Why Do Energy Drinks Affect People?

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Energy drinks are caffeinated beverages made and designed specifically to give a person an extra boost of energy. “Energy drinks are a group of beverages used by consumers to provide an extra boost in energy, promote wakefulness, maintain alertness, and provide cognitive and mood enhancement” (Bagot). “They are characterized by the addition of various energy-enhancing ingredients and are purported to improve athletic performance, concentration, and reaction time as well as increase basal metabolism” (Pennington, Johnson, Delaney, Blankenship). There are many questions as to whether energy drinks help a person or if they actually harm a person. People use energy drinks for many reasons, but mostly because they need that boost of energy to make it through whatever they have going on. All types of people use …show more content…
Some examples would be Full Throttle, Red bull, Monster, Rockstar, 5-Hour Energy, etc. The list could go on for hours. The demand for energy drinks is high because people will always feel as if they need an extra boost, so companies won't stop making them. But what's in them? Well Caffeine. Lots and lots of Caffeine. Caffeine (1,3,7-trimethylxanthine) is the most widely studied ED ingredient. “The caffeine content of energy drinks ranges from 50 mg to 505 mg per serving and has been shown to enhance alertness and mood, act as an ergogenic aid, and counteract symptoms of sleep loss” (Burrows, Pursey, Neve, Stanwell). But caffeine isn't the only ingredient in energy drinks, just the most abundant. “Other common ingredients of energy drinks that are less studied include taurine, glucuronolactone, herbal supplements such as guarana and ginseng, and B group vitamins, often in quantities that far exceed recommended dietary intake levels” (Burrows, Pursey, Neve, Stanwell). Energy drinks contain large, unhealthy amounts of these ingredients. With caffeine and these other ingredients, it's easy to see how bad energy drinks might