ENERGY DRINKS
It seems everyone today is looking for energy. We have found the answer in energy drinks. See an energy drink for what it is: a drink that packs a lot of calories, no nutrition, and many hazards.
Energy drinks are now a multi-billion market. First popularized in Europe in 1960s, today the world drinks are now found everywhere from high schools and college campuses to party scenes and even in some corporate settings. Bars have even created new drink combinations that include popular energy drinks. Young people are fond of it but lots of kids also use them like pop.
It’s become trendy to mix the drinks with alcohol and which dehydrates the body and interferes with normal sleep patterns. Some people drink up to eight energy cannons daily an amount that causes drug like effects on the body and body damage.
A DRINK FOR ATHLETES
Athletes who take this drink, find their eletctrolyte balance disturbed resulting in dehydration and irregular heartbeats. Don't ever try to make energy drink an alternative for the lost water in the system while doing exercise because the caffeine in the energy drink can leave a dehydrating effect on your body. You should prefer to have something natural during exercises.
Many athletes avoid alcohol and drugs, but consume energy drinks before games.
They consider it equivalent to a cup of coffee. Even young athletes are now drinking
high doses of caffeine that stimulate them. Children under the age of 10 at soccer
games are given Monster or Rockstar energy drinks to their children.
DANGERS
Many of these energy drinks lead to caffeine addictions. This results in withdrawal symptoms as headache, dizziness, muscle stiffness, depression and fatigue, when they skip their energy drink. An over dose of caffeine can mimic mental disorders. The stimulus raises seizure risks, cause insomnia, and gives an adrenaline affect.
The result is dehydration and potential fatal heat illnesses.
These drinks interact with prescription drugs that are stimulants used to treat ADHD.
In combination with muscle building supplements, like creatinine, fatal heart rhythms
occur when dehydrated or suffering from the flu. Many feel mentally clearer, less tired.
Overdose results include: persistent rapid iregular heart rates, dehydration, insomnia and nausea.
Taking too many cans result in an out of body experience.
Additives as green tea, yerba mate, guarana, yohimbine, and bitter orange are used.
Yohimbine and bitter orange increases the heart rate, raises the blood pressure,
and interacts with antidepressants.
Visits to the emergency room because of energy drinks have increased 10 fold,
in the last four years. Half of these visits involve combinations with alcohol,
perscription drugs, or illicit drugs. Most of the reactions occur because people drank
more than one energy drink daily. Many drink 2 to 8 drinks each containing 200 mg of
caffeine. Never combine energy drinks with alcohol because an energy drink is a stimulant
while alcohol is a depressant
Teenagers are more sensitive to campaign than the adults. Many use this drink like a soda, and are literally drunk on a caffeine buzz all day. Many drink as many as five cans a day. The rising popularity of so-called energy drinks is drawing concern among school administrators around the nation, with principals in other states also urging parents not to send their students to school with energy drinks. In mid-March, four eighth-graders in Broward County, Fla., were hospitalized after sipping energy drinks and then complaining of sweating and racing hearts.
CONTENTS
Most of these strengths contain stimulants such as caffeine and theobromine, one of the active ingredients in chocolate. These drinks contain various levels of herbal supplements, sugars, carbohydrates, caffeine, and other additives. Additives as green tea, yerba mate, guarana, yohimbine, and bitter orange are used. Yohimbine and bitter orange increases the heart rate, raises the blood pressure, and interacts with antidepressants. These carbonated drinks, and fancy bottles also contain:Taurine, Ginseng, vitamin B and even Ginkgo Biloba.
Ephederine, ginseng, carnitine are added along with stimulants as inositol, creatine, and glucuronolactone to most energy drinks. The body makes most of these substances through metabolic processes but not in such high volumes that are used in energy drinks.
One component, taurine, has been accused of having a sedative effect on the brain. Scientists have found the narrow logical action of taurine is not a pick me up but a sedative Which works deep inside the brain’s regulatory area of the thalamus, interacting with neurotransmitters. It is involved in the sleep wake cycle pathways of the brain and plays a role in the crash people get after drinking highly caffeinated beverages.
Because taurine is utilized by the body during exercise and in times of stress, it’s become a popular ingredient in energy drinks. But taurine has a stimulating effect on the central nervous system that’s very unnatural.
