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Since
the 1990s, energy
drinks have gone from being the latest craze and fad to a permanent
fixture in our culture. Given the various seemingly exotic
ingredients, here's a general introduction to the various energy drink
dangers and advantages. I won't go into great biological
detail since you could probably write a book about the energy
drink craze. Instead I'll provide you with some information that should let you
be a more informed consumer when it comes to energy drinks.
What
are Energy Drinks?
An
energy drink is a beverage that contains some form of legal
stimulant and/or vitamins which are meant to give consumers a
short term boost in energy. The
"Magical" Ingredients
In
general, these drinks have one thing in common: They all contain a lot
of sugar and/or caffeine. These could be considered the "active
ingredients." So before you go bragging about how
powerful a certain drink was and how its natural ingredients helped
you wake up in the morning or dance all night, consider that you
probably got more of a sugar rush than anything else. |
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Energy
Drinks & Marketing
The
"thing" about energy drinks is that they are marketed as
being all-natural energy boosters loaded with exotic ingredients that
popular culture believes to be healthy. Energy
drinks are generally marketed towards younger crowds, especially those
who go to raves.
People are buying energy drinks in record numbers, even at an
incredible $2-3 for a can smaller than an average soft drink can. Just
FYI, the energy drink industry is worth over a billion dollars in
sales annually. Note that Red Bull energy drink leads the way. While
Red Bull may have lame TV commercials, energy drinks tend to have cool
logo colors and fonts, modern can or bottle shapes, and a "high
energy" feel surrounding them. It's a marketing company's dream
come true!
The
Dangers of Energy Drinks: Side Effects & Long-term Effects
I'm just scratching the surface with what I have written here so let
me give you some food for thought. When you are considering consuming
energy drinks:
- Make a
mental note that while the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is
allowing companies to sell and market their energy drink products,
there is still very little research that has been done on them. I
suspect the FDA allows them to be added simply because they do not
pose any immediate danger to energy drink consumers.
- The long-term
effects of energy drink ingredients, if any, are still not known
meaning that drinking a lot of these drinks on a consistent basis
may or may not harm you in ways that have yet to be researched.
- Energy
drink labels are frequently misleading or at least they are so
ambiguous that when you buy them you simply believe what you want
to believe. Remember that in most cases, the claims being made
have not been proven.
- It
remains unknown as to whether any medical conditions and related
prescription medication will interact with energy drinks. If you
try an energy drink and react poorly to it, consult a
physician.
Body
Chemistry
Energy drinks all try to stimulate something in your body that leads
to your awakening and feeling as though you have more energy. One big
mistake that most people make is that energy drinks will have the same
effect on them, regardless of the choice of drink, and ignoring an individual's
unique body chemical make-up.
Think about
it this way: We know that alcohol has a unique effect on everyone
who consumes it (some people get drunk faster, have different allergic
reactions to alcohol, etc), so there is no reason to believe that
these drinks will have a different result among various consumers.
Sugar
Many
raves don't sell alcohol but in fact focus on water and energy drink
sales. While gaining energy from sugar in and of itself is not such a bad
thing, be warned that drinking lots of sugar can make you feel full.
Carbonation, which can come from soft drinks as well, also makes you feel full.
Ravers who become ill frequently keep dancing or remain
active, and fail to re-hydrate as they should, in part because they
think they're full. What ends up happening is that their body shuts
down due to the lack of fluids, and they collapse.
Are
Energy Drinks Addictive?
Since consumption
of energy drinks is so prevalent among youth and frequently associated
with raves and the nightclub
scene, many wonder about their addictive properties. In fact, the
only truly addictive part of energy drink ingredients appears to be caffeine. So
if you drink enough cans, you may become addicted to caffeine and
ultimately suffer from the effects of the addiction.
Energy
Drinks, Alcohol & Death
Bars
around the world mix vodka with energy drinks, especially Red Bull.
This is mixing a depressant (alcohol) with a stimulant (the energy
drink). This can have an effect on your heart and claims have been made that this combination has lead to
death. As
such, some countries in Europe have banned Red Bull and other energy
drinks.
Creatine
SoBe is a popular drink. It contains creatine in such minute amounts that it probably doesn't
have any effect. Same with Ginko.
Taurine
The peculiar thing about taurine is that nobody really knows what it
does! There is apparently no evidence that it has any major influence
but it is possible that it does indeed have some effect on the body
which leads to the feeling of having more energy.
Taurine
& Caffeine are Key
One must
also account for the mixed effects of the different energy drink ingredients.
Consider that drinking different types of alcohol during a night of
partying can leave you with an awful hangover. (Of course, you could
try the anti-hangover pill).
In an energy drink such as Guru for example, it is possible that the
taurine enhances the effects of caffeine, giving you a slightly larger
boost than if you had drank only one of the ingredients. This is just
a theory however since it has yet to be scientifically tested.
Vitamins
Some energy drinks offer a variety of vitamins. It's important to note
that your body will take what it needs and pee off the extra vitamins.
So this isn't a major health booster.
Popular
Terms
The most popular energy drinks include Red Bull, Monster, XS (get it -
excess), Boost, Crunk, Rockstar, Crunk Juice, Full Throttle, Spark, Amp ,
Rush, SoBe, Pimp Juice, Shark, Piranha, Red Line, Bookoo, Socko, Fuze,
Hype, Guru, and Atomic X.
Comments?
Feedback?
If you have any insight into energy drinks, their ingredients, and the
validity of studies related to the various ingredients, I'd love to
hear them. The beauty of the Internet is that I can update this
article as information comes in.
It
is illegal to copy this article. Violators will be prosecuted.
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