For Healthy Heart and Kidneys, Avoid Energy Drinks and Other Sugary Drinks

Usually, people are advised to drink plenty of liquids to keep their kidneys healthy and functioning well. Research suggests, however, that sugary drinks may harm the kidneys more than they help. Recent research also suggests that energy drinks could hurt the heart.

Bad News on Energy Drinks

Energy drinks have become extremely popular. They promise higher energy and greater focus with a range of sweet flavors that some people find more appealing than the bitterness of unsweetened coffee or tea. They usually contain caffeine, sometimes in very high doses, and they may contain additives.

Now data suggests that these buzzy beverages may come at a high cost for health. A review of more than 28,000 adverse events reported to the FDA between 2017 and 2025 found that such energy drinks, along with stimulant supplements, were associated with serious heart problems more than other products.

Young people between 18 and 35 were much more likely to report heart attacks or cardiac arrest if they had been consuming energy drinks. People in this age group rarely experience such serious cardiovascular events. As a consequence. even a relative handful of events in absolute terms would still stand out as alarming. Scientists presented this research at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions on Nov. 2, 2026. They have not yet published it.

What Is the Evidence on Sugary Drinks?

The Jackson Heart Study included 3003 African-American adults (Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Jan. 7, 2019). All had normal kidney function at the beginning of the study. After approximately eight years, about six percent of these people had developed kidney disease.

The volunteers filled out questionnaires about food and drink when the study began. Those who consumed the most sugar-sweetened beverages, including sweetened fruit drinks, were 61 percent more likely to be diagnosed with kidney disease than those who drank the least sweetened drinks. That is a relative risk. However, once the data were adjusted for dietary patterns, the increased risk (37 percent) was not statistically significant.

This is not the first research to suggest that sugar-sweetened beverages might harm the kidneys. Experiments in animals also suggest that sweet drinks can cause trouble.

Dehydration Research in Rats

Rats were exposed to heat for an hour (American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, June, 2016). Since they had no access to fluids during this time, they became mildly dehydrated. The animals were then randomly assigned to drink plain water, water with the sweetener stevia or sugar-sweetened water. This contained fructose and glucose sugars equivalent to the amounts found in most soft drinks.

Rats that drank water sweetened with fructose and glucose consumed more fluid but were more easily dehydrated when the water restriction was repeated. They also were more likely to experience kidney damage as a consequence of the repeated dehydration.

The rats whose water was sweetened with stevia, a non-caloric natural sweetener, appeared no worse off than those drinking plain water.

How Should You Quench Your Thirst?

If humans react in similar ways, people should not rehydrate with sugary drinks like soda when the weather is hot. Plain water might be best except for those who are exercising heavily.

Marathon Runners Who Drink on Schedule

For them, an electrolyte beverage might be prudent to avoid hyponatremia. Some long-distance walkers or runners who drink lots of water during their event end up with too little sodium in their bodies, since it too is lost through sweat. This can be a life-threatening situation. Experts recommend letting thirst guide fluid replenishment rather than sticking to a schedule.

Avoiding Hyponatremia

Long-distance runners often worry about dehydration. But a survey of marathon runners suggests that they should also be concerned about drinking too much fluid (British Journal of Sports Medicine, June 2011).

Drinking water on a schedule instead of letting thirst prompt fluid consumption can dilute the sodium in the bloodstream to dangerous levels. This condition is known as hyponatremia. Symptoms include headache, confusion, nausea and vomiting, muscle weakness or cramps, loss of energy and even seizures and unconsciousness. At least a dozen runners have died of documented hyponatremia in the past several years. Instead of drinking on some predetermined schedule, runners may be better off drinking only when they’re thirsty. Moreover, they should count on water with electrolytes rather than sugary drinks to quench their thirst.

Teens’ Response to Caffeine Differs by Gender

Many years ago, researchers discovered intriguing differences in the way teenagers react to caffeinated beverages. The study included 54 boys 15 to 17, 47 girls in the same age bracket and 52 children who had not yet reached puberty (Pediatrics, June 16, 2014).

The placebo-controlled study used lemon-lime flavored soda, lemonade or orange juice to deliver either 1 or 2 mg/kg of caffeine, based on the youngsters’ body weight. As caffeine levels rose, young men had greater increases in blood pressure and decreases in heart rate. Young women did not have the same response, except in the last phase of their menstrual cycles. There were no gender differences in the caffeine response among the younger children.

Although energy drinks are very popular with teens and young adults, these beverages frequently have higher levels of caffeine than ordinary soft drinks. The People’s Pharmacy perspective on this research would restrict highly caffeinated beverages to special-occasion use among adolescents. We doubt that would be popular, but perhaps young men would be interested in doing research on themselves and seeing how much caffeine raises their blood pressure.