Okay, gonna weigh in, Doc..
The guy with hep C. The energy drinks didn't cause his hep C. A virus did. In most cases of hep C, the disease is the result of poor choices earlier in life, such as risky sexual behavior or intravenous drug use. My friend with the kidney issues got her hep C by sharing needles in the 70s. She's paying the price now. Her kidneys and parts of her brain were destroyed by the antibodies her immune system made to fight the virus. Her liver functions at about 50%.
Anyway, people who make poor choices in their younger years are likely to continue a pattern of poor choices. In the case of the 50 year old liver failure guy, his poor choices included 4 or 5 energy drinks every day for almost a month. I'm relatively healthy and will consume a 5-Hour shot on occasion. It gives me plenty of zing, but then I have a hard time getting to sleep even 8 or 9 hours after drinking one. I couldn't imagine what two would feel like, much less 4 or 5. That's just ridiculous, even for a healthy person.
The guy had existing liver problems and he chose to exacerbate the issue with excessive consumption of a substance with anecdotal links to sudden heart problems in young athletes. With this 50-year-old's existing health problems, he somehow decided high levels of caffeine and various B vitamins were a good idea. He made a very poor choice. Had he moderated his consumption of these products, he would most likely be sitting in his easy chair today griping about his swollen belly and a case of the ****-its.
His story would be a more appropriate case study for moderation than an example of product blame.
But that's just my own uneducated opinion.
_____________
I wouldn't mind seeing more about the combination of energy drinks and alcohol. Seems to me, if there's a consumable liquid, somebody somewhere has figured out a way to add alcohol to it. That's not always a good idea. Curious what sorts of changes happened with the mice in that study you cited.
Another current favorite is the combination of alcohol and other drugs, like cocaine, as in the case of the guy who hit my truck. My cousin is a cop, so I asked him what the numbers mean with cocaine intoxication. Like BAC...we have a general idea of the impairment to expect at various levels, but I haven't found anything similar for other drugs. I told my cousin the level of cocaine found in that man's blood and the nearest estimate of his intoxication state my cousin could provide was, "Brother was pretty ****ered up, wasn't he?" Be interesting to see something about that.