A jobless 26-stone mother is going blind after drinking 28 cans of Red Bull a day.

Lena Lupari, 26, from Newtownabbey in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, has gained so much weight from having seven litres on a daily basis that her brain has swollen.

The mother-of-three, who consumed more than 3,000 calories from the drink every day, was unaware of the damage she was doing until she collapsed in June.

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Lena Lupari, 26, (pictured) consumes more than 3,000 calories from drinking 28 cans of Red Bull every day

Doctors discovered she had developed a condition known as Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), which she claims was a result of her being overweight. 

Ms Lupari, who was spending nearly £6,000 of her benefits every year - or £450 of her £1,800 monthly hand-outs - on the high-calorie energy drink, says she was addicted.

'I used to drink 28 cans of Red Bull in a day and I'd only have a meal at night but it would usually be something fast-food like a takeaway or a packet of pasta,' she said.

'I've got three young children, one with special needs, and didn't have time to make anything. 

'I'd been suffering from migraines and headaches for about five years but I just ignored them and took painkillers.

'Then my vision went and I couldn't even lift my head off the bed and I ended up in hospital for six days.'

Medics says she has to lose seven stone in order to keep the symptoms at bay and since she was hospitalised on June 18, she has entirely cut out Red Bull from her diet and lost two stone.

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But Ms Lupari she wants the NHS to help her lose the extra five stone - or the 30 per cent of her bodyweight - that will avoid the need for medical treatment.

'I don't want a gastric band or surgery but I think they should offer help for someone with this and to motivate them - something like a boot camp,' she said. 

'Losing the weight doesn't mean it will go away forever but it means I won't need surgery.'

Intracranial hypertension (IH) means abnormally high pressure inside the skull, which may happen suddenly or build up over time and is quite rare.

Idiopathic IH means there is no obvious cause for the IH but it is most commonly seen in overweight women in their twenties and has been linked with certain medications including the contraceptive pill.

The most common symptoms are severe throbbing headaches and changes in vision due to swollen optic nerves.  

A 250ml can of Red Bull contains 80mg of caffeine, which raises the heart rate and patients with high blood pressure or coronary heart disease and hypertension are advised to avoid it.

The drink also contains taurine, a building block of protein normally found in meat and dairy products, which is considered beneficial in small doses. 

Austrian Dieterich Mateschitz, 55, who invented Red Bull, is now a billionaire. He stumbled on a health tonic in Bangkok and launched his version in 1987 with claims that it revitalises the mind and body, increases endurance, improves reaction and concentration and helps eliminate toxins from the body.

For more information about IIH, please visit IIH UK 

A 250ml can of Red Bull contains 80mg of caffeine and the equivalent of seven teaspoons of sugar - Ms Lupari was drinking seven litres of it daily at a cost of £6,000 a year

She collapsed in June and was diagnosed with Idiopathic intracranial hypertension

IT CLAIMS TO GIVE YOU 'WINGS' BUT CAN DRINKING TOO MUCH RED BULL REALLY CAUSE BLINDNESS? 

Red Bull itself advises on its website that no more than 400mg should be drunk in a day to avoid the potential adverse effects of caffeine

A single 250ml can of Red Bull contains 80mg of caffeine, which is about the same as a cup of coffee.

But research has found that drinking more than three cups of coffee a day can increase the risk of vision loss and blindness.

The study, published in the journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, says even moderate amounts of the drink make developing the devastating eye condition glaucoma more likely. 

Glaucoma occurs when the drainage tubes within the eye become slightly blocked, preventing eye fluid from draining properly and causing pressure to build up. 

This can damage the optic nerve, which connects the eye to the brain, and the nerve fibres from the retina (the light-sensitive nerve tissue that lines the back of the eye). 

The researchers, from the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, suggest that compounds found in coffee may increase pressure within the eyeball, causing a vision-destroying condition known as exfoliation glaucoma.

This occurs when material is rubbed off both the eye's iris and lens, which then clogs up the eyeball's fluid-draining system, leading to increased pressure within the eye

However no correlation was with other caffeine products such as tea, cola or chocolate.

But scientists have previously warned of other conditions linked more directly with Red Bull, including the increased risks of having a heart attack or a stroke.

A study of university students found drinking one 250ml can of the sugar-free version of the energy drink increased the 'stickiness' of the blood and raised the risk of life-threatening clots.

Red Bull itself advises on its website that no more than 400mg - the equivalent to five 250ml cans - should be drunk in a day to avoid the potential adverse effects of caffeine.

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