This is what happens when you drink 20 cans of Red Bull every day

At 26 years old, Mary Allwood is atrue energy drink addict, to such an extent that she was drinking it as soon as she would wake up and was spending around £2,400 a year on these drinks.

This was considered an addiction that got the better of her health and doctors informed the young mother that her liver was in the same condition as that of an alcoholic. She was forced to face her addiction when she was admitted to hospital with severe pain.

'I needed it and I had nothing to do with the damage that it caused me.'

In addition to having a very damaged liver, Mary’s body had also changed. She had gained an enormous amount of weight, going from a size 14 to a size 22. Furthermore, she even admits that the energy drinks were the only thing that she ever drank. The addiction started at the age of 22 when she first tasted an energy drink.

I would go to the supermarket and get 10 multipacks at a time. I'd tell the person at the till that I had a restaurant and was buying them for that reason.

A national epidemic

It was finally after she was experiencing intense pains in her liver that she was taken to hospital and was operated on. She lowered her intake little by little until she finally didn’t need them anymore. Moreover, she asked that neutral packaging, similar to that of neutral cigarette packaging, be applied to this type of drink as well.

Over half of Britons between the ages of 12 and 24 have experienced side effects due to energy drink consumption since teens and young adults are the most at risk for energy drink addiction.