Energy drink ingredients are the subject of much interest and concern these days.
Let's clear up some of the incomprehension and distrust that has been thrown around by those who love and those who hate energy drinks.
But first...
What are energy drinks, anyway? Well, the truth is, they are many things, depending on who formulated them.
Ideally, they are science's attempts to improve upon stimulant beverages such as coffee and tea.
Food scientists have planned out lists of isolated ingredients which will produce the alertness that coffee, for instance, induces, while including other herbs, vitamins, and amino acids that will buffer and reduce the unpleasant effects that caffeine produces.
Any increase in our body's metabolic activities will produce more free radicals, destructive molecules that cause damage to our tissues.
Exercise does this and so does coffee.
It is a natural process that is happening constantly.
In fact, just living and breathing creates free radicals -- and that's why we need antioxidants to counteract them Coffee and tea contain some antioxidants to counter these free radicals, but for some of us, they don't contain enough to moderate the unpleasant side-effect that coffee and tea produce.
Energy drinks are formulated with more antioxidants, more protective amino acids, and more herbal modulators to detoxify and remove harmful free radicals -- all to create a smoother, longer-lasting sense of energy and alertness.
Admittedly, there are well-formulated energy tonics that are put together under the watchful eye of those who are schooled in human health and nutrition -- and then there are the majority these beverages which are just an uninspired attempt to make a buck with heavy marketing of highly caffeinated sugar-water packaged in an eye-catching can.
As wise observers have said since Roman times, "Caveat emptor" -- Let the buyer beware! So, energy drink ingredients should be divided into those that are familiar and those that are not well-understood.
Ironically, the ones that pose the greatest dangers are the ones that are already consumed daily by most of the population of the world in some form or another: sugar, caffeine, and artificial sweeteners, colors, and flavors.
One of the major concerns about energy drink ingredients is that they are marketed to children and teens, who have the dangerous habit of overindulging in just about anything that is new, stimulating, and edgy.
There are real health dangers to the regular overuse of sugar, especially high fructose corn syrup used in many of the drinks, due to its increasing the risk for diabetes and obesity.
One popular energy drink, appropriately called "Monster", contains 54 grams of sugar in one sixteen ounce can!That is almost two ounce of sugar, which will most likely be consumed by one person in one sitting! Sugar is a very short-term energy booster.
Moreover, sugar acts as an addictive drug which contributes to diabetes, type 2, and obesity -- and yet, we feed it to babies and children as a treat! (If parents were to be fair about their attempts to ban dangerous beverages, they would include ALL soft and sports drinks in their campaign.
) Alternatively, if one chooses a diet version of the same drink, they will receive erythritol, sucralose, and acesulfame potassium as sweeteners, with unknown effects to their internal organs.
Often, we are offered aspartame as a substitute for sugar, which is a neurotoxin.
The big danger to be feared in energy drinks lies in the familiar ingredients which make up the majority of the content, apart from carbonated water The fatalities related to energy drink use have been caused, not by the taurine or l-carnitine in these beverages, but by the combination of large doses of sugar which encourages more consumption of the caffeine.
When the inevitable crash from the large doses of sugar comes, the answer that comes to the teenage mind is to slug down another energy drink.
The sugar's effect has worn off, so their body cries out for more, but the caffeine is still active and two or more cans' worth of caffeine may push a person into cardiac distress.
A more intelligent formulation that creates a better and safer end result is one that 1) minimizes sugar, 2) uses slow-release guarana seed, green tea, or yerba mate' for its stimulant rather than cheaper caffeine anhydrous, and 3) uses all-natural ingredients (such as the herb stevia) for sweeteners and flavorings.
This removes the sugar-caused insulin roller-coaster effect, as well as the heart-racing sensation caused by too much caffeine.
The energy drink ingredients that seem to frighten the public the most are Taurine, L-carnitine, L-arginine, and the B vitamins.
Ironically, these are all health-promoting ingredients that either facilitate the production of energy by our body or clean up the toxic by-products of that stimulated metabolism.
(Read up on the protective benefits of these in neurosurgeon Dr.
Russell Blaylock's book, Health and Nutrition Secrets, where he tells how these natural nutrients help protect our brain from the dangers inherent in our diet and living, itself.
) The same rules should apply to energy drink ingredients as apply to anything we take into our body -- We need to know what we are doing to ourselves and weigh the costs and potential benefits While it is comforting for frightened people to demonize energy drinks and prohibit their children from partaking, there are many of the same ingredients packaged into our favorite foods that present equal or greater dangers to our health.
Isn't it better to teach our young how to think for themselves, giving them guidelines to recognize what ingredients are healthful and which might harm them? There are actually some positive benefits in the intelligently formulated new generation of energy drinks, which serve to counter some of the unpleasant effects of aging.
Let's not throw out the baby with the bath water when we discuss energy drinks.
If it's too much trouble to learn anything about the most important subject of human nutrition, then the public might be wise to stick with coffee or tea as their daily pick-me-up.
More adventurous souls would be wise to learn a bit about energy drink ingredients before they miss out on some truly exciting -- and even healthy -- new beverages.