Caffeine and Taurine from Energy Drinks—A Review

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors   "Few reviews have been published in the subject area. Authors are invited to carefully consider them and find the differences and strength of their review regarding the previously published ones by citing and discussing properly at the introduction. Authors can find some of them here: Costantino A, Maiese A, Lazzari J, Casula C, Turillazzi E, Frati P, Fineschi V. The dark side of energy drinks: a comprehensive review of their impact on the human body. Nutrients. 2023 Sep 9;15(18):3922.
Cholewa K, Czarnek K, Grzywacz A, Masiak J. Energy Drink Use Disorder–a Review of the Literature. Teka Komisji Prawniczej PAN Oddział w Lublinie. 2023 Jun 30;16(1):21-31.
Bunch KT, Peterson MB, Smith MB, Bunch TJ. An Overview of the Risks of Contemporary Energy Drink Consumption and Their Active Ingredients on Cardiovascular Events. Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports. 2023
Mar;17(3):39-48.
Cadoni C, Peana AT. Energy drinks at adolescence: Awareness or unawareness?. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. 2023 Feb 20;17:1080963. I declare that this comment is not an obligatory order for authors to cite the above-mentioned references and is just a suggestion to improve the review and guide the future readers of the manuscript for the maximum productivity. Authors may decide not to use the references."  

Author Response

Reviewer #1   

We thank the reviewer for her/his comments. We give our response to his queries (our answers are in red; the reviewer queries are in black).

Comments and suggestions for Authors

 "Few reviews have been published in the subject area. Authors are invited to carefully consider them and find the differences and strength of their review regarding the previously published ones by citing and discussing properly at the introduction. Authors can find some of them here: Costantino A, Maiese A, Lazzari J, Casula C, Turillazzi E, Frati P, Fineschi V. The dark side of energy drinks: a comprehensive review of their impact on the human body. Nutrients. 2023 Sep 9;15(18):3922.

Cholewa K, Czarnek K, Grzywacz A, Masiak J. Energy Drink Use Disorder–a Review of the Literature. Teka Komisji Prawniczej PAN Oddział w Lublinie. 2023 Jun 30;16(1):21-31.

Bunch KT, Peterson MB, Smith MB, Bunch TJ. An Overview of the Risks of Contemporary Energy Drink Consumption and Their Active Ingredients on Cardiovascular Events. Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports. 2023 Mar;17(3):39-48.

Cadoni C, Peana AT. Energy drinks at adolescence: Awareness or unawareness?. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. 2023 Feb 20;17:1080963. I declare that this comment is not an obligatory order for authors to cite the above-mentioned references and is just a suggestion to improve the review and guide the future readers of the manuscript for the maximum productivity. Authors may decide not to use the references." 

 

Thank you, we honestly appreciate your suggestions according to the introduction paragraph. As you suggested, we improved our manuscript by using the proposed references.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

On page 44 you define ED (energy drink) ,so on page 87 you should not re-enter "energy drinks (ED)" but simply "ED".

In table 2 it states that the dose of caffeine in adolescents is 200 mg/kg. This should probably read 200 mg.

On line 180 the abbreviation SBP should be defined as an abbreviation. Therefore, SBP should be used on lines 231, 436 and 544 instead of "systolic blood pressure".

On line 460 it says "effect was highlighted by and collaborators" probably should read "effect was highlighted by Li YF and collaborators". 

Author Response

Reviewer #2

We thank the reviewer for her/his comments. We give our response to his queries (our answers are in red; the reviewer queries are in black).

Comments and suggestions for Authors

- On page 44 you define ED (energy drink) ,so on page 87 you should not re-enter "energy drinks (ED)" but simply "ED".

Thank you, we modified it according to your suggestion.

- In table 2 it states that the dose of caffeine in adolescents is 200 mg/kg. This should probably read 200 mg.

You are right, thank you for your observation. We revised Table 2 and we made the change as you suggested.

- On line 180 the abbreviation SBP should be defined as an abbreviation. Therefore, SBP should be used on lines 231, 436 and 544 instead of "systolic blood pressure".

Your suggestion is a really helpful one, we took it into consideration and made the changes as you proposed.

- On line 460 it says "effect was highlighted by and collaborators" probably should read "effect was highlighted by Li YF and collaborators". 

Thank you, as you suggested, we put at line 460 Li et al.

 

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

-In this study, the individual interactions of taurine and caffeine and their effects on the body were explained in detail, but the authors need to explain in more detail the damage caused to the body by the interaction of caffeine and taurine in energy drinks and the negative features of the interaction mechanism. As a result, not only the doses of taurine and caffeine but also the destructive consequences of the interactions of the two substances should be explained, supported by the literature.

-There are the same deficiencies in the abstract and introduction sections. The negative aspects of taurine and caffeine interactions should be highlighted as striking

-Please increase the number of samples in Table 4 and Table 3, they are quite insufficient.

-Figure 1 resolution is too low, please improve it

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Minor editing of English language required

Author Response

Reviewer # 3

We thank the reviewer for her/his comments. We give our response to his queries (our answers are in red; the reviewer queries are in black).

 

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

-In this study, the individual interactions of taurine and caffeine and their effects on the body were explained in detail, but the authors need to explain in more detail the damage caused to the body by the interaction of caffeine and taurine in energy drinks and the negative features of the interaction mechanism. As a result, not only the doses of taurine and caffeine but also the destructive consequences of the interactions of the two substances should be explained, supported by the literature.

You are right, according to your observations, we wrote what you suggested in the introduction and the summary. Thank you, we are sure that after these changes, our manuscript has improved.

-There are the same deficiencies in the abstract and introduction sections. The negative aspects of taurine and caffeine interactions should be highlighted as striking

Thank you, as you suggested, we have written about the interaction between caffeine and taurine.

-Please increase the number of samples in Table 4 and Table 3, they are quite insufficient.

Your suggestion is very good. As you recommended, we put more samples in Tables 3 and 4. We hope you agree with what we have done.

-Figure 1 resolution is too low, please improve it

You are right, we changed the resolution of Figure 1 according to your observations. Thank you.

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I am pleased to inform accept of manuscript.