What's the deal with energy drinks? Are they effective? Are they safe? New studies say the ingredients in energy drinks don't offer much, if anything, besides caffeine and sugar. All those other claims about "proprietary ingredients" and special blends just don't pan out in the lab.
According to The New York Times, energy drink manufacturers market their drinks "not as caffeine-fueled concoctions but as specially engineered blends that provide something more"—the "more" being additives like huge doses of vitamins, glucuronolacton, or taurine, the latter of which Red Bull claims acts as a "detoxifying agent."
But scientific studies have shown no additional benefit to consuming these additives in the form of an energy drink. If there is any benefit to them at all (and there is some research that says taurine, for example, might prevent heart attacks in women with high cholesterol) scientists say we're likely to get more than adequate amounts of them from foods like meat. And the huge doses of vitamins? "They are not going to increase energy levels," said Paul R. Thomas, a scientific adviser with the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements.
In fact, the authors of a recent report in the scientific journal Nutrition Reviews said that, other than caffeine and sugar, there was an "overwhelming lack of evidence to substantiate claims" that energy drinks provide any benefits.
Read More: Energy Drinks Promise Edge, But Experts Say Proof is Scant | The New York Times
Related: Natural Energy Foods: How To Ditch Packaged Bars and Drinks
(Image: Think Progress)
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I wish people would stop ragging on energy drinks. If you don't like them don't drink them. They do provide energy, and for some of us coffee tastes disgusting so there really isn't a better option.
I agree, Urgan. While I like coffee, it's so acidic, my stomach doesn't. Soda is too weak in the caffeine department to wake me up in the morning. Therefore, I love energy drinks. Would they work just as well with just the caffeine? As long as it's a lot of it, sure.
Thanks for the link to that study! It's most likely the caffine in the drinks. If you're short on B vitamins, or others, it would take your body months to build the nutrients back up. So you could use those energy drinks but you'd better make yourself sick on the sugar and caffine before you absorbed enough nutrients to make a difference.
And there is no such thing as detoxifying agents. The only thing that detoxifies your body is your liver. Unless Red Bull is growing a new liver for you, it ain't gonna work.
@Jami coffee is water soluable and after brewing it has a pH of 6.8 or so - close to neutral. It does contain diuretics so you might be better off with juice and water, or if you're like me (I have low blood pressure) some miso soup if you're not at risk from sodium.
those scientists obviously didnt drink enough energy drinks. even if it's just a placebo effect, they do wake me up. coffee just ends up breaking my stomach, and soda isnt enough caffeine sometimes.
...I just drink them because they taste good, and I'm not a fan of coffee.
You mean it is all...marketing??? From soda companies, no less??? Of course they give you energy, they are made of caffeine and sugar.
I am more than confident that the vast, vast majority of energy drink drinkers are drinking it for the caffeine and not the other stuff. And caffeine tends to do the trick.