This is a free-form amino acids contained in many foods and manufactured by the body from amino acid cysteine. Since the body naturally makes taurie, a good diet supplies all you need. The daily dose should be between 100 and 500 mg a day. Just one can of an energy drink has 1000 mg of synthetic produced taurine. Synthetic taurine is implicated in high blood pressure, strokes, seizures, and heart disease.
The quantity of caffeine:
A cup of coffee averages 77 mg of caffeine in a 6 ounce cup, while a 12 ounce can of Coke has 30 mg of caffeine. Most energy drinks contain 80 mg of caffeine per 8 ounces. However they are sold in containers of 20 or 24 ounces. Comparing ounce for ounce, the caffeine in most energy drinks is about half of that in a cup of coffee,. A 16 ounce can of energy drinks contains 160 mg of caffeine. Starbucks Pine Roast coffee contains 330 mg. The problem is that hot drinks are sipped very slowly compares to colds drinks.
Most energy drinks have at a maximum 300 mg more than the 2 ounce
“Five Hour “energy drink. AMP, Monster, Red bull, Rockstar, all contain
around 160 mg per can. Full throttle contains 197 mg per can, NOS 260 mg,
Spike Shooter 300 mg, and wired X 344 mg. Coca-Cola owns two energy drinks,
NOS, and Full Throttle. The 2 ounce five hour energy drink contains 207 mg.
Spike Shooter, contains 300 mg in its 8.4 ounce can ( the equivalent to seven cans of Coke).
Monster energy drinks, the leader of energy drinks, is itself a billion-dollar industry.
It does not list the amount of coffee on his stand, but contains two under 40 mg in its 24 ounce can.
Caffeine should not be given to children under the age of 12, and certainly no more than 100 mg every 3 to 4 hours. No-doze tablets contain 100 mg of caffeine and has warning labels. Yet, an energy drink can have up to 500 mg of caffeine, five times the recommended dose, without any warning labels.
LACK OF REGULATION
The contents of drinks do not require labels when the caffeine limits are below 0.02 percent caffeine. limits. Some energy drinks producers get by on a loophole created by the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, and do not stay below the 0.02 percent caffeine levels as required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA),
Canada limits the caffeine in drinks to be under 180 mg and up to 20 ounce bottles.
The US cola pop drinks are limited by the FDA to 70 mg per 12 ounces. Since energy drinis
are marketed as dietary supplements, there are no caffeine limits on energy drinks.
Manufactures don’t have to list the caffeine content nor all the ingredients on the label.
They merely call it an energy drink with a proprietary blend.The American beverage Association
recommends that they not be marketed to children under 12, and put a warning label on it.
Trainers, strength and conditioning coaches, and professional older athletes all make sure that
the drinks do not contain banned substances, have accurate labeling, and contain
less than 150 mg of caffeine per serving.
MARKETING
But energy drinks are marketed now to young people with endorsements by athletes,
bands, and celebrities. They are often compared to a fluid replacement drinks like
Gatorade. Kids in junior high school and high school now see these athletes promoting
it and think it’s cool. If a superstar is drinking at why shouldn’t they.
A drink labeled cocaine added a label noting it does not include cocaine after the FDA
challenge them. Another one labeled PED, performance energy drink, is a powdered mix.
The founder, Victor Conte, served four months in prison for distributing steroids and
money laundering in a performance enhancing drug scandal. Many more energy drinks
are now filling grocery store shelves. To media markets the herbal ingredients as highly fortifying
and making people more overt and smarter.
Caveat
There’s no magic bullet for strength and endurance. You may drink the beverage to look cool and fit with their friends and to get a buzz. You also may find you can spend longer amounts of time studying for tests, stay awake in the morning, and enjoy a buzz by mixing it with alcohol. This obsession and its potential dangers are never discussed.
See an energy drink for what it is. A drink that packs a lot of calories, no nutrition, and many hazards. The drinks displaces more nutritious drinks as milk, vegetable juices, and often overlooked hydrating powerhouse “ water”.
The true remedy for fatigue is getting enough sleep and eating right. The benefits obtained from an energy drink has a cost and has certain dangers. Becoming aware of what chemicals are put in their bodies, the potential dangers, and side effects are enormous.
Stay properly hydrated with lots of purified water, especially when you’re exercising hard or you’re stressed. It’s a good idea to drink lots of water regardless.
It is the combination of things in the energy drinks that create the problems.