Overview
- Researchers presented the analysis at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2026 and reviewed 28,345 FDA adverse-event reports filed from 2017 through 2025, including 854 reports tied to caffeine- or stimulant-containing energy drinks and supplements.
- Cardiac arrest was reported about 11 times more often in reports involving stimulant-containing products than in reports without those ingredients, and the analysis also found higher reporting ratios for heart attacks, ventricular arrhythmias, palpitations, elevated heart rate, chest pain, and fainting.
- About 45% of the reports linking stimulant products to cardiovascular events involved people aged 18–34, reflecting consumption patterns such as pre-workout use and mixing with alcohol that may increase strain on the heart.
- Authors and outside experts cautioned the findings are associative and preliminary because FDA adverse-event reports are voluntary, subject to reporting bias and underreporting, and cannot establish true incidence or causation.
- Public-health implications include calls for peer review, more rigorous epidemiologic and clinical research, clearer consumer guidance on high-caffeine products, and scrutiny of labeling given AHA data showing some energy drinks have far higher caffeine concentrations than brewed coffee.