Two large refrigerators filled with popular energy drinks such as Red Bull, Rockstar, Full Throttle and Monster greet first-year graduate student in education David Martinez at the UCLA store with slogans telling him to “unleash the beast” and to “prepare to let your man out.”
Setting aside any health risks that energy drinks might have, Martinez has about one a week to help him stay awake and focused during the day.
He’s not alone, either, according to a study published in October in the Nutrition Journal, which estimated that 51 percent of college students consume at least two energy drinks every month to combat sleep deprivation, stay alert during studying, and mix with alcohol as a type of drink at parties.
Martinez will often substitute an energy drink for a daily cup of coffee.
“If the line is too long at Kerckhoff and I’m in a hurry, I’ll buy an energy drink instead,” he said.
Since the introduction of Red Bull in 1997, energy drinks have become increasingly popular and grown into a $6 billion industry. As a result, the potency of the beverages’ active ingredients and their potential health risks have become serious concerns.
Companies that market energy drinks boast of their products’ high caffeine concentrations and the inclusion of ingredients such as taurine, sugars such as glucuronolactone and ribose among others, and B-vitamins in their drinks, as active ingredients that will help keep consumers awake and focused.
However, the average energy drink does not contain as much caffeine as is commonly assumed by students. Most energy drinks have about 9 milligrams of caffeine per fluid ounce ““ roughly half the concentration of an average brew of coffee ““ which is enough to produce the increase in arousal and alertness that energy drink consumers experience.
Regardless of whether someone is drinking coffee or energy drinks, regularly consuming caffeine can pose mild to moderate health risks.
The most common side effects of habitual caffeine intake are disruption of a regular sleep cycle, increased blood pressure, the sensation of being aware of your heart beating, and morning headaches. Consuming caffeine with alcohol can cause a false sense of sobriety, which can increase the occurrence of accidental injury.
Most of the non-caffeine ingredients included in energy drinks are either naturally produced by the body, like taurine and various sugars, or are regularly eaten in our diets.
B-vitamins, another common ingredient in energy drinks, are not produced by the human body but are eaten in foods such as yeast, potatoes, turkey, bananas and tuna. While these additives are all naturally found in the body, caffeine is not.
Consumers are often led to believe that the cocktail of non-caffeine supplements, sugars, and vitamins play significant roles in keeping one awake, energized, and performing well.
With the exception of the well-documented stimulant effects of caffeine and the brief sugar high experienced when rapidly consuming sugar, according recent university studies, there is no substantial scientific evidence that any of the non-caffeine supplemental ingredients are effective stimulants.
“Taurine has been purported to have various effects, but giving energy is not at the top of the list,” said Christian Roberts, an assistant adjunct professor in the physiological science department.
Researchers at Bristol University in England said in a 2004 study that the non-caffeine, non-sugar compounds are present in small amounts and their effects are uncertain.
Ingesting certain compounds, like those in energy drinks, does not mean that they will be absorbed and incorporated into specific bodily functions, said Susan Bowerman, assistant director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition. For example, just because B-vitamins are involved in our metabolism doesn’t mean that consuming large quantities of the vitamins will boost our metabolism.
Bowerman added that these compounds will go where they are needed or pass through the system if they are not needed.
Another growing concern surrounding energy drinks’ arrival into the mainstream beverage market is the safety of regularly consuming the more unusual additives that distinguish energy drinks from other caffeinated beverages.
Garrett Peterson, a fourth-year chemical engineering student, said he is skeptical of consuming energy drinks because of the health risks he sees in using a product that is packed full of supplements, sugar and other compounds.
The only significant health risk posed by regularly consuming the non-caffeine components in energy drinks is the increase in caloric intake due to the high sugar content, Bowerman said.
“I’m not aware of any health risks of (the non-caffeine supplements),” Roberts said, adding that “although some people may be more sensitive to them than others, they are probably not unsafe.”