ABSTRACT
Introduction: Energy drinks consist of many substances like caffeine, taurine, sucrose/glucose, vitamins and some herbal supplements like ginseng, gingko biloba and guarana and are used by millions of people world-wide. The study aims to investigate the effect of energy drinks on blood vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) levels.
Material and method: Thirty male adult Wistar albino rats were randomly assigned to two groups, an xperimental group (EG) and the control group (CG). The Red Bull (3.57 mL/kg/day equivalent to a person weighing 70 kg consuming 250 mL per day) was given by oral gavage to the EG and the same volume of water was given by oral gavage to CG. The full thickness 5 cm diameter skin incisions were performed on the back of the rats. The blood samples were taken from the rats (n=5 in each group) on the 3rd, 7th and 14th days of the experiment. The biochemical blood analysis was performed at the end of the experiment.
Results: The 3rd day, mean VEGF values of EG and CG were statistically different. Similarly, on the 14th day, mean bFGF values of EG and CG were statistically different. On the 7th day, there were no statistically differences between mean VEGF and bFGF values of EG and CG.
Discussion: The ingredients of energy drinks may affect the wound healing positively or negatively with many mechanisms described in literature. Our results confirmed that energy drinks may accelerate angiogenesis in early and late stages of the proliferation phase of wound healing. Further investigations may reveal more reliable results.