Are energy drinks bad for you?

I see way more energy drinks in shops these days than I ever used to. I was in the shops last week and was willing to pay way over the price for a protein shake after a session in the gym. I couldn’t find one! All I could see were 8 different brands of energy drinks and a shelf full of them.

There has been debates over the sweetener, aspartame and whether its better or worse for you than sugar? This is the chemical that is found in energy drinks and diet option sodas such as coke and Fanta Zero. It came from a lab so it must be worse than sugar? Not necessarily.

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How are they bad for you?

Energy drinks are now everywhere. According to Statista, the most popular soft drinks purchased in UK supermarkets were:

1.????? Coca-Cola

2.????? Pepsi

3.????? Red Bull

4.????? Lucozade

5.????? Monster

With 3 in the top 5 being energy drinks.

One of the big reasons for the contention is the levels high levels of caffeine and high levels of sugar. High levels of caffeine can cause anxiety and high levels of sugar can cause weight gain, while they both can cause heart problems. High levels of caffeine is definitely no secret and major selling point for all energy drinks and largely why people buy them. ?

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Caffeine

Like all things, too much caffeine is bad for you, a regular amount of caffeine can increase energy expenditure and reduced energy intake. This is because it does have some effect on your metabolism and can offer a boost, which over a longer period of time, can be significant.

One of the main ingredients in fat burners is caffeine for this reason.

It can also increase performance, levels of alertness and cognitive functions.

Caffeine can take 15-30 minutes to enter your system so if you’re looking for a boost, there is a delayed effect. Its also important to know that caffeine stays in your system for up to 12 hours.

Caffeine taken in the afternoon is likely to affect the quality of your sleep, even if you have no problem getting to sleep.

The average person shouldn’t take more than 400mg caffeine a day. This is the recommended does suggested by the FDA. Higher levels of caffeine can leave you feeling anxious and jittery, while extremely high doses can stress the heart and can even be fatal.

The levels of caffeine in energy drinks and soft drinks (in the UK) ranges from 40-200mg

Product? ?????????????????????????????????????? ?????Quantity?????????????????????? ????????? Caffeine

Prime??????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????330ml??????????????????????????????? ?????????200mg

Red bull ??????????????????????????????????????????????????250ml????????????????????? ???????????????????80mg

Monster ??????????????????????????????????????????????????500ml??????????????????????????????????????? 160mg

Rock-star ????????????????????????????????????????????????500ml??????????????????????????????? ????????160mg

Diet coke ????????????????????????????????????????????????330ml??????????????????????????????????? ?????46mg

Pepsi ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????330ml?????????????????????????????????? ??????42mg

Lucozade ????????????????????????????????????????????????380mg?????????????????????????? ?????????????46mg

To find out more on caffeine, check out this previous blog.

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Aspartame

Aspartame is 180 times sweeter than sugar and even has the same energy value as sugar, although contains 0 kcal which makes it such a popular alternative to sugar. Especially in Zero kcal soft drinks.

One of the main reasons people don’t like Aspartame is because it’s associated with the word carcinogen. Which have been shown increase the risk of cancer. These are grouped or tiered. Group 1 thought to cause the most amount of risk to humans which tobacco fits nicely in to. Down to group 4 which is most likely not an issue to humans.

Aspartame is in group 2B which means possibly carcinogenic to humans but we don’t know enough. Group 2B is a real mixed bag including gasoline and working with asphalt but also on the list includes bracken ferns and aloe vera extract.

Studies show up to 50mg per kg of aspartame is safe. That would mean 55 can of coke a day would be in the safe range of aspartame every day.

But its chemically produced? That must wreck our guts? A dose response. When you’re looking at “poison” we have to look at the dose. The dose is very low in all drinks meaning the risk is also very low.

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Some positives

Some energy drinks contain nootropics which is basically a cognitive enhancer. Caffeine is a nootropic as well as ginseng which can be found to improve brain function and concentration.

They also contain B Vitamins which play a role in converting food to energy and amino acids are involved in many biological processes and naturally produced.

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So, are they dangerous?

Well, no. But they are not healthy. They don’t contain anything that really improves your health. ?

Many young people in particular will turn to energy drinks which is seems like a good idea if someone is working using it to boost performance, in the gym or using it to increase cognition. However, I think it’s an issue when people are having 2-3 a day while still living a sedentary lifestyle.

In my opinion they should not be relied on to dig you out of a hole every day, and if you do, maybe you should try getting a few more hours of sleep.

Any low – zero calorie option will always be a better option as I think the risks of weight gain and higher levels of body fat, are far worse than having artificial sweeteners such as aspartame. But if you’re having heart palpitations maybe you should ease off all together.

?If you can make changes to have low calorie options or slightly reduce your intake to a couple of cans a week, then great. But even if you’re having 1 a day and it helps you to perform better in the gym, sport or even at work, then to me, it sounds worth it. No single drink makes you unhealthy, no single food makes you healthy. But the more “healthy” behaviors you can string together, the better off you will be.

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