If you’re replacing your coffee with them (and you’re taking in the same amount of caffiene) then what’s so bad about energy drinks?
You won’t find specific studies about energy drinks. Though you might find studies on components.
For a starter it’s easy to find studies about carbonated drinks: https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/637/63719237005.pdf and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1829363/
Another component of energy drinks are taurine and inositol. You can easily find studies about them like these: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/inositol
So you can find plenty information about the stuff that makes up energy drinks.
I just look at it as being more processed. That doesn’t always mean it’s bad, but I like to keep food as simple as possible. Coffee is pretty minimal with water and coffee grounds. Tea as well.
Energy drinks have sugar, or artificial sweeteners, sodium, and other unnecessary ingredients. Plus coffee and tea have natural plant compounds that have studies showing potential health benefits.
If it’s something you have once and a while probably no big deal but if you’re drinking them daily I’d just stick to coffee or tea to get your boost of energy. That’s just me though.
Sugar free energy drinks are fine. Mind the caffeine content (you don’t need more than 400mg/ day). The other ingredients are usually so under-dosed you can safely ignore them.
The bad reputation they have is mostly due to marketing and rumours. I knew a guy who insisted one sip of monster gave him multiple panic attacks, uncontrollable hand tremors, and racing heartbeat for hours. As he explained this, he was drinking a Starbucks drink with 2-300 mg of caffeine. The placebo effect is a hell of a drug.
Besides the bad effects that they could have, which i don’t think are worse than sweetened coffe, i strongly believe there was a smear campaign from beer and alcohol companies against energy drinks when they first started to gain popularity. Drinks that alter how you feel in a good way and that are popular at parties probably induced fear in beer companies.
At least in my country, 40 years old people and older get terrified when they see you with a monster or redbull on your hand, they think you’re literally gonna die at the spot, and there was a HUGE influx of shady news about deaths caused by energy drinks like a decade ago. This sounds like a conspiracy, but the fear against energy drinks is way too much to have arisen organically. It wouldn’t surprise me though, there have been actual discoveries by the authorities about companies who where actively paying to push back other companies that would affect their businesses, like oil against electric cars, etc. Some of them are very recent.
I find this soooo fascinating. I drink a redbull each day, 8oz no sugar and 80mg of caffeine. 1 strong cup of coffee hits 100mg+ caffeine usually. And people are always shocked and appalled at my 1 redbull. Even after pointing out there’s zero sugar and it’s usually less caffeine than coffee, they just don’t believe me. I tell them to google it and they still don’t believe me even after looking at the ingredients with their own eyes.
I can tell you now it’s 10x more healthier than their starbucks filled with sugar and cream and calories (“overweight and obesity are the fifth leading risk for global deaths”).
I suspect energy drink marketing is just too good and has influenced their mindset on them. “Redbull gives you wings”, so it must just have soooo much caffeine in it.
No one in these comments is giving you a real answer and just their own opinion. For some reason we all want to say it’s worse for you but the science doesn’t support it, it doesn’t exist. Everyone is adding their own pseudoscience in these comments “because additives bad, unnatural is bad”.
The only thing I will admit is negative about them is the acid of any fizzy drink is bad for your teeth. Use a straw.
Saying it has vitamins is very generic. Do you need those vitamins? Have you has a blood test that says you are low in that specific vitamin.
Then you add a diuretic (caffeine), which affects absorption. Energy drinks are just marketing for caffeine, and they are preying on people by saying it’s natural and has vitamins.
Some brands have dangerously high amounts of caffeine. You’re also adding in a bunch of artificial flavors and preservatives that you wouldn’t have had with coffee, and vitamins that would have been just as good in supplement form without all the other stuff
If you use a sugar free brand, with decent amounts of caffeine and no preservatives or sweeteners, or less of it, go for it.
Almost always lands with the individual consuming them. Grab a healthy human with no predisposed heart conditions etc, and consume them with Energy drinks (usually High Caffeine, Sugar, Taurine and a lot of other new additions now) and you’ll see they do have some negative effects. (Rapid heart rate, comedown effect afterwards)
Now let’s grab some of the population who are possibly mis-diagnosed and aren’t aware they have heart issues/other organ issues and let them over-consume the same products then you’ll see what damage gets done.
Pretty sure the last time I see someone died from one of these drinks was a few years ago, young kid in Scotland who had a bad heart, but I haven’t really been searching to see if any other occurrences have happened.
Caffeine is a well studied performance compound, it has extremely good benefits for performance. But we have A LOT of unhealthy humans today that it just isn’t suitable for, plus adding the sugar to it ramping up a big Insulin spike.
Then we’ve got the older generation.. walk up to any 40+ year old in the street and ask them WHY these drinks are bad for people, they won’t have a clue about any of the ingredients it’s just the general stigma.
If you wana learn more, look into Carbohydrate GI index of foods, Sugar response on Insulin etc.
I’ve been drinking half a Celsius as my pre workout first thing in the morning. Saves me time on making coffee. About 200 mg of caffeine in one can, so 100 is about a cup of coffee. Ingredients seem to be better than most other energy drinks. But I also have a high tolerance for caffeine as I love my coffee in the morning
In general, sugar free energy drinks are not terrible for you if you drink the sugar free varieties. They have artificial sweeteners and caffeine additives that aren’t necessarily healthy depending on your overall health, but the negative energy the media surrounds energy drinks with is unwarranted.
Welp. I can say this. Energy drinks tend to have sugars and sweeteners with very little biological value. The b vitamins could be good, but imho propel is the best of these. Propel has vitamin c and zero calories. Coffee is not good for women with fibroids. Coffee is great for older men because it helps their prostate. Green tea is best for women. Cashews helps men. Almonds help women. These are some tricks i have learned over times reading studies. Coffee may deplete magnesium so the almonds help or the chocolate helps to bring back the trace minerals. I can only drink coffee with organic dates to get some potassium. Some people prefer bananas but i like the burnt caramel flavor.
It is dangerous for those sensitive to caffeine/uppers, and it contains neurotoxins that can harm your brain. Not even the organic ones are safe, I drank one from the health food store I got my dog’s food from, and even just laying in bed, literally doing nothing, made my heart race for 6 hrs straight. Just a reminder if you can’t handle/have any type of stimulants.
Sugar free or Zero versions of the drink have a shit tonne of salt in them like 17% of your recommended amount in one can, that ain’t good if you drink multiple a day. Sadly the only wonder drink is water…
To put it simply, it is because of the source of energy that they give you…..the caffeine level is far too high to be considered safe, and of course the sugar…..some have added stimulants as well….if you need a bit of a ‘narcotic’ boost in the morning just have the coffee and get the health benefits with the jolt of caffeine…..