Acute effects of energy drink on heart rate variability recovery after exercise: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction: The influence of energy drink (ED) on the analysis of autonomic parameters through post-exercise heart rate variability (HRV) remains undefined. We propose to assess the results of the principal studies that estimated the acute effects of ED intake on HRV recovery after effort. Summary of facts and results: Searches were completed in the following databases: PubMed, MEDLINE via Ovid, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Bireme, MedRxiv, and Scopus. The research commenced between July 2020 and March 2021. The terms necessary to identify the studies were “Energy Drink” AND “Exercise” AND “Recovery” AND “Heart Rate Variability”. Only clinical, crossover, and placebo-controlled trials were suitable for the final sample. Four studies were considered eligible, studies could not demonstrate significant values akin to the intervention with ED. The total sample size for performing the meta-analysis was 59 participants. The 99% confidence interval (CI) of our meta-analysis ranged from −2.13 to 0.36 with a combined effect size of −0.89 for SDNN, −1.34 to 0.10 with a combined effect size from −0.62 for RMSSD. Conclusion: Our review supports that ED intake did not change the post-exercise HRV recovery in healthy adults.