A New Study Revealed That Energy Drinks May Boost Cancer Growth. Here's What To Know
A new study in Nature shows that energy drinks contain an ingredient that may increase cancer cell growth.
This is mostly important to know if you already have certain types of cancer.
Here's what else you should be aware of, according to experts.
If you've ever pulled a late night at the college library or at your office, you may have reached for an energy drink or two for a little boost. But aside from their super high caffeine content, new research has uncovered a link between a common ingredient in energy drinks and the growth of certain cancer cells.
An important caveat: The study didn't find that energy drinks will give you cancer. Rather, it suggests that the common energy drink ingredient taurine can fuel the growth of cancerous cells if you already have certain types of cancer.
Here's what doctors want you to keep in mind, based on these findings.
Meet the experts: Wael Harb, MD, hematologist and medical oncologist at MemorialCare Cancer Institute at Orange Coast and Saddleback Medical Centers in Orange County, CA; Jeevisha Bajaj, PhD, study co-author, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Genetics, and a cancer researcher at the Wilmot Cancer Institute at the University of Rochester
In the study, which was published in the journal Nature, researchers tried to stop leukemia, a type of cancer that impacts the bone marrow and blood, from growing in human cancer cells and mouse models. The researchers used genetic tools to block taurine—a common ingredient in energy drinks like Red Bull, Monster, and Rockstar—from entering leukemia cells. That cut off a resource that the cancer needed to survive.
'As we were charactering the changes taking place in non-cancer 'normal' non-blood forming cells in that environment, we discovered that taurine can be produced by bone-forming cells,' says study co-author Jeevisha Bajaj, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Genetics and a cancer researcher at the Wilmot Cancer Institute at the University of Rochester. 'Our body makes taurine naturally, but it was new information to find that it was produced in this way in the bone marrow.'
The researchers then found that when they blocked taurine from entering leukemia cells, the disease outcome improved.
Taurine can be used by leukemia cells to encourage metabolic changes, including the breakdown of glucose (blood sugar) to create energy, Bajaj says. 'Metabolic changes are changes in cells that provide energy or fuel for its functions,' she adds. Basically, leukemia cells use taurine for energy.
'The cancer cells can hijack the taurine to fuel their growth,' says Wael Harb, MD, a hematologist and medical oncologist at MemorialCare Cancer Institute at Orange Coast and Saddleback Medical Centers in Orange County, CA. 'They use taurine to help them multiply more quickly.'
Taurine is a naturally-occurring amino acid that may help regulate blood pressure, improve cardiac fitness, and enhance a person's vascular health. It may also have some anti-aging properties. 'It's also found in many foods and popular energy drinks,' Dr. Harb says.
Taurine is 'generally safe' to have in energy drinks, Dr. Harb says. However, it may help some cancerous cells to grow more quickly. 'That doesn't mean that taurine causes cancer,' he says. 'But in people who already have cancer, it may fuel it.'
As a result, doctors say you don't need to stop drinking energy drinks if you're healthy. The researchers agree. 'We do not have any evidence that taurine, or any other ingredient in energy drinks, can increase the risk of leukemia in healthy people,' Bajaj says.
If you have leukemia, Harb recommends talking to your doctor about whether you have energy drinks and how often. 'But more research is still needed on how to manage taurine with cancer care,' he says.
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