Energy Drinks

Sooooo… let’s talk energy drinks and why I would never want to drink another one again, as well as the reasons why, both, mine personally, and in general for why anyone shouldn’t.

I’ll explain the most simple yet the most damaging ingredients, quantities, recommended maximum quantities per day, and give some alternatives for those who want to shift of try something different and see if it works.

There are a lot of energy drinks currently on the market and I couldn’t cover them all, but the cited are among the most popular ones currently.

I used to drink Red Bull and Monster a long time ago. The reason why I stopped drinking them is because since I was in my 20s I was diagnosed with congenital high blood pressure. I had to start taking medication for it though I’ve always tried to exercise to be able to eventually avoid taking them, but life happens. However, I’m still trying.

Now, let’s talk about the drinks and the most problematic ingredients.

SUGAR:

The AHA recommend a maximum of 25g of sugar for women and 36g for men on a daily basis.

Knowing that, our best contender is Red Bull with only 27g of sugar. Followed up by Monster with 54g and then Rockstar gets the third place with 63g.

What happens with Celcius and Bang? Are they not winners because they have no sugar?!? Well, sadly no. Instead of sugar, these two contenders use Sucralose. But, what is Sucralose?

Sucralose is an artificial sweetener approximately 600 times sweeter than sugar. While it doesn’t provide the associated calories that sugar does, it is still related with studies showing how it affects gut microbiota, insulin sensitivity, and metabolic impacts when used in high quantities. (And let’s be honest, generally not many drink only one of these a day. People that exercise, if they use it as a water substitute, could easily drink up to 4 of these while working out.)

How much Sucralose is present in these two drinks is undisclosed by the brands, so it’s not possible to determine which one has more or less of it and, as such, I prefer to disqualify them from this category altogether.

CAFFEINE:

The FDA recommends no more than 400 mg of caffeine per day.

The winner for the least amount of caffeine per can is, once again, Red Bull with only 80 mg, way below the maximum recommended per day and making this the only drink that, based only on caffeine, anyone could drink up to 5 cans of it. Monster and Rockstar are tied with 160 mg, twice as much as Red Bull but still low enough that someone could drink 2 without exceeded the maximum allowed recommended daily dosage, maybe sharing a third one between friends to reach the limit. Celcius is in third place with 200 mg, making it the half of the recommended amount and having to drink only 2 and no more than 2 to reach the maximum daily intake. Finally we have Bang on fourth place with 300 mg, 3/4 of the recommended amount. Nobody should drink, solely based on caffeine, more than one of these a day.

TAURINE:

Taurine is an amino acid naturally found in the body, particularly in the brain, heart, and muscles. To be added to energy drinks It’s synthesized in a lab and involves chemical reactions to replicate the effect of the naturally created one. This does make it “vegan friendly” though.

There is no certain maximum amount recommended but some studies have shows that there shouldn’t be more than 3,000 mg consumed per day, specially if done with other stimulants such as caffeine and sugar.

Celcius and Bang are the winners in this category as they have a whooping amount of 0 mg on their drinks, none at all, that’s right! Red Bull takes the second place with 1,000 mg, which makes it possible to drink up to 3 of them “safely”. Finally, Monster and Rockstar take third place with 2,000 mg, making 1.5 cans the maximum recommended amount per day.

The End…

Yeah no, we still have two more categories:

ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS:

Regrettably there is no specific way to determine which artificial flavors were used in a drink nor how these were made as the term includes a very broad list of potential ingredients. This is in on itself a no go for me as I don’t like undisclosed ingredients.

The only drink on this category that doesn’t use artificial flavors is Celcius, which instead uses “Natural Flavors”, which is, again, something so broad that could mean almost anything, and it’s also undisclosed.

In this category, though it’s impossible to quantify and specify the order in which each drink is better or worse, they all win first place as in, I wouldn’t drink them at all.

ARTIFICIAL COLORS:

In this category we do have 2 winners which are Celcius and Bang, who refuse to use artificial coloring for their drinks as they are marketed as a more “natural” choice.

However, Red Bull, Monster, and Rockstar all use Red 40 and Yellow 5, among others, both coming from petroleum byproducts and have been related with hyperactivity and allergic reactions and have to be presented with a warning in Europe as they are not banned but recognized as “problematic”.

Now, what are the alternatives?

Here are three (non-sponsored) of the top healthier energy drink alternatives currently popular on the market:

Zevia Energy

Key Ingredients: Sweetened with stevia (a plant-based sweetener) and contains 120 mg of caffeine from natural sources.

Why It’s Better: Zevia Energy is non-GMO, contains no sugar, and is free from artificial sweeteners and colors. It’s great for those looking for a natural energy boost without the calories or sugar spikes associated with traditional energy drinks.

RUNA Clean Energy

Key Ingredients: Made from organic guayusa tea, a natural caffeine source from the Amazon, delivering 150 mg of caffeine per can.

Why It’s Better: Runa offers a clean, steady energy without the crash that comes with synthetic caffeine. It’s also organic, sugar-free, and full of antioxidants, making it a natural and sustainable option.

HiBall Energy

Key Ingredients: Carbonated water, organic caffeine, guarana, ginseng, and B-vitamins.

Why It’s Better: HiBall offers 160 mg of natural caffeine with no sugar or artificial sweeteners. It’s keto-friendly, calorie-free, and provides energy from organic sources like guarana and ginseng.

is it perfect? Or course not. But it’s better. But what if you don’t want to buy anything else? Then the answer is even easier:

Green Tea or Matcha

Natural caffeine source with antioxidants and less sugar than energy drinks.

Herbal Teas (Ginseng or Yerba Mate)

Offer moderate energy and focus benefits without the additives.

DIY Smoothies

Add ingredients like spinach, chia seeds, and natural caffeine sources for sustained energy.

As always, thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed and we will see the next adventure where it takes us.

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