Caffeine and taurine-containing drinks such as Red Bull have been on the European market for more than a decade. And the whole category of energy drinks is exploding. As of this writing (June 2008), here is just a random sampling of the ones lining my local convenience store: BPM Energy, Beaver Buzz, Blue Charge, Hype Energy, Full Throttle, Rockstar, Jolt Cola, Spike shooter, Lightning, Bolt, Boost, and Monster Energy. (Let no one accuse the manufacturers of too much subtlety).
The basic ingredients of most successful ones are caffeine, taurine, and glucuronolactone (naturally occurring carbohydrate in the body that is believed to help fight fatigue and increase well-being). Plenty of studies show that caffeine can be mild energy booster, albeit not one without some side effects – such as jitteriness – that depends largely on both the dose and the sensitivity of the person taking it. (See page 72 for a discussion of the most famous caffeine-containing drink on the planet, plain old coffee). But what are these other ingredients? Do they work? And more important, can I recommend them?
Let’s go to the videotape.
TAURINE: MIXED REVIEWS FOR ENERGY ENHANCEMENT
Taurine is a conditionally essential amino acid, meaning that in certain times, such as during high stress, the body doesn’t make it very well, so it has to be provided by the diet. It’s somehow managed to get a reputation as an energy supplement, largely because manufacturers now routinely add it to most drinks that are in the class of beverages known as energy drinks. The evidence for taurine as an energy booster is, to say the very least, mixed. But some preliminary research seems to show that it might have a place in your program.
If you’re a serious endurance athlete, taurine makes sense. Long, stressful exercise absolutely depletes taurine, and it makes sense to supplement with it if you want to keep performance up. Question is, does it help fight fatgique and increase energy for normal folks who aren’t running marathons? The jury is still out on that.
A number of animals studies seem to show that if animals are taurine-depleted, they don’t have much energy. Because animals can’t actually tell us how they feel, scientists use objective measures of energy, such as the ability to produce force, or the length of time they can run on little mouse treadmills, or other similar measures. It’s pretty clear that with less than optimal levels of taurine, lab animals aren’t winning the equivalent of the Australian Grand Slam, and that when researchers give them taurine, their performance improves significantly.
And it’s not just animals. There are some human studies that are also promising. Problem is, some of these studies use popular drinks such as Red Bull, which mixes three potentially fatigue-busting ingredients (caffeine, taurine, and glucuronolactone), so it’s less clear which ingredient is having the fatigue-fithing, performance-enhancing effect.
One study looked at the effect of taurine supplementation of visual fatigue in college students and found that taurine supplementation for twelve days significantly reduced the visual fatigue brought on by long, boring tasks in front of a computer. Another study, published in the International Journal of Sport, Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism in 2007, found that a supplement containing a combination of amino acids, creatine, taurine, caffeine, and glucuronolactone did modestly improve high-intensity endurance. Yet another study showed that a typical energy drink preparation with those same three ingredients (taurine, caffeine, and glucuronolactone) given to very sleepy participants improved their driving performance and reaction time as measured in a driving simulator.
It’s pretty clear that with less than optimal levels of taurine, lab animals aren’t winning the equivalent of the Australian Grand Slam.
One study from the University of Vienna in Austria tested that same mixture of the three ingredients found in Red Bull and found that it had positive effects on both mental performance and mood. Red Bull was also studied in the psychology department of the University of the West of England in Bristol, and it was found to significantly improve both aerobic endurance and anaerobic (speed and strength) performance on cycle ergo-meters. That study also demonstrated significant improvement in mental performance, including reaction time, concentration, memory, and alertness.
So if I’m the manufacturer of Red Bull, this news is making me very happy.
OCCASIONAL ENERGY BOOSTS
However, I’m not the manufacturer of Red Bull. I’m someone advising you on your health and energy. Although Red Bull and its clones might get you through the occasional rough patch of low energy, it’s really hard for me to recommend them as a regular supplement.
For one thing, they’re loaded with sugar (for aspartame, if you get the sugar-free kind). For another, many drinks in this category are packed with artificial chemicals and colors. The drink doesn’t hydrate the way regular sports drinks do. One (admittedly small) study linked over consumption to high blood pressure. For all these reasons, I’m extremely hesitant to recommend that you start relying on Red Bull or its clones.
That said, it’s clear that energy drinks can make a difference and might be a good emergency measure, one that you want to keep in your back pocket for those special times when you really need a little boost. But don’t make it a habit. I’d still rather see you increase your energy naturally with good lifestyle choices what make it less necessary for you to reach for the Red Bull in the first place.
No comments:
Post a Comment