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Health

Can ’5-Hour Energy’ Drinks Lead to Abortions, Heart Attacks?

Nov. 15, 2012 9:56am Liz Klimas

FDA Filings Reveal 5 Hour Energy Mentioned With Incidents Including Heart Attacks and 13 Deaths

(Image: 5-Hour Energy)

You might have seen the commercial for 5-Hour Energy with a woman stating that more than 3,000 doctors have reviewed and 73 percent can attest to the safety of the vitamin and “energy blend” infused substance. She challenges viewers to ask their own doctor. But a look at records maintained by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration might also provide some insights on the energy shot.

The New York Times reported that in its review of records from the FDA it found 90 filings mentioning 5-Hour Energy with 30 that involved incidents of heart attacks, convulsions and a spontaneous abortion since 2009. It noted that 5-Hour Energy, distributed by Living Essentials, might have had involvement in 13 deaths, but this does not mean the substance was actually the cause of death.

5-Hour Energy ingredients label. (Image: 5-Hour Energy)

The product label does caution that the substance is not recommended for pregnant women or children under 12 years of age.

Here’s what the agency had to say about its investigation into these cases, according to the Times:

In an interview Wednesday, Daniel Fabricant, the director of the agency’s division of dietary supplement programs, said the agency was looking into the death reports that cited 5-Hour Energy. He said that while medical information in such reports could rule out a link with the product, other reports could contain insufficient information to determine what role, if any, a supplement might have played.

Mr. Fabricant said that the 13 fatality reports that mentioned 5-Hour Energy had all been submitted to the F.D.A. by Living Essentials. Since late 2008, producers of dietary supplements are required to notify the F.D.A. when they become aware of a death or serious injury that may be related to their product.

Earlier this month, the FDA launched an investigation into another energy drink — Monster — and five deaths that might be related to it.

The agency acknowledged the adverse reports Monday, but FDA spokeswoman Shelly Burgess said they don’t prove that the drinks caused the deaths.

One of the most recent cases involved a wrongful death suit filed by the parents of a 14-year-old, Hagerstown, Md., girl who died after drinking two, 24-ounce Monster Beverage Corp. drinks in 24 hours.

An autopsy concluded she died of cardiac arrhythmia due to caffeine toxicity. She had an inherited disorder that can weaken blood vessels.

Monster says it doesn’t believe its products caused any deaths.

Read more about the 5-Hour Energy filings looked into by the New York Times here.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

(H/T: Yahoo! News)

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Comments (50)

blackfeather
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 4:43pm
…just have a cup of dam coffee fa’ crissake.

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- Brooke Lorren
  Posted on November 15, 2012 at 4:52pm
  Coffee is nasty tasting… but then again, I’ve never tried this stuff… it might be nasty tasting too.
  
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- rafa2design
  Posted on November 15, 2012 at 11:52pm
  Brook you probably think it tastes bad because like most people you’ve probably only tried a cheap substitute like Folgers or some sort of instant coffee. That stuff is the worst. If you truly want to enjoy coffee you need to buy beans which are harvested from good soil then brewed in a way where the flavor is not covered up with whip cream and sugar (like Starbucks does it.) It’s like beer. If you’ve only ever tried cheap canned bear, you’ll think it all tastes bad.
  
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commonsenseguy
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 3:10pm
why would anyone believe anything the fda or the new york times says.they both are the lefts mouth piece and its bidder, if the left wing commie loving morons don’t likes someone,then all hell the chief,they will do everything they can to shut them up or down, if you don’t like or if it makes you sick, then here is a new idea, don’t eat or drink it stupid, no one is forcing you do anything yet, the government is well on its way to forcing people to do what they want but not quite it.

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- SoNick
  Posted on November 15, 2012 at 4:35pm
  Ok, let’s use your “common sense”. I’m a good American capitalist and want to start a business. I have developed a super energy drink that happens to contain toxic doses of arsenic, benzene, cyanide and strychtnine. I invest in a promotional campaign that claims my product is miraculous and keeps you awake for days. It becomes a hit and thousands of people die. Eventually, the “market” reacts and people stop buying it, pûtting me out of business. Thousands of dead people remain dead. Is that how you want the world to be? Really?
  
