What are healthy energy drinks? Do they really exist, or is this just more marketing hype? Did someone in the advertising department just put the word “healthy” on the can and hope no one would inspect the ingredients? In some cases they did, but not always.
First, let’s examine some of the science about what is healthy or unhealthy in any beverage. That would be a good starting point, wouldn’t it?
Than it is an energy drink, essentially, and what would qualify one to be called “healthy”?
Energy drinks are essentially a mixture consisting of one or more stimulants, a flavoring, usually some added sugar to make it palatable, and herbs/amino acids/vitamins to deaden any jitters caused by the stimulant and to facilitate the creation of energy drinks. energy naturally.
(This is the ideal of what energy drinks can be, but in practice some manufacturers take many shortcuts. It is advisable to remember: “Buyer beware!”)
Tea, coffee, and some herbal forms of stimulants such as guarana, coca, cocoa, yerba mate, khat, ephedra, and kola nut are widely used throughout the world. Tea and coffee are the most familiar and have been found to have some beneficial health properties, although to some extent they are habit forming.
Most parents wouldn’t be too alarmed if their kids had a coffee, cola, or cup of tea from time to time. Okay?
Unknown ingredients, when scrutinized on a can label, are often the source of much public mistrust of energy drinks. Sometimes this distrust is justified and sometimes it is not; It depends on what the ingredient is. it is and its purpose.
For example, ephedra, which is rarely used in energy drinks, has It caused some problems, such as irregular heartbeats, heart attacks, strokes, and even death in some cases. These are not symptoms of building a growing and happy customer base as you might imagine!
Taurine, on the other hand, acts as a modulator, that is, a “governor” in the energy level. It is also an antioxidant, which helps neutralize free radicals produced by the body in its daily processes. It has been found to be safe and valuable enough to be used in infant formulas, so there is no reason to fear taurine. It has a purpose here. (See Wikipedia for the many benefits of taurine.)
Legitimate cause for concern arises around the amounts of sugar and caffeine contained in many of these energy drinks.
High levels of caffeine and other stimulants are a cause for concern among many parents and health professionals, but equal attention should be paid to the huge doses of various types of sugars in energy drinks.
The average American consumes about half a pound of sugar every day! A large part of this comes from soft drinks, including energy drinks and coffee drinks. With almost two ounces of sugar in a tall can of common energy drink brands, it doesn’t take long to get our half pound of sugar.
High sugar intake often leads to weight gain, which leads to type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is on the rise in the United States and around the world and is a serious and eventually fatal medical problem.
Dr. Joseph Mercola recently listed 76 different medical problems caused by our obsession with sugar. The high levels of sugar in most energy drinks disqualify them as healthy energy drinks.
Ironically, casual surveys I’ve conducted at so-called health food stores reveal that the energy drinks in their coolers contain between 18 and 29 grams of sugar. Sugar is sugar, whether it’s organic cane sugar or not. An exception to this is the use of agave syrup sweeteners, which contain more fructose, posing a particular health threat.
Another cause for concern is the way most manufacturers choose to sweeten their beverages without using sugar. Artificial sweeteners still lead to weight gain, plus some of them have been found to cause structural damage to the brain and nervous system. Aspartame is the worst in this regard, causing tumors in research animals and infertility in subsequent generations of offspring when pregnant mothers were fed aspartame, comparable to what humans might receive.
The potential for long-term nervous system damage is revealed in research on aspartame by Dr. Russell Blaylock and others. Sucralose is another artificial sweetener that provides multiple reasons to avoid it.
Exaggerated caffeine content is often less likely when these drinks are sold as “healthy energy drinks.” It should be noted that brands that use guarana and green tea extracts as stimulants avoid the over-stimulating potential of caffeine.
The combination of caffeine, delicious sweet flavors, and inexperienced young consumers of these beverages are legitimate concerns for parents. When alcohol, or some combination of other drugs, is added to the mix, it becomes impossible to predict what might happen.
But to be fair, this isn’t the fault of the energy drink itself, rather it’s evidence of a lack of education on how to use these drinks responsibly.
When you know where the dangers are and are able to find the rare drinks that qualify as healthy energy drinks, there is nothing to fear, and everything to gain, from these drinks.
Of course, there is an understandable tendency for parents to give up and simply forbid their children to drink any of these strange potions. This would be unwise because the youngster will probably drink energy drinks anyway and distance himself from his parents in the process.
Similarly, many older adults who aren’t at much risk of partying all night could enjoy healthy energy drinks, if they could recognize one.
I hope this article can serve as a guide to demystify the perplexing topic of healthy energy drinks. I have found great satisfaction in using it as a healthier alternative to coffee.