Caffeine and taurine containing energy drink increases left ventricular contractility in healthy volunteers

To investigate the impact of a caffeine and taurine containing energy drink (ED) on myocardial contractility in healthy volunteers using cardiac MR and cardiac MR based strain analysis. 32 healthy volunteers (mean age 28 years) were investigated before and 1 h after consumption of a caffeine and taurine containing ED. For assessment of global cardiac functional parameters balanced SSFP-Cine imaging was performed, whereas CSPAMM tagging was used to evaluate global and regional myocardial strain. In addition, ten randomly chosen subjects were investigated once more using a caffeine only protocol to further evaluate the effect of caffeine solely. Heart rate and blood pressure were recorded throughout all studies. ED consumption led to a significant increase in peak systolic strain (PSS) and peak systolic strain rate (PSSR) 1 h after consumption (PSS: w/o ED -22.8 ± 2.1%; w ED -24.3 ± 2.4%, P = <0.0001 and PSSR: w/o ED -1.2 ± 0.1 1/s; w ED -1.3 ± 0.2 1/s, P = 0.0056), which was not observed in the caffeine only group. In contrast, global left ventricular function was unchanged (P = 0.2076). No significant changes of vital parameters and diastolic filling pattern were detected 1 h after ED consumption. Consumption of a caffeine and taurine containing ED results in a subtle, but significant increase of myocardial contractility 1 h after consumption.