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Are energy drinks safe?
hermitwin
Veteran
Are energy drinks safe?
0
Comments
No.
If you were to put as much sugar into your tea as there is in one of those cans, people would think you were crazy.
They're awful to your health! My son is seven-years old but as he mingles with older boys, he thinks that energy drinks are the coolest thing.
So I have created for him what we call "Green Bull." I add a teaspoon of green matcha tea to a glass of organic orange juice, and voilà, a healthy, antioxidant-chockful drink for him. My husband usually hates green matcha tea, but he drinks it without comment this way.
Not only full of sugar, but very high in caffeine.
The " wings" it gives you are a sugar-rush, and a kick in the sympathetic nervous system.
Your brain thinks that you are having some kind of emergency and the fight and flight mechanism kicks in...
No. They have, supposedly, resulted in the death of several young people due to consuming too many in a short period of time
There's really no reason for them, and most of them taste like garbage anyhow. Get energy from getting enough sleep, eating good food, getting fresh air and exercise.
A while back, I used to drink them, the juice flavored Rockstar ones. I went in for a normal doctor checkup and on my way there, I drank a rockstar. My BP was high enough when I got there, I had to go back 48 hours (and again a few times over a several month period, to make sure it was an isolated incident) later to make sure it returned to normal. Normally, my BP is about 108/65. When I went in that day, it was 145.The rockstar caused the high BP, and they (the healthcare people, doctor and nurses) said that see it often. That was the end of that for me.
I drink then occasionally but then again I'm addicted to caffeine. Most have less caffeine than a cup of coffee per 8 oz(80mg). Bear in mind that the can is usually twice that so its like drinking 2 8 oz cups of coffee per can. Lot of sugar though too. Bob
If you drink the 8 ounce small can, they don't have that much caffeine, but the large cans can have up to 200, and the 5 hour energy bottles have 200 (for each tiny bottle). The content varies A LOT by brand and when people don't pay attention, that is where they run into trouble. When someone can drink 2 small cans of redbull and only get 160 mg of caffeine, but get 400 mg from drinking 2 of the tiny 5 hour energies, it causes confusion amongst young people who don't pay attention (and often, the caffeine content is not labeled).
Coffee also varies widely, 80 is the average, but an 8 ounce cup of coffee can have anywhere from 60 to 200 mg of caffeine, depending exactly how they are brewed. The average plain starbucks coffee has 165mg of caffeine per 8 ounces.
2 of the most popular brands kids here (as young as 10 years old even) drink are Monster and Full Throttle. The Monster has 52g of sugar and 184mg of caffeine, while the recommendation for caffeine limit on children is 45mg. The Full Throttle? 104g of sugar and 410mg of caffeine. That's for the 16 ounce can, which is all that they sell here. Monster also comes in giant cans that I believe are 24 ounces.
There is no regulation in the US, and no requirement for them to put the caffeine content on the bottle. Even if they do, most kids don't have any understanding of what that # is, the just want the most caffeine. They all look the same, they are bright and colorful and attracting to kids, they are always the sponsors of athletes that kids look up to (snowboarders and so on) and there is no limit on kids of any age buying them.
My 17 year old can't buy a lighter for his camp stove, but he can buy energy drinks.
It's commercial obscenity at its finest....
Several young people have died from energy drink consumption because the caffeine amount in these drinks is calculated for the body of an adult, not for a child or a young person.
I heard recently of a Dutch teenager who lay in coma for several days between life and death, after drinking four litres of Red Bull.
When he miraculously pulled back, he said he had needed a kick to be able to play computer games longer without falling asleep.
@MeisterBob, you're better off with the regular coffee. Coffee, at least, has many antioxidants. I prefer green tea, though.
Matcha green tea has far more coffeine than the average coffee, but it's such an extraordinary source of antioxidants, polyphenols, calcium, iron and vitamins, that the benefits far outweigh the high coffeine content.
ORAC is the unit that measures food's cancer prevention ability (can't quite say it in English, sorry). Broccoli has 31 orac, Dark Chocolate 227 orac, goji berries 253 orac and Matcha green tea 1573 orac.
It has been used in Zen ceremonies for almost a thousand years. Monks claimed it helped improve their alertness during meditation. The energy boost can last from 3 to 6 hours.
It's especially bad for people with bipolar, anxiety and other illnesses.
is being alive safe?
Yes; in fact in my opinion, some people play it too safe....
For one thing, it doesn't kill.
That's a moot point, actually....
The caffeine is good to a degree but bad in excessive usage like anything else. I am surprised they focused so much on the caffiene when it is the Vitamin B that causes issues in the nervous system. I would drink coffee all day and get way more caffeine than an energy drink without issue but when I had an energy drink I suffered from odd heart palpitation and anxiety. This was all a derived from overloading the body with Vitamin B and not having a well hydrated system that could remove the excess.