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- Brooke Lorren
  Posted on November 15, 2012 at 4:54pm
  I don’t believe the FDA any more any further than I can throw them. Not after I realized that my Alzheimer’s-disease like symptoms were caused by the FDA-approved artificial sweetener aspartame. Now that I’ve avoided that stuff for years, my memory is much better.
  
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Just_Us2
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 3:08pm
When I go on long hikes (+10 miles), I like a 5 hr energy shot with my snacks. It does give you a kick for a few hours. My wife doesn’t like taking it because it makes her have to, “poop”. That doesn’t jibe well with hiking on mountain trails….but we do bring baby wipes just in case. :-)

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Gonzo
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 2:59pm
Let’s create another government bureaucracy for energy drink oversight. First step, hire a caffeine czar.

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OniKaze
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 2:14pm
I don’t like taking ANY kind of Energy supplement, but I will occasionally take a 5 hour energy if I am Driving long distance for work (as for some reason driving makes me tired), but I limit my intake to 1 bottle max in a 24-hour period.

When I see kids out there slamming energy drinks or 5-hour like its water, I feel horrible for them… Why do they feel the need to do this?? Are they so lethargic that their bodies have become reliant on outside sources to acquire energy? How about some exercise you lazy little turds… THAT may help you get some natural “healthy” energy that doesn’t have to come out of a bottle…

These products should only be used in extreme cases, and if you are finding that you need them on a normal basis in order to be “normal” then you have a serious problem that needs to be addressed.

But I think that ANYONE who uses these products should be aware of the risk if they have more than 10 working brain-cells… Consume at your own risk… People Die from smoking cigarettes, drinking booze, taking pills…. All of this we know… But we all naturally make the connection between those products and the risks involved… Allowing frivolous lawsuits because people WILLINGLY used a potentially un-healthy product, ignoring the risks, is foolish.

Put a warning label on it, and if people ignore that, then its ALL their fault… Its that simple.

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Dancing_In_The_Ruins
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 1:49pm
Tell you the truth this stuff is pretty safe. It’s just a blend of vitamins and a small amount of caffeine, if you drank like three of them back to back yeah you’ll be dead. Of the energy drinks I only had one bad trip off one and that would be Jolt Energy that one made me extremely jittery and my heart pound.

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Ghandi was a Republican
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 12:50pm
Too much obama makes 1/2 of America sick. What ere we gonna do about that?

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BlasberryStrat
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 12:48pm
Has anyone else asked just why we have seen an onslaught of ‘stomach acid’ / ‘reflux’ meds, and then the huge push in energy drinks? Does it correlate with the push of the I Phone and the ability of workers to now be accessed to working 24/7? I think the Tech Age is pushing our bodies to their limits and causing more stress than we are able to take. Just think about those who now “relax” after a stressful work day by playing hours of ‘war games’ on their X Box. The chemicals released from stress doesn’t stop. Plus leave it to the party crowd to figure out how to mix Red Bull and Vodka so they can now drive after partying ten hours. I see close friends kids actually go crazy and pitch a two year old fit when they are ‘coming down’ from 5 Hour & Monster, and will do literally anything in order to get another bottle! This stuff is simply a drug that has many kids (and adults) hooked. When they finally crash, it isn’t pretty. I tried one “sip” as directed by 5 Hour once. Besides the burning in my stomach, I had to deal with “bugs crawling on my skin” and flu like symptoms for at least three hours. Yet my nephew will down two bottles (at $3.50 a pop) every three to four hours, and if he runs out he turns in to someone I don’t even know!!

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- Dave.the.Blaze
  Posted on November 15, 2012 at 1:00pm
  I’m no scientist, but I agree with you about the role technology has in affecting health. Also, all of our processed food is terrible for our bodies. One huge problem is that both technology and processed foods are so easy — too easy!
  
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- Brooke Lorren
  Posted on November 15, 2012 at 4:58pm
  I learned my lesson with soda. I have a hard enough time getting through a day without that… I couldn’t imagine being addicted to something stronger.
  
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Dave.the.Blaze
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 11:50am
This stuff is poison! Check out list of ingredients in this, Red Bull, Monster, Rock Star, and any of these so-called energy drinks. You may as well drink WD-40.

