So, let's say you are feeling a bit sluggish or you stayed up too late last night and you need to get moving.  What would you reach for?  Would it be a cup of coffee or an energy drink?  Considering that over 500 new energy drinks flooded the marketplace worldwide it is obvious that many people are choosing energy drinks.  After all, they are filled vitamins and minerals so they must be better than coffee.  Or are they?

Here is an interesting tidbit to consider when comparing coffee to energy drinks:  Do you know how many cups of coffee would need to be in the system of a 135 lb woman to kill her?  85.71 cups would drop her to the ground stone cold.  Now, I know that is extreme but stick with me a moment.  Let's just compare it to a couple of the more popular energy drinks.  Just 32.91 cans of the new Cocaine.energy drink and only 65.81 cans of the Monster energy drink would put her down.  Did you notice it would take much less of the energy drinks to kill her than the coffee?  Now, I know you may be thinking who would drink that many?  You may not reach the maximum but each can combined with hidden caffeine in other foods and medications all add up.  Maybe the amounts are extreme but the fact that they are filled with something that could potentially kill you should matter to you.  At a minimum, high doses of caffeine can send your blood pressure through the roof, cause your heart to feel like it is jumping out of your chest, cause you to shake like a Chihuahua dipped in ice water and turn your bones into peanut brittle.  Also, whatever you do, please do not mix energy drinks with alcohol.  Mixing an energy drink and alcohol can significantly dehydrate you since they are both diuretics.  Dehydration stresses the heart and researchers say overloading the body with heavy stimulants and heavy depressants could lead to heart failure.  So obviously it would be the wrong thing to use to hydrate you before, during or after a workout.  In fact, a basketball player collapsed on the court and later died after drinking 4 cans of Red Bull before the game.

So why would anyone use these drinks when they are potentially so dangerous?  Ignorance combined with marketing.  The target group for these drinks used to be athletes.  Energy drinks, however, have become part of mainstream society now and are even considered "hip" by young people.  The marketing of these products is now designed to snag the people most vulnerable to exhaustion and low energy?male teenagers and those in their twenties.  How many teenagers do you know that really look into the hazards of anything?  Why would they?  They know everything at that age anyway, right?  And if they don't they will listen to the reviews of their peers before listening to anyone else.  They are simply buying into the promises of weight loss, more energy and the legal "highs" that they read about in magazines and on the product "fan pages" on MySpace.  Then you have the parents and coaches that have bought into the marketing that these drinks enhance performance in sports and improve concentration at school.  So both parents and kids think these drinks are good things.  Unfortunately, they are really nothing more than cranked up to the max, caffeinated soft drinks that do not live up to their claims. 

What makes up an energy drink?  First of all, by definition energy means calories and many are brimming with calories if they are not sugar free.  After calories, you get caffeine, taurine, B vitamins, ginseng, ginkgo biloba, l-carnitine, sugars and antioxidants.

Caffeine:  How does caffeine work anyway?  Adenosine is produced in the brain and controls sleepiness.  During the day adenosine reaches its peak levels late in the day resulting in that sleepy feeling in the afternoon.  Caffeine creates a road block and decreases the natural increase in adenosine.  Consuming a lot of caffeine increases serotonin in order to fight off the anti-sleepy effects of caffeine.  Once you stop the caffeine it takes a while for your body to lower its production of serotonin.  So you end up with higher levels of serotonin until your body realizes caffeine isn't there anymore.  Until then you are sleepier or have less energy.  See if you block one chemical; your body increases production of another in order to balance things out.  Most people turn to more caffeine to fight the sleepiness and the vicious cycle continues.  Too much can then cause the uncomfortable effects previously mentioned.  So if you are watching your caffeine levels keep in mind that most people experience side effects above 200mg.  But be aware that energy drinks hide some of the caffeine in the form of other ingredients such as guarana.  So you may be getting more than you realized.

Guarana:  Guarana is actually denser in caffeine than coffee beans but is not called "caffeine" because it also contains theobromine and theophylline.  Just a technicality folks.  It is still caffeine.

Taurine:  An amino acid made by the body that regulates heartbeat, muscle contractions and energy levels.  We do not need a supplemental form of this amino acid and there are no conclusive studies on the combined effect of taurine and caffeine on humans.  However, rats fed taurine exhibited bizarre behavior such as anxiety, irritability, high sensitivity to noise, and self-mutilations.  Sounds like fun, eh?  Interestingly, as a result, energy drinks such as Red Bull have been banned in Norway, Denmark, Uruguay, and France.

B Vitamins:  Most B vitamins are involved in the process of converting blood sugar into energy.  They simply help break down the sugar in energy drinks so it can be used as an energy source.  B vitamins provide no energy themselves. 

Ginseng:  Five U.S. and Canadian studies failed to find any connection between ginseng and energy.  In fact, Ginseng had no effect on increasing performance time during exercise or recovery time after exercise.

Ginkgo Biloba:  Studies have shown this ingredient helps with memory, concentration and circulation.  Not sure what impact that would have on energy but maybe you will remember to pack your energy drinks for later.

L-Carnitine:  This amino acid is made in your body and may increase metabolism and energy.  Unfortunately, there is little evidence that it has much effect on weight loss.

Sugars:  These drinks deliver huge amounts of sugar.  On average, people consume 2-3 cans a day and that would add up to somewhere between 14-21 teaspoons depending on the drink.  The recommended amount of sugar in a daily diet is no more than 10 teaspoons.  The combination of excessive caffeine and excessive sugar adds up to serious blood sugar swings and hardcore caffeine buzzes.  For those trying to lose weight, that amount of sugar would certainly make it harder to reach their goals.

Finally, let's look at these drinks from a different angle.  Are all these ingredients really worth the money you spend on the drinks compared to the actual benefits and risks you experience?  Since people are guzzling this stuff down by the gallon, I was curious to see what the cost per gallon would be of some popular choices.  Mountain Dew is a highly caffeinated soft drink without all the bells and whistles and a gallon would cost you $6.98.  The popular Monster energy drink would set you back $16.00 for a gallon and finally a gallon of Red Bull would run you $30.48 a gallon!  That is a lot of money to pay for a product with minimal benefit and potentially hazardous to your health!  Personally, I will stick to my cup of home brewed coffee in the morning.  Much cheaper and much safer in the long run.