Justin G. Bautista
Writer
December 01, 2012
Energy Drinks Industry Secrets
The thing is, our body doesn't want all the energy 24/7.
Posted on by

Coffee is no longer the only beverage to keep us awake and alert. Energy drinks tipped its popularity and valuation is in billions of dollars. The market is even expected to reach $52 Billion by 2016.

 

Effective or not, it doesn’t matter for me. I drink it because of the premise of extended performance. Knowing that I should perform longer is enough to push me to do more.

 

But studies show that energy drinks can really sustain energy for up to 90 minutes after consumption. Athletes perform better and drivers counter their sleepiness. Since these benefits are real, these drinks should be good right? We are not given all the facts.

 

We are not supposed to devour on energy drinks everyday.  Franca Alphin, director of health promotion at Duke Student Health, said it well: “caffeine is not a substitute for sleep”. I know no one wants to sleep when we demand more time from us but drinking anything will not do the sleeping for our body. We still need to rest.

 

But energy drinks can be addicting and people will drink it everyday. People will think that an energy drink is a necessity for concentration. Tracy Falba, a faculty who studied addiction, claimed that energy drink addiction is in the same isle of alcohol or smoking addiction because people suffer the withdrawal symptoms after halting the consumption.

 

Bruce, et al’s (2000) study shows that caffeine dosage of 6 mg/kg body weight has the same effect with 9 mg/kg body weight. It doesn’t matter whether you drink more – you get the same benefit of increased performance. Nonetheless, certain energy drinks can contain caffeine of 7 cups of coffee.

 

More is worse. Cans after cans of energy drinks could lead to caffeine toxicity. Signs of too much energy are anxiety, nervousness, nausea and the list goes on.  Seizures, manias and strokes are not unheard of. Death incidents are also linked to the head players in the industry including Monster and Red Bull.

 

Energy drinks are very high in sugar, which is one of the reasons why it’s very hard to combat diabetes. A ploy to escape the sugar content is using artificial sweeteners instead. Certain artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose are hazardous chemicals. Heck, sucralose is even harmful to plants and animals; and the human body won’t even recognize them as food but toxins.

 

It’s delicious, but the myriad of ingredients are too much for the human body.

 

How frequent do you consume energy drinks?

 

  • http://leekirs1.comLowCarbLifestyles Lee

    1-2 per day, about 4 days per week. Yeah, I think it’s too much, and I always get the sugar-free variety.

    • hirundine

      You might check out the dangers, of “sugar-free”? Aspartame and other sugar substitutes are likely more hazardous that those with sugar. You would do much better, just drinking water? Most people are dehydrated. Water will give the body the energy required. Check out the work of “Dr.Batman” – Batmanhheliji http://www.watercure.com/about_drb.html ….. Cheers!

  • http://worldismycuttlefish.wordpress.com The World Is My Cuttlefish

    I never drink them. If I didn’t already distrust them, the smell is enough to put me off. I love the smell of coffee but don’t like the taste. I try to remember to take a daily iron tablet. That has made a difference to my energy level.

  • http://dorothymcdonall.wordpress.com dorothymcdonall

    I never have energy drinks and enjoy one cup of “healthy” coffee a day around 4 p.m. with a cookie and a good book. ;-) … As someone who is currently healing from adrenal fatigue, I am somewhat curious about the effects of heavy duty caffeine and sugar consumption on the adrenals. Symptoms of adrenal fatigue include anxiety, weight gain around the middle, extreme tiredness even when you get enough sleep, feeling overwhelmed most of the time and the need for caffeine products to keep you going. I am working with a hormone therapist and naturopath to heal from this debilitating condition. I encourage anyone who is feeling any of the symptoms I’ve mentioned to check out adrenalfatigue.org for more information. … Thanks for addressing this important issue of energy drinks and their potential harmful effects on our health … Happy Holidays! …

  • http://twojourney2.wordpress.com Morgan

    I would totally agree with this… But I have found an incredible energy drink that is a healthy alternative to all of the other drinks like that out there. It uses only a small amount of caffeine, but has no sugar, no carbs, and 7,500% B12. It does the trick in a natural way. :) Besides that one brand, I wouldn’t buy them either!

  • http://relaxandfloatdownstream.wordpress.com Joyce

    I have never, ever had one. I have my two cups of coffee in the morning and then water for the rest of the day. With the amount of sugar and caffeine in those drinks, I feel like I would be doing something really bad for my body. And these days, too much caffeine makes my heart do funny things.

  • http://memyselfandkids.wordpress.com memyselfandkids

    I have never had one of these. I am not coffee person either. I have soca only occasionally. I do like chocolate though – too much actually.

  • http://michelleproulx.wordpress.com Michelle Proulx

    I can’t drink coffee — makes me horribly sick — so I tried energy drinks instead. Got about three sips in before I experienced the same reaction as I do to coffee. So … it’s just good, old-fashioned sleep for me :)

  • http://captainduff.wordpress.com billduff

    I do not drink them. I am not an advocate of them. I have taught students who have suffered heart problems – damaged for life – from drinking too many. I’ll go even further to say I was disappointed that the sponsor for Fearless Felix’s jump was Red Bull. I scares me to think that children will associate his “leap” with this stimulant. I wonder if that was a good message – or am I just being “old”?

  • http://promethios.wordpress.com Leo

    Luckily when on heart medication you can`t drink them, so I haven`t tried on. I do like my coffee though, usually instant as I can only manage one filter coffee a day.

  • http://SimplyxSimplisticxComplexities SimplySimplisticComplexities

    I do coffee average one to two every other day. Thats usually it. I used to drink redbulls. But it messed up my body from drinking them. Asthma/steroid inhaler-smoking-and redbull well I got a bamming 140+ heart rate. And felt horrible =/

  • http://myloveofthoughts.wordpress.com 1girl4adamwest

    Never for me, I see folks chug them down though.

  • http://uwana.wordpress.com Bupe Rose

    There have been several reports of kids dying from heart attacks possibly linked to consumption of energy drinks.

  • http://hirundine608.wordpress.com hirundine608

    Yikes! Never, ever, tried one. Have no desire too.

    While I drink only one or two coffees a day; usually one. As an adult I did not drink coffee for close to ten years.

    Not sure why I would want to drink them, either? “Energy drinks” that is. I just do not drink soda pop in any form. If a person takes a constitutional walk each day, you will create your own energy. Otherwise, a nice cuppa’ tea goes down a treat and has all the caffeine you would want.

    Fifteen years ago, “energy drinks” were just about unheard of. People got by without them.

  • http://idealisticrebel.wordpress.com IdealisticRebel

    Interesting. I drink Coke, water, iced tea, root beer.Good blog. Thanks

  • http://rottenkitten15.wordpress.com anister567

    Generally I just stick with coffee, still, this is pretty scary. I generally play around with the Death by Caffeine calculator on energyfiend.com

  • http://nativemichigander.com John

    I drink coffee as well as Diet Coke. Standard fare for the buzz factor I suppose. But never touch those energy drinks because of medical conditions. Taboo!! I hope they (energy drinks) are outlawed. A strong opinion but the stuff is killing people just like cigarettes and booze. Life matters not. Money trumps all. Sick.

  • http://livingsimplyfree.wordpress.com livingsimplyfree

    I have never tried one of these, but know people who do. At this point in my life, if I’m tired I am able to take a nap.

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