Beyond the Buzz
inside energy drinks
by Valerie Hisam & Katie Stevens
Students everywhere are popping the tops and chugging them.
Whether it is for working out, studying or just a pick-me-up, sports and energy drinks have hit the big time with college students. It’s become so easy to spend an average of $2 on something that guarantees a performance boost. But are these drinks, like Red Bull or Vitamin Water, truly improving your performance? According to the statistics and professionals, students are relying on health-hindering stimulates that are adding unnecessary stuff to your body.
Dead end “energy” boosts
With the intent to find something good about energy drinks, the pickings are slim to none. When it comes down to it, the energy drinks, like Red Bull, and sports drinks, like Gatorade, that students rely on actually hinder their performance more than help it. With claims that they “enhance performance, burn fat, boost endurance, improve brain function and provide vitamins,” Melissa Wdowik, the director of the Nutrition Center on campus, has seen first hand how a multitude of students rely on these “empty” stimulants to get through every-day activities.
“There is almost a cult-like following,” Wdowik said. “(Energy drinks) are not ‘real food’ at all. The problem is there is no regulation (on the ingredients) … and a lot of false advertising.”
Energy drinks can have numerous ingredients listed, but their main effect is to provide a huge sugar boost and one should be “leery of the claims made on the labels” because there is no regulation by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), said athleticadvisor.com. Aside from sugar, other main ingredients are just many different herbs, and caffeine or caffeine supplements; these can only create a temporary and sometimes false boost in energy.
Working out and working through the choices
It may seem that a performance enhancing drink is the best choice when you are producing more energy—such as working out—but in reality, the best thing is still water. Along with energy drinks, more and more of what are now termed “sports drinks” are on the market, and there are so many different varieties that it is hard to see through all of the advertisements to which one is the best, Wdowik said.
Recently, there has been a look at the amount of sugar and calories in the drinks advertised to the general public. In an article produced by ABC’s talk show “Good Morning America,” medical contributor Dr. David Katz said the ingredients “provide unnecessary calories, sugar and salt to the average person.” Ultimately, the average person is not getting help to “re-hydrate, replenish and refuel,” as the bottles of Gatorade and Powerade say. Instead, performance is hindered by adding calories, dehydrating the body and causing only a temporary energy boost. Katz advises to stay away from drinks with high sugar content and needless ingredients that will just sit in the body. So, versus helping with weight loss, the useless ingredients are either adding to it with calories or not creating the right type of stimulation the body needs to lose weight.
According to Wdowik and Katz, there a few easy guidelines to follow when choosing what type of drink to have:
- Athletes working out more than one hour should drink a sports drink, such as Gatorade, to replenish electrolytes, sugars and salt.
- If it is a mild or daily workout routine, then look at flavored or plain-old water.
- If you’re just looking to stay hydrated, again think of water, but a person can also try mineral water or fruit juices.
Danger zone: Killer energy cocktails
It’s no secret that college students drink alcohol on a daily basis. However, the dangers involved with mixing alcohol and energy drinks is a popular practice on campuses and new research is showing serious risks. Dr. Mary Claire O’Brien from the Department of Emergency Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Salem, N.C., released a study last year that examines the relation between college students, drinking and energy drinks. In the fall of 2006, a little over 4,000 college students were randomly selected from 10 universities in North Carolina for a 300-question Web survey about their drinking behaviors surrounding mixing alcohol and energy drinks. The survey found that of the 16 percent of students who reported energy drink usage, almost one-fourth reported lacing energy drinks with alcohol.
The survey results found that “students who mixed alcohol and energy drinks were more likely to experience alcohol-related consequences.” One major consequence is that the energy drinks take away the drinker’s sense of how much they have consumed and the effects of the alcohol may not be felt, so it is easy to drink into danger. Pam McCracken, the director of the university’s Outreach and Prevention Program for the Department of Drug and Alcohol Education and Prevention, said that it is the mixing of a depressant (alcohol) with an energy drink that causes such dangerous consequences.
“So you’re drunk, but you just don’t know that you’re drunk,” O’Brian said. “The symptoms of drunkenness are reduced — but not the drunkenness. They can't tell if they're drunk; they can't tell if someone else is drunk. So they get hurt, or they hurt someone else."
So what’s behind the kick that energy and sports drinks supposedly have? Many professionals think that it is mainly advertising, that both Wdowik and McCracken are working to see through. But one shocking factor is the amount of caffeine that is not regulated. According to the FDA, a person should only consume 65 milligrams or less of caffeine a day; whereas the energy drinks can contain up to 300 milligrams, almost five times the recommended amount. So whether it is working out or partying, sooner or later that five-times-the-amount caffeine boost is going to cause you to crash, and it could be as minor as extreme exhaustion or worse.