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- scuba13
  Posted on November 15, 2012 at 12:08pm
  Maybe Planned Parenthood should give out 5hour energy drinks to anyone who wants an abortion.
  
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repairsea
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 11:38am
Why would anyone think this was a good idea to digest? It is was bad enough they were giving the Chinese owned Red Bull for free to our troops in Iraq. Drink all you want, they were told.

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- Dave.the.Blaze
  Posted on November 15, 2012 at 12:11pm
  Red Bull originated in Thailand, not China. Also, it’s now made in central Europe and shipped worldwide.
  
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Stoic one
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 11:28am
I have been drinking coffee for fifty-two years. Navy doctors prescribed it as they DID NOT trust the new drug Ritalin. Yep I am a caffeine addict, have known this for decades. I suspect, taking all factors into account these deaths fall into the background statistical chances of RANDOM death that occur every day.

The doctors and the government cannot give you eternal life on Earth…..period

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inblack
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 11:07am
Yes, coffee, tea, colas, chocolate, energy drinks have caffeine and caffeine can kill you (if you have some other defect) – but it’s really rare.

Since we fooled everyone into thinking that the label will tell you what you need to know it’s a little surprising that 5-hour does not list the caffeine content.

The caffeine stimulant industry is over a $1 trillion industry if you include coffee, coffee shops, tea, tea rooms, etc, coke/pepsi, etc. So get over it.

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moreteaplease
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 10:59am
I tried a bottle a few months ago and I wasn’t crazy about the way it made me feel like my BP was going through the roof but I knew the risks going in. So if anything happened to me the fault would have been my own afaiac. I read the label and understood it and decided to try it anyway.

I see people drinking 5 Hour and Monster all the time and I just chalk it up to the stuff not being for me…simple as that. If you don’t read the label or you do but decide to through caution to the wind then you have nobody to blame but yourself if something goes wrong. Whatever happened to personal accountability?

I think the world has gone law suit mad.

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DZ-015
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 10:53am
Obamacare will henceforth provide free Five Hour to the elderly and the pregnant.

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catfanatic1979v1
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 10:48am
Caffeine is the one element here that may have some danger to it. Some people are senitive to it. The other stuff would not have an effect like those claimed. These Caffeine effects have been known since the drug was first introduced and it isn’t shocking or new at all. What is new is people’s overreliance on the substance in the last 15 years.

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- Stoic one
  Posted on November 15, 2012 at 11:38am
  Umm ..NO
  
  caffeine has been around for centuries in the form of coffee and tea. For the last century it has also been around in the form of soda pop (Coke & Pepsi). These “new” derivatives are for those that do not want to urinate as often…more caffeine punch.
  
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Pork_Anvil
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 10:47am
These guys are a huge Beck and Rush sponsor. BECK AND RUSH PROMOTE ABORTIONS! Hypocrites.

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- OhioRifleman
  Posted on November 15, 2012 at 11:56am
  1 spontaneous abortion does not a Planned Parenthood office make.
  
  Methinks if someone hit your anvil with a forging hammer, it would not oink. Instead, high-velocity scat would be sprayed radially for several yards.
  
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blanco5
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 10:43am
You should be allowed to put anything you want into your body, but tax payers should not have to foot the bill for your stupid decsions. BUT we are long gone from any of THAT kind of justice!

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Cavallo
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 10:23am
If you take too much of anything it’ll kill you. That lethal dose can vary from person to person. You can get killed drinking too much water (water intoxication). The company recommends that you just try half a bottle first. A lot of this is just a basis for more Nanny State drivel and State interference in my life.. “For my own good” of course.

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- pamela kay
  Posted on November 15, 2012 at 1:20pm
  CAVALLO, you are so right. However I personally did have a terrible reaction to a Monster drink. I like the vanilla coffee drink from Starbucks. Last year my boyfriend tried to get me one but the store was out so he got me a vanilla mocha coffee drink from Monster. I was hot and I was thirsty. We went to the shooting range. I started feeling strange within about twenty minutes. I was having severe chest pains and was feeling disoriented.We were getting ready to head to the ER. I became so nauseated and finally vomited profusely Within ten minutes, I felt much better. I had not idea that this was even an energy drink, I assumed it was much like the Star Bucks drink.There is a huge difference in the caffine from coffee and the ingredients in those drinks.
  
