Jennifer Barber

Volume 47 • Number 6 • June 2022 Systematic review OPEN ACCESS Vol. 47No. 6pp. 618–631 The impact of caffeinated energy drinks (CEDs) on the cardiovascular (CV) response to exercise has not been well described. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted on the acute effects of CEDs on CV responses during dynamic, aerobic exercise in 296 healthy adult males (224) and females (72) in 21 randomized controlled trials.

Discussion The current evidence suggests that caffeine and taurine are the main CED ingredients that may affect the cardiovascular system. In healthy adult populations, the effect of single-occasion intakes of caffeine higher than 250–400 mg (3 or more servings of a typical CED 250 mL sold in Canada) on increased arterial BP is well-documented.

I don’t want to see it coming like late summer roses waiting to bloom or a highway I remember in Spain, a giant black cutout bull as a hilltop billboard. Instead let me be half asleep, the Never and Forever twins, one in a brown dress, one in blue, steeped in the shadows of my room, the air replacing my breath with flow and husk, and then the sound. Let me leave each twin a gift: a milky quartz on the night table, my worn gold wedding ring.