The Truth Behind Energy Drinks

By Timothy Hayes on April 18, 2015

We all know the struggle of burning midnight oil. Some of us, myself included are intimately familiar with burning the midnight oil and even the one, two, or even three o’clock oil.

This semester alone, I have pulled three all-nighters. While I recognize the inherent unhealthiness and indeed danger of putting myself through these ordeals, sometimes there is no choice.

In the U.S. today, teens and young adults are reported to be chronically under slept. According to the National Sleep Foundation, a terrifying 15 percent of teens received approximately 8 ½ hours of sleep on school nights.

This problem has been noted in a 2014 study by Shelley D Hershner, MD, and Ronald D Chervin, MD, of the University of Michigan, where they found approximately 70 percent of college students to not get sufficient rest.

Their research points to physiological changes in young adults and teens as well as difficult schedules as primary causes of chronic loss of sleep in students.

Students are notorious night owls and Hersner and Chervin point out that this is due to an adjusted homeostatic sleep drive and circadian rhythm. The homeostatic sleep drive is a system that controls the release of melanin, the sleep neurotransmitter, as a means for the body to regulate growth, regeneration and memory encoding.

The longer the body is awake and alert, the more and more melanin is released into the body, triggering drowsiness, bought of consciousness loss, and decreases focus and memory. This works alongside the circadian rhythm, otherwise known as the internal clock. The circadian rhythm was off by several hours in teens and young adults in the study.

With this natural interruption in sleep, college students often report falling asleep in class, inability to focus, and irritability. Now add on homework and a job. That is the “college experience.” Sure is the best four years of our lives, right?

How do students deal with this problem? A large portion rely on caffeine in one form or another. Coffee is to me what water is to a fish. I need it to live. While, the previous statement is technically untrue, if many of us went cold-turkey off caffeine, we’d probably kill someone else, roommates being first in line.

How about energy drinks?

(images courtesy of www.amazon.com, www.rockstarenergyshop.com, and www.newhealthguide.org)

Ah yes, energy drinks. What a delightful vice I often find myself indulging in when I’m working late or have an early morning. While coffee personally is my first choice, for some, the sugary alternative is much more appealing than bitter coffee.

Also, I know of only one all night coffee shop and know the location of no less than three sources of energy vending. Needless to say, the convenience works against us.

While caffeine is no doubt a valuable source of energy, it is a problem drug. Caffeine suppresses melanin release in the body, which is the main reason anyone consumes it. Melanin is the chemical your body manufactures to make you sleepy.

In nature, caffeine, like nicotine, is a natural pesticide. While safe for human consumption according the FDA, it is not recommended that you take in more than 400 mg of caffeine in a day.

A single 16 oz can of Monster brand energy drink has 160 mg of caffeine. According to the United States Drug Administration, a similar amount of coffee would contain 190 mg of caffeine.

So the amount of caffeine is actually less than coffee. Again, in Red Bull brand energy drinks there are approximately 150 mg of caffeine per 16 oz serving–even less.

So if energy drinks aren’t driven by caffeine, what’s making them work? Well you might have noticed a name proudly proclaimed by companies on their cans: Taurine. Taurine is an amino acid commonly found in meat, dairy, and breast milk. Its use in the food industry is technically permitted, but the FDA has not established all of its effects on humans.

Some studies have noted benefits like improved athletic performance and, when paired with caffeine, increased mental performance. However, this is all hypothetical and extensive testing, for one reason or another, has not been done on this drug and is listed under the FDA as “possibly beneficial” but studies have also suggested that pregnant women and people with bipolar disorder should not consume it. For others, safe consumption is about 3000 mg daily.

Another often advertised feature of energy drinks is that they contain B vitamins. B vitamins are a group of vitamins essential in metabolizing. These increase the metabolic rate of the body and convert fat stores and food into energy.

It is estimated that 50 percent of adults have a vitamin B deficiency. By incorporating these vitamins in high doses, energy drinks provide benefits like focus from B-12 vitamin, metabolizing carbs and protein in B-6, energy production in B-2, and fat, carb, and alcohol metabolizing in B-3. These vitamins can actually produce great results for actual energy.

Lastly, let’s look at the last component of energy drinks: sugar. Energy drinks contain a lot of sugar. Monster and Nos energy drinks both have 27 g per 8 fl oz serving. Rockstar brand has even more: a staggering 31 g in the same serving. That’s not great, but doesn’t seem too bad, right?

Well consider that most cans that these are offered in are 16 oz. These cans contain twice that amount of sugar and are intended for one person to consume. That’s a staggering amount of sugar in one drink.

For comparison, an 8 oz can of Coca Cola has 30 g per 8 oz serving. That’s essentially drinking pop fortified with caffeine. So before you dive into your next energy drink, consider what you’re putting into you.

School’s tough. You’re probably going to have to do some all-nighters at some point in college. When you do, try to remember these facts about energy drinks. While some ingredients do have good benefits, they have sources other than energy drinks.

If you need B-vitamins, they are available at a pharmacy and caffeine is best found in tea and coffee that have proven benefits. For more on coffee’s benefits, check out the video below.

For an interesting article on the coffee versus tea debate, check out Uloop National Team member Francine Fluetsch’s article on coffee and tea.

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