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HKS
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 10:15am
Tried one of these things about four years ago, thought I was going to have a heart attack, can’t believe it took this long to be recognized as a problem. Back then I said, “a lot of lawyers are going to get rich with this stuff”.

“Remember Benghazi”

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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on November 15, 2012 at 10:32am
  Whereas millions of others suffer no effects as you mention. No offense, but we need to stop legislating and making laws for statistically insignificant effects on society.
  
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- pamela kay
  Posted on November 15, 2012 at 4:36pm
  HKS, I don’t think we are saying the government should ban them but perhaps some kind of warning on them. Having had a bad reaction from one myself, I can tell you that for me these can be harmful, so I am sure there are other people like myself. It is a persons right if they choose to drink them, I think we all agree on that.
  
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- ladyevidence
  Posted on November 15, 2012 at 10:11pm
  GHOSTOFJEFFERSON, I agree and I don’t.
  
  If a substance is dangerous to some people, they should have to label it. People can make their own decisions from there. If everything that was linked to people dying was banned, there wouldn’t be any cigarettes or alcohol today… but they do have labels and warnings, don’t they?
  
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TROLLMONGER
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 10:09am
What a bunch of malarky! Total BS! But what else can you expect on Becks over dramatized website!

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- Ghandi was a Republican
  Posted on November 15, 2012 at 10:44am
  Tah– Whatever you say hole-monger… Give your buddies a reacharound for us..
  
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Ghandi was a Republican
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 10:07am
Gee- Ya think? I guzzle 64 oz of coffee every morning. Used to be a gallon but the heart ain’t what it used to be,., However– It is nobody else fault when i suffer after effects now or later. This would apply to anything I put in my body. It’s not as if somebody ‘slipped” it to me. People actually paid for this stuff, a willful act if there ever was one Sounds like they knew exactly what they were doing.

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Oneirishman
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 10:05am
Spontaneous Abortions? Does that mean you can’t help but go to a Planned Parenthood? Do you not mean miscarriage? Come on Liz are you that stupid?

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- Rockapine
  Posted on November 15, 2012 at 10:14am
  A miscarriage IS a spontaneous abortion. As opposed to an induced abortion.
  
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- Oneirishman
  Posted on November 15, 2012 at 11:13am
  My bad just looked it up.
  
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GhostOfJefferson
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 10:04am
Yeah. I remember the big ballyho made about ephedra. Turns out a few idiots overdosed on it in ways that any thinking person would say “well, yeah, if you drink that much of anything you’re going to die”. But we got the ban. Now they’re turning to this. Maybe McCain can rant and rail really hard and get this banned too (McCain is notorious for despising any type of health food or alternative nutrition).

You’ll pardon me if I don’t panic about 5 hour energy drinks. They’re made from the same stuff as coffee, multivitamins and Red Bull. Big friggin’ woop. Fear a heart attack or spontaneous rejection of an unborn child? Then don’t drink it. Problem solved.

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contkmi
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 10:03am
Can’t understand the attraction to this stuff. Whatever happened to diet, exercise and rest to keep yourself in shape?

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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on November 15, 2012 at 10:09am
  It’s not to keep you in shape. It’s basically a shortcut to drinking 4 cups of coffee.
  
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Zipit
Posted on November 15, 2012 at 10:02am
They should be free! Unlimited, when you pick up your Obama phone and food stamps!!!

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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on November 15, 2012 at 10:19am
  You’re quite right. If the government doesn’t dispense these to everybody for “free”, then clearly they’ll be denying us access to basic health care and removing our ability to make decisions about our own bodies!
  
  Great catch! :)
  
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- Zipit
  Posted on November 15, 2012 at 10:29am
  “Reproductive rights”, in a can!
  
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- steve61lindsey
  Posted on November 15, 2012 at 10:29am
  I’m sure it must be a Constitutional right to get them free from the government. If they cause abortions, which is also a Constitutional right, the government should give them to us free. This will help reduce the deficit since we will be getting two rights for the price of one. Obama akbar!
  
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