SAFETY TONIC (ENERGY) BEVERAGES

Volume growth of consumption of tonic (energy) beverages determines the necessity to study safety criteria of the components used in their manufacture, having a tonic effect. Relevancy of the study is stipulated by the fact, that for the first time biological safety of prolonged use of the main components of non-alcoholic tonic (energy) beverages is evaluated by identifying biomarkers damage of cell membranes and integral parameters of metabolism, the results of which are applicable to humans. Under conditions in vivo the effect of prolonged use of the main components of tonic (energy) beverages - caffeine, taurine and herbal extracts (adaptogens in traditionally recommended quantities) on a model object was analyzed. The study was performed on 150 adult Wistar rats of both sexes (females, n = 75; males, n = 75). Experimental animals were divided into 5 groups according to the sort of components of tonic (energy) beverages consumed: 0.03% aqueous solution of caffeine and 0.25 % aqueous solution of taurine; ginseng extract; Rhodiola rosea extract; herbal extract of Schizandra chinense. In the control group the purified bottled water was used. In all groups of animals after three weeks of intake of (energy) beverage components, specific biomarkers of organ-and-tissue damage of cell membranes were determined in serum and tissue: alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), creatine kinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and integral basic metabolic parameters: glucose, uric acid, urea and total cholesterol. It was stated, that with prolonged daily use of aqueous solutions of caffeine and taurine in amounts corresponding to the content in tonic (energy) beverages, there was a significant increase in activity LDH and CK ( twice and six times, respectively) concentration of urea and uric acid in serum. There is a tendency to increasing action of AST and hypoglycemia, reflecting subclinical pathogenetically for meaningful increase in metabolic rate with a predominance of catabolic processes. In the usage of herbal extracts as adaptogens metabolism is stimulated with a predominance of catabolic processes, mostly pronounced in the use of extracts of ginseng and lemongrass. However, the metabolic adjustment does not go beyond the range of physiological adaptation ? not of a pathogenetically significant increase in the activity of enzymes, or biomarkers damage of cell membranes and hypoglycemia. On the contrary, there is a tendency to the development of hyperglycemia. Some specific gender metabolic reconstructions with prolonged use of restorative components of (energy) beverages are revealed