Energy drinks is the name given to third-millennium soft drinks , which are indeed enjoying great popularity. Students cramming for an academic project, night-clubbers, truck drivers, guards and other round-the-clock workers, those dashing off to a fitness club after a busy day at work – that’s not a complete list of their consumers.
Despite mass media horror stories about the harmful effects of energy drinks on the body, they still top sales ratings. So what do they give us more of: benefit or harm?
General information
Energy drinks are soft drinks which have a pronounced tonic, anti-sedative effect due to the natural psychostimulants they contain. They are recommended for a rapid recovery of strength , relief of fatigue and sleepiness. They are mainly consumed by those who need to stay awake or double their energy levels for several hours.
Many believe that this discovery belongs to the 21st century, but that’s not true. Their prototypes can be found in the works of ancient herbalists. In particular, one of the books of the famous German abbess Hildegard of Bingen (12th century) describes a recipe for an elixir that gives vitality.
They appeared in the format familiar to us today a century ago. In 1927 in Great Britain Lucozade was created to speed up the recovery of patients; its formula was typical of modern energy drinks: carbon dioxide, glucose syrup, lemon and lactic acids, caffeine, sodium benzoate and bisulphate, and vitamin B9.
A new drink, Lipovitan, was created in Japan in 1962 on this basis, and was no longer positioned as a medicine for rapid recovery, but as a stimulating drink that would prevent sleep for several hours and provide strength and vitality. Since then, the production of energy drinks has been put on an industrial basis in the East.
In Europe, this was initiated by an Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz, who borrowed the recipe while on holiday in Hong Kong. Having improved it with the help of modern more advanced ingredients, he created a completely new product, Red Bull, which eventually made him one of the richest people on the planet. The brand has a scandalous reputation, but it remains incredibly popular all over the world.
In 1985 energy drinks conquered America thanks to Jolt Cola, which was recommended for students and people in professions requiring prolonged mental and physical exertion. In 1995 it was replaced by Josta from PepsiCo, on the basis of which Adrenaline Rush began to be produced from 1999.
In New Zealand and Australia, the sales leaders are drinks from Frucor Beverages.
Today the sales volume amounts to over $50 billion.
Many people are interested in the question, from what age are energy drinks sold. If they do not contain alcohol, in the territory of the Russian Federation they are freely available to people of any age, including children and teenagers. This is not prohibited by law. The Moscow Region is an exception; the sale of such drinks to minors there has been banned since 01.05.2015.
Effect on the body
Since the mass production of energy drinks has been established, there has been no let-up in the debate about their effect on human health. In order to understand what is more in them: benefits or harm, it is necessary to know what body systems and organs they affect and how.
Properties:
- tonic – they raise muscle tone, ensuring a prolonged state of excitation of the nervous and muscular systems without fatigue;
- they stimulate the central nervous system – they make it work harder, speeding it up;
- anti-sedative – they invigorate, relieve drowsiness and sluggishness, prevent sleep.
Thanks to these properties, for 2–4 hours after drinking an energy drink (the duration of the effect depends on individual characteristics of the body):
- mood rises sharply, even to the point of euphoria;
- there is a surge of strength, vitality, energy;
- there is no desire to sleep;
- working capacity rises;
- strength and endurance indices improve;
- thought processes accelerate;
- the desire for physical activity increases.
A person experiences all this within 5–10 minutes of drinking the energy drink. But there is also a reverse side to the coin, one that is less apparent.
It seems to everyone that energy drinks themselves are a source of energy. This is not true. The active substances they contain are stimulants, which work according to a simple scheme: they are rapidly absorbed into the blood, excite the nervous system, cause the body to expend its own energy reserves at a double rate, and only then do they spread the energy around the cells. In other words, they do not give the body energy, but instead take it away from the person in substantial amounts.
Here is an example for clarity and comparison. During an 8-hour working day, a loader has to unload 4 trucks. He can do this by distributing the load evenly – 1 truck every 2 hours. During this time he will be able to take breaks to rest, and by the end of the working day will feel only slight fatigue. But he can do it differently: unload all 4 trucks in 2 hours, working at a rapid pace without resting. As a result, he will deplete all his body’s reserves and will feel terrible by the end of the second hour.
The same thing happens to the body, which in normal condition distributes its available energy evenly. Energy drinks make it expend all its energy in a short period of time. It is easy to guess what will happen after the effect ends: exhaustion, loss of strength, poor health – and that is not a complete list of the sensations that will have to be experienced after the euphoria.
So the effect of energy drinks on the human body is a classic example of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, there is a surge of strength and an incredible burst of vitality, when it seems like you can move mountains. But what lies behind this is complete exhaustion of the body and nervous system in a few hours’ time.
Composition
The effect of energy drinks on the body is dictated by the active substances they contain. The basis is almost identical for all brands, with slight variations.
Main active ingredients:
- glucose is the body’s main energy “extractor”;
- taurine is an amino acid that speeds up the energy processes in the body;
- caffeine is a psycho-stimulating alkaloid that invigorates the central nervous system and cardiac activity, speeds up the pulse, dilates the blood vessels, enhances mental and physical working capacity, and eliminates drowsiness;
- guarana is a climbing plant whose extract contains a large quantity of caffeine, raising mood and invigorating;
- ginseng is a natural psycho-stimulant;
- nicotinic acid (vitamin B3) stabilises the functioning of the nervous system;
- pantothenic acid (B5) helps restore nerve tissue;
- pyridoxine (B6) has a regulating effect on the nervous system;
- folic acid (B9) increases the production of serotonin and noradrenaline in the body, which raise mood;
- ascorbic acid (C) ensures delivery of glucose where it is needed and helps produce serotonin.
This does not take into account the preservatives, colourings and carbonic acid used to make the drinks fizzy. Caffeine and glucose are essential ingredients. Taurine is present in 75% of drinks.
At first glance the composition seems balanced: certain substances invigorate the nervous system, while others soothe and stabilise it. In fact, the former are present in far greater quantities than the latter. Manufacturers use only 1–2 vitamins, and in minimal amounts.
Harm
Why do the mass media constantly tell us that energy drinks are dangerous? At one time (2009–2010), Red Bull was banned in many countries because it was believed to contain an element of cocaine. The examination subsequently refuted this fact, but a wave of indignation and protest had already been unleashed.