Energy Drinks: Ingredients & Dangers
By BrianX | November 23rd, 2004Since 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.
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.
Update
This BrianX Magazine exclusive article was published in 2004 and since then, a lot of email has come in, mostly from parents who were desperate to get information on energy drinks. In most cases, their children were in the hospital or at least at home with severe issues related to energy drinks. Based on these emails, it would appear that the actual number of people suffering from the adverse effects of these drinks is larger than might be gathered from hospital reports.
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 knowledge can grow right here as new info comes in.
Too many posts on this page sound like typical drug addicts “yeah I use such’n’such drug but I’m NOT a drug addict, it doesn’t affect me”. Addicts will always defend their drug of choice. Ok, so you drink umpteen cans of ED, you get to sail through your busy life much easier, you’re still sleeping at night, you aren’t suffering aches and pains and you haven’t had a heart attack or renal failure or anything else. But what about your general behaviour?
And before all you ED drinkers jump up and down screaming “I don’t act any differently”…that’s exactly what EVERY ED drinker that does suffer behavioural changes screams out too, especially the teenagers
It’s fine in moderation if you don’t have any side effects. And yes, as stated earlier, teenagers are teenagers and many typically have mood swings anyways. But what of those whose mood swings are worsened by consumption of EDs. More severe mood swings, stupid errors in judgement, hyperactivity, depression from the downer after the energy boost wears off
You can advise and inform an adult and the choices they make after that is their choice, choices to be respected. If you don’t like their choice or the effect anything has on them, you can stay away from them. Parents don’t get that choice with their own kids who are being adversely effected by these so called glorious energy drinks though. You can’t tell a teenager, they know everything
But it seems the adverse effects outnumber the positive effects of these legal drugs and since there is no way of governing who they are sold to (as in age limits, etc), more countries should follow those who have already banned them. Majority should prove enough
January 8, 2010 at 7:31 pm
What happened to taking a nap to help when you are tired and working hard to build muscle mass. Why do we always have to put something in our body to try and get ahead quick? A very bad habit for young people to get into!
January 9, 2010 at 6:45 pm
Im a victim to energy drinks. I was dumb enough to drink the 32oz monster drink called heavy metal one day.. That same night I started get very bad cold chills shaking cold sweats hear pounding numbness to my face and sharp shooting pain through my left arm including sharp stabing pain to the chest. Two yrs later I still get the symptoms but now I got twitching in my neck and at time I wont eat for a few days.. I wake up misserable and go to sleep the same. I was told my heart was fine from a cardiologist. So Im guessing my nerves are really screwed up. Im 22 and have to stay away from all caffeine, Roller Coasters, Basket ball, Base Ball, Anything athletic even working out. All of that must be avoided so I wont trigger an even worst attack. I feel like I got no where to go because no one knows what to do and whats wrong.. It suck’s, I also get very bad head aches and when attempting to do sports my chest starts to hurt throat closes up on me and I get close to collapse.
Any help with this would be appreciated ALOT
January 15, 2010 at 4:43 am
I used to drink Monster Energy Drink about 2 times a week, until a few days ago I when started to notice an itch on my right elbow, I figured it was just a normal itch, and I scratched it, and it was gone for a while.
But then two days later it came back.
I called 911 and told them I had been drinking Monster Energy Drink a few times a week, they sent an ambulance right away and I was treated for Placeboitis, the surgeon said I was lucky to be alive, and that all they had to do is remove the critical thinking part of my brain, luckily they said it was of no use to me and apparently I had never used it before.
I wish I had read this article before I went though all of that, it would’ve saved me a lot of time and money.
January 19, 2010 at 6:22 pm
I used to drink monster energy as well as a few other energy drinks as I was working out 1 1/2 – 2 hrs a day. Got to the point that all I did was crash soooooo much bad stuff in those typical energy drinks.
January 22, 2010 at 11:43 am
Its all about moderation. I drink the low carb blue monsters because they have less surgar and I also drink five hour energy. I’ve experienced nights I can’t sleep if I intake too much but that’s because of the caffinee. I go to school and have long nights and I don’t like coffee which is why I drink them. I’ve had no bad side effects but also don’t drink them every single day, just as needed. Of you feel like you her headaches its because your hooked on caffinee, ever tried to quit smoking? The best energy booster is to stay in shape, eat fruits and other foods good for you. Yall that drink 2-3 a day is too much, think about that with other drinks, that’s like a cube of beer every week. Too much of anything will make you sick hence a hangover, if you must indulge in these drinks drink water also, like when you drink a Gatorade you drink a glass of water to equal the amount of ounes consumed in Gatorade. So if you drink a 16 oz energy drink, drink 16 oz of water at least to keep your kidneys and liver from overworking. Hope tall start intake in moderation,
Dean,
Us army medic.
January 28, 2010 at 4:48 pm
I drank red bull alot and now i have heart problems ..i cant get too excited or stressed or ill have a panic attack or mild heart attack and fall to the ground in sheer agony. I’m consulting doctors now, i told them i drank alot before [red bull / energy drinks] and they said stop. I did..bu till this day they have no clue how to classify what is wrong with my heart yet. Two docs said algina though. So yeah it tastes good but long run it is damaging. ty for reading hope this helps you.
January 28, 2010 at 9:07 pm
I drink energy drinks quiet a bit since i have trouble with my sleep which can only really be solved by taking another sleeping drug which seems to have worseside effects than the drinks. I don’t take it very often i usually judge wether i need it at a certain part of my day (usually around 1-2 whilst I’m at school) to keep concentrating (my attention seems to be dwindling more more).
I only really have it once a week so what I know about it may be wrong. I don’t seem to feel any adverse effects whilst I’m feeling the sugar rush except being a bit more sociable and i notice i find it easier to grab peoples attention too whilst i have it (I’m a quiet person but not so much so when i have a sugar rush).
Physically I can run about 150-200 meters and it doesn’t feel all too heavy, but saying that I do have quite a lot of muscular endurance compared to most of the people in my school and since I’m not so athletic maybe I’d be able to do that without the energy drink and it could just be a placebo.
So in my experience I find it does give the ddersired “energy” and also makes me a bit louder in my body language, so i suppose it does have some pyschological effects too.
btw one thing I’ve notices is after the rush i do feel as if though i need a bit more, I’ve had this even when i first started drinking them but usualy a bit of plain water or juice settles this urge.
February 1, 2010 at 1:39 pm
BTW John I’m curious to what your surgeon seems to be telling you about Placeboitis. You do realize that a placebo is you think theres something wrong with you or you think that something you have taken is giving you an rush or affecting when infact, it isn’t.
I think maybe that surgeon was joking with you and maybe his voice is so bland you might not have picked up. There is no such condition as placeboitits and the critical thinking part of your brain.
February 1, 2010 at 1:43 pm