Jessica George
Energy drinks like Red Bull, Rockstar, and Monster swiftly have become the drink of choice for many people, especially teens.
Bolstered by company claims like “it will combat mental and physical fatigue,” “it will add to your athletic performance,” “it vitalizes the body and mind,” “it will unleash the beast within,” “it will give you wings,” and so forth, many turn to these “energizing” drinks quite often just to get through the day.
But what it really comes down to is that an average energy drink contains roughly the same amount of caffeine as a similar-sized cup of coffee and contains the same amount of sugar as your average fountain drink.
So, basically, what some people do is they opt for an energy drink instead of the regular coffee in the morning to give them that boost to get out of bed, or they reach for one in the afternoon instead of a can of Coke when they are starting to droop.
Truthfully, drinking an energy drink doesn’t make you super-human, nor does it give you any metaphorical wings. All it will do is make you slightly more alert than you were before you drank it.
However, it’s the stories that go around town that kids are drinking whole cases at one time so they can stay up all night and play video games, or that “so-and-so” was mixing vodka with their Red Bull all night last night, that really causes concern.
Dr. Lorena Jenks said consuming a single energy drink isn’t going to create any real problems. But the over-indulgence in these revved-up drinks, or the frequent mixture of these drinks with alcohol, may, in fact, cause some harm.
China, Australia, some states in the U.S., and some provinces here in Canada have seen doctors bidding to have the sale of energy drinks to minors banned outright. There are arguments that caffeine levels seen in these energy drinks are too high for children to process.
Along that same vein, these arguments centre around the fact that some minors don’t know how to control themselves and don’t know when to quit.
Dr. Jenks said caffeine can have positive effects, like waking you up, for example. However, she noted negative side-effects include suffering from heart palpitations, nervousness, tremors, heart racing, not being able to sleep, and the jitters.
Furthermore, the odds of suffering from these negative reactions often are increased when more caffeine is consumed. As well, these effects are heightened in youths.
“A lot of it has to do with tolerance, like any other medication, but also size,” said Dr. Jenks. “Youth tend to have less body fat so they don’t tend to distribute drugs as well as adults do.”
But these drinks don’t only present adverse effects to youths. A growing popular drink choice on the bar scene is the mixture of vodka, tequila, or Jaggermeister with Red Bull or a similar
energy drink.
Dr. Jenks noted the mixture of these two substances could spell disaster.
First of all, since an energy drink is a stimulant and alcohol is a depressant, the mixture of the two means that you can get the “drunk” feeling without the tired feeling, which is generally your body’s way of telling you to lay off.
Consuming these drinks means you won’t feel drunk when, in fact, you are. This means increased impairment and increased risk of dangerous behaviour.
“The biggest concern with mixing something like Red Bull with alcohol is that you’re revved up by the Red Bull but dis-inhibited by the alcohol, so you’ll do even stupider things when intoxicated,” Dr. Jenks remarked.
Beyond that, the composition of energy drinks causes the body to do a poor job at re-hydrating.
One theory about the cause of hangovers is dehydration and that the lining in the brain actually shrinks. This means that mixing alcohol with an energy drink could mean a more severe hangover.
For these reasons, energy drinks also can pose a risk to those 18 and older.
Tying in with the fact these drinks are good at dehydrating the body, it’s essential that, if using these drinks to get a boost before an athletic performance, you drink plenty of water to keep yourself hydrated.
As energy drinks tend to sponsor athletic events, and are marketed somewhat as drinks that will be performance-enhancing, they often are taken before an important game or practice. Therefore, everyone needs to be careful with the amount of drink they consume—and should ingest an ample amount of water to counter-act its de-hydrating effects.
Technically, there is nothing wrong with the energy drinks themselves. They are marketed as nutritional supplements, and so the caffeine and sugar contents are well within the parameters deemed as acceptable.
And taken sparingly and as directed on the package, these drinks actually can provide the pick-me-up you need to get a move on with your day.
However, in order to ensure no child is suffering from the adverse side-effects that may crop up due to over-use of these products, or to ensure those going out to bars know when to stop mixing energy supplements with alcohol, Dr. Jenks agrees a prudent step would be to educate people on the harm of over-indulgence.
She also suggested the use of discretion in selling these energy drinks to customers young or old.
Just like you would have to ask the pharmacist for certain medications that are not necessarily prescription, Dr. Jenks thinks doing the same with energy drinks would be more appropriate.
As well, limiting how many a minor can purchase at one time would be another step in the right direction for controlling the substance and ensuring it’s not abused.
