A Can of Bull? Do Energy Drinks Really Provide a Source of Energy?
Objectives
• Describe and categorize chemically the components of various popular “energy drinks.”
• Determine the physiological role of these components in the human body.
• Explain scientifically how the marketing claims for these drinks are supported (or not).
• Determine under what conditions each of the “energy drinks” might be useful to the consumer.
The Case
After spending several years working the Sport’s Desk of the Lansing State Journal, Rhonda had landed the job of her dreams as a writer for Runners’ World magazine. The job was fantastic! Since high school, where she had excelled in cross country, Rhonda had been a consistent runner, participating in local races
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I’ve got the marketing claims, a list of ingredients and nutrition facts provided on the cans for consumers, and a short list of questions that should get you started. When you research these, be sure to document all your sources of information, keeping in mind that all resources are not equal. Here’s the information.” With that, Charley left the office. Rhonda looked over the list. “Guess I’ll have to brush up on my biochemistry. No problem. I’m interested in knowing if my running would be improved by drinking this stuff.” Rhonda recalled that a food’s calorie content was the simplest reflection of its energy content. Looking at Charley’s list she saw that the different energy drinks contained the following numbers of calories:
Energy Drink Calories:
XS Citrus Blast® 8
Red Bull® 110
Sobe Adrenaline Rush® 140
Impulse® 110
For comparison:
Coca Cola® (12 oz) 140
Marketing Claims
Next, Rhonda perused the marketing claims for each drink:
Red Bull®
• The Red Bull energy drink is a functional product developed especially for periods of increased mental and physical exertion.
• It can be drunk in virtually any situation: at sport, work, study, driving and socializing.
• Improves performance, especially during times of increased stress or strain.
• Improves concentration and reaction speed, Stimulates the metabolism.
XS Citrus Blast®
• There is less than 1/2 calorie of sugar in XS Citrus Blast. This qualifies for the government-approved statement “No
There are so many ingredients that give you edge such as caffeine, b vitamins, sugar, and taurine. These all are known and proven to give jolts of energy. “Energy drink users feel its kick faster because the beverages are typically swallowed quickly or are sold as concentrates”. The users feel that kick because
Red Bull targets only a particular segment of market and therefore makes its product only available at those places where the target can be reached. The energy drink can be bought at colleges, supermarkets and is mainly associated to extreme sports. In particular, the energy drink has also known a tremendous success in India, where the segment is the fastest growing in the category, due to India’s youth centric population and fast urbanization. Red Bull was actually the brand that created energy drink category in India (Docstoc, April 2012).
Energy drinks contain taurine. This ingredient is named after the Latin word Taurus – bull. Leopold Gmelon and Friedrich Tiedemann, scientists from Australia, isolated the ingredient from ox bile in 1827.
Determine under what conditions each of the energy drinks might be useful to the consumer and relate this understanding to the biochemical process of cellular respiration. The Case After spending grades 9-11 working at the Sports Desk of the Weston TV Club, Breanna found the job of her dreams as a writer for Westons Running Magazine.The job was fantastic During high school, Breanna excelled in cross country, and had been a consistent runner, participating in local races and those assigned to her for her job at the school TV club. For her last assignment, she had run in and reported about the annual CN Tower Climb, and it was a blast all the way to the top Marketing Claims Next, Breanna perused the marketing claims for each drink
We all want our kids to live vigorous, ebullient lives, because childhood is such a dynamic time of discovery and involvement, but there is one unhealthy drink to ensure that this does not happen. One of many concerns right now is that energy drinks are playing an unhealthy and harmful role in the diets of many adolescents and children. Unfortunately, there is a problem with most energy drinks that exceeds the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) required limit of 71 mg of caffeine for a 12-ounce drink (Doheny). Some of these energy drinks are sold as nutritional supplements that are not regulated as foods, which is an example on why these drinks are not safe. The intended purpose, side effects, the ingredients in these drinks, and children’s
Brown and colleagues reviewed recent research into the safety of these products and noted that several revealed evidence that artificial sweeteners may not be as metabolically inert as previously thought (305-306). This finding was based on the results of large scale epidemiological studies that linked artificial sweetener use with weight gain. Other studies have
Assignment: As a Registered Dietitian, you have been invited to a “Lunch and Learn” program at a very large law firm. The firm must make a decision about which company they will select for a year long beverage contract. The lawyers have three choices: water, Gatorade or Powerade. Out of the 55 attorneys that will be attending your presentation, 32 of them workout regularly, about 60 minutes, five days per week.
Energy drinks pose an unknown threat to many people, especially to young kids and teens with undeveloped bodies and minds, they contain harmful ingredients, cause terrible side effects, and need to be regulated
Energy drinks (EDs) are beverages made to increase one's energy, stamina, physical and mental performance (Forrester, 1994). Though EDs are not marketed to a specific age group, young adult is the ones that drink it the most, this may be a result of the fact that they are advertised on college campuses and sports events (SG. Chrysant, 2015; GS. Chrysant, 2015). Even though they are advertised in these areas, they are easily accessible from places such as gas stations to supermarkets and even gifts shops. As a result, EDs could possibly be consumed by people younger than the college audience. Children as young as elementary could be enticed into buying an ED.
Energy Drinks. Are energy drinks good for athletes? These beverages may contain caffeine, sugar, and other chemicals which may not be healthy. For example, Red Bull contains 106 calories from carbohydrates, 193 mg sodium and a jolt of caffeine. Some experts believe that energy drinks can help improve stamina, alertness, concentration, motor skill, and endurance. However, too much caffeine can cause jitters, which can make exercisers become uncomfortable.
Finally, I do not recommend drinking the energy drinks for any reason because it's can hurt your health more than it will help you. Parents and schools should provide work to stop these drinks spread and give their kids some advices about these drinks and it's danger. And I think we all should boycott this kind of fake drinks because of the damage it causes in our community, kids and
The hallmark of energy drinks is their purported ability to provide the consumer with sustained energy. This effect is largely due to the high concentration of caffeine often found in the energy drinks, however there are a number of other additives in CEDs that are supposed to have a similar effect [4-6]. For example, in addition to caffeine, CEDs contain additives such as glucuronalactone and taurine along with herbal extracts including ginseng, guarana, and ginkgo biloba [5]. Energy drinks also contain added vitamins and supplements such as vitamin B6 and vitamin B12. The inclusion of these supplements categorizes them as
B. The desire for a powerful energy drink can lead to a lot of misinformation.
Product: Red Bull offers a premium energy drink supplement that provides essential ingredients to rejuvenate the mind and body. Red Bull consists of energy-enhancing ingredients: caffeine,
Redbull is an energy drink, developed specially for periods of increased mental and physical exertion in humans. It aims at increasing