Researchers from Camilo Jose Cela University showed that energy drinks increased insomnia and nervousness among athletes.

For this study, researchers studied different athletes that drank three cans of energy drink before a sports competition.

They found out that when these athletes drank energy drinks, their sporting performance increased by three to seven percent.

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Juan Del Coso, one of the researchers, admitted that energy drinks can increase speed, strengthen muscles and provide accuracy.

However, these same drinks caused frequent insomnia and increased nervousness in the hours following the competition.

Del Coso said that energy drinks have side effects typical of commercialized caffeinated drinks that purportedly increase sporting performance.

He said that increase in the consumption is probably a result of advertising campaigns conducted by the athletes' sponsors.

According to researchers, the consumption of energy drinks by the general public has also been increasing in past years. So has the consumption by athletes before practicing, where 50 percent of them drink during training and before competitions.

Researchers also want to clarify that energy drinks do not give more energy than other soft drinks, but they do give energy similar to what coffee gives a person.

Aside from caffeine, most energy drinks contain carbohydrates, taurine and B vitamins - not very different from other drinks that give energy.

Researchers also said that none of the ingredients in energy drinks can increase an athlete physical and cognitive performance.

Inside a 250 ml energy drink, there is about 80 mg of caffeine in it, they added.