My comment was mostly in regards to overall and especially kids/young people. Instead of simply saying no, I should have said as long as you know (and understand) what you are drinking in whatever amount you are drinking it, then as usual, moderation applies.
But for people who don't have the information or the understanding, they are just best avoided all together.
I drink 4 pints of hot water a day with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar added.
Excellent for your system and thirst-quenching too....
I drink ACV, too. With warm-to-hot water, and a little bit of honey added. It took some getting used to, but I love it!
IMHO, anyone who thinks there is no concern about high levels of caffeine are deluding themselves...something I thought we Buddhists were into not doing.
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-979-CAFFEINE.aspx?activeIngredientId=979&activeIngredientName=CAFFEINE
and this doesn't mention kidney stones as another issue.
Kidney stones. Only marginally more painful than a breech birth to a 12lb baby...
I never heard of it causing kidney stones.
It has benefits...even helping prevent certain cancers or Parkinson's.
A cup a day is great for you but you are right too much is bad. I no longer drink more than two or three cups as that is recommended.
It depends on the type of coffee, its strength and the size of the cup of course...
There is a coffee served in Italian bistros and cafés called an 'Americano'.
When the GI's liberated Italy at the end of WWII, they naturally enjoyed Italian and hospitality but couldn't take the coffee. It was too strong so the Italians watered it down (sacrilege!). Now, if someone requests an Americano coffee here, they're given a regular espresso with a small jug of boiling water to dilute their coffee to taste.
I have seen Americans wince and even recoil at the type and strength of the coffee Italians drink.
A ristretto for example, would have them running for the hills....!
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=kn9uU9SiB-en0AXOrIEw&url=http://espressocoffees.co.uk/coffee/ristretto/&cd=2&ved=0CDgQFjAB&usg=AFQjCNEwqtN34DaU_nw8tFJ8gj3ITssQLg&sig2=R_FJRvKRus_pgTvmh9Klhw
Alright . . . they are no more safe or unsafe than strong coffee. They are no more safe or unsafe than the stupidity of the person taking them.
I used to drink coffee (told myself it was a vitamin infusion necessary to being a nurse) but over the years that addiction has waned to nearly nothing. But if I do need to wake up and get with the program at work, I use those little four oz Power Blaster 5 Hours of Intense Energy drinks. I don't drink the whole thing. They have vitamins and minerals in them too! Better than a plain old cuppa coffee.
I never feel those come-down jitters or shakes from those, the transition is negligible, even if I were to drink the whole thing, which I have done a handful of times. Those jitters and yucky feelings post caffeine are my body complaining about something. My body doesn't complain after the little energy blasters. I figure that means my body tolerates it better.
I don't know that I'd say energy drinks are equally as healthy as coffee, especially if you don't add cream and sugar to your coffee. Energy drinks have a ton of other things added to them, not just caffeine and sugar, including dyes and other things that just aren't good for a person.
As for high levels of caffeine, I think it probably varies by individual, too. Caffeine isn't that unlike any other drug, you build a tolerance to it and suffer withdrawl upon not having it. So 100mg of caffeine will have much different impact on my 120 pound 5 foot tall mother who never drinks caffeine, than it has on me, since I drink tea throughout the day, and I drink 2 cups of coffee in the morning. Plus I'm 5'10" and 180 pounds. So, what is a high level of caffeine for me, and does it have the same effect, and/or the same risks, as it does my mom? Plus, I (personally) believe it does matter what form the caffeine is in, too. Not that drinking a lot of it doesn't still have risks, like the kidney stones that were mentioned.
That said, yes, some people might delude themselves about caffeine. A lot of people are quite attached to it and don't want to consider reasons for giving it up, lol. But at the same time, I know Buddhists who consider caffeine to have enough effect on them that they keep it under the "avoiding intoxicating beverages" precept.
coffee has over 200 psychoactive substances in it in addition to caffeine. This is why people can drink 8-10 cups of tea without as much problem as 8 cups coffee. Tea actually has more caffeine in it.
Our discussion about caffeine prompted an epiphany today. Most of my adult life I was plagued by irritable bowel syndrome, and then it pretty much ceased when I moved to Colorado. Now that I think about it, the only change that I can think of that occurred at exactly the same time was the virtual elimination of caffeine from my diet. I went from 2 or more Cokes per day to no Cokes in 4 years.
Energy drink/caffeine junkie raises his right hand.
I think sensitivity to caffeine-in whatever form- makes taking these unwise.
I have not had an issue with them. People should be free to choose their own poisons
:coffee: :coffee: :coffee:
My dad emailed a mental health naturopath (orthomolecular biology), so I could seek an alternative or add on to my medications. He told my dad that energy drinks are to be avoided.
I have been drinking about 5 a month of them. There's a couple that taste really good and the others are pretty much crap.