavy amount of water consumption to flush out these two energy drinks proves how badly a kidney can be affected and it can suffer dehydration if you do not drink enough water.

Final Words

Energy drinks are loaded with different chemicals like caffeine, taurine, sugar, ginseng, and guarana. All these added chemicals are associated with your performance and mental alertness. Energy drinks give a boost to your energy levels just for a limited time but can leave many dangerous effects on your body for a long time.

They can cause different health hazards for you like insomnia, depression, dehydration, fatigue, and heart diseases and they can also contribute to kidney stone formation. Regular consumption can even lead to kidney failure.

To avoid these health hazards or risks, one must consume a balanced and controlled amount of energy drinks. These drinks are highly promoted in the market but you have to be very careful about their consumption.