Energy Drink Ingredients
Wine is grapes. Sure, there’s a lot of different kinds, but who really cares? Beer is hops, barley, water–again, pretty boring. Anyone who’s reasonably intelligent would look somewhere to see what they’re putting in their body. Especially if it makes you warm and tingly. Here, then, is your research, handed to your ass on a silver platter.
- Caffeine: The most common stimulant, found in coffee, Coke and Mountain Dew. Found in much higher quantities in energy drinks. Most energy drinks contain between 70 and 200 mg. A 5 oz cup of coffee contains 110-150mg for drip, 65-125mg for percolated, and 40-80 mg for instant. Dr. Pepper gives you 61mg, and a can of Coke provides 50mg. A full can of RockStar has 150mg. A lot of people experience side effects above 200mg, but I’ve personally known people that can handle a full gram at a time. They looked like an ADD monkey having a seizure, but they didn’t die. I don’t recommend it.
We’re tracking the caffeine levels of virtually all energy drinks. Go knock yourself out.
- Taurine: Taurine is an amino acid that your body naturally produces. It helps regulate heartbeat and muscle contractions, and energy levels. Usually your body makes enough that you don’t need to supplement. It’s thought, but not proven, that under “stress conditions” like illness, physical exertion, or injury, the body does not create enough and supplements can help. Taurine might be a “mild inhibitory neurotransmitter”, some studies show it helps with excitable brain states. While this isn’t exactly what we want, maybe it helps level us out so we function better with elevated levels of other stimulants.
- Guarana: Guarana comes from plants in South America. Amazonians have used it for a long time to increase alertness and energy. It’s more dense in caffeine than coffee beans (3-4% vs 1-2%). It’s not just called “caffeine” because it contains a couple other things: theobromine and theophylline. They’re found in coffees and teas, and are known stimulants. Marketing retards will sometimes call this one guaranine, as if it’s something different. It’s not.
- B Vitamins: These are essentially the things that help you convert crap to energy. Crap like sugar, which is found in abundance in energy drinks. The jury’s still out on whether or not they increase energy levels via supplementation, but they will sure help warding off the hangovers when you mix that energy drink with alcohol. Search the interweb for info on proper dosing of the different vitamins.
- Ginseng: Ginseng, an adaptogenic herb, is known to increase energy, has some anti-fatigue components, and supposedly relieves stress. Right now it’s suspected that gingseng helps stimulate the hypothalamic and pituitary glands, which then secrete something called adrenal corticotropic hormone. With a name like that, it can’t possibly be bad. Ginseng is nothing that’s naturally created by your body, so having this in your drink certainly won’t hurt. 200mg/day seems to be the standard dose, but you can safely take up to 2700mg.
- Ginkgo Biloba: It’s suspected that ginkgo biloba is the longest-living organism on this planet. Using the theory that you get something’s (or someone’s) powers by eating the brains, eating the oldest thing on the planet is probably a good thing. Or maybe it’s such a hardy mofo that it’ll kill you instantly. But that’s never been the case. It helps memory rentention, concentration, circulation, acts as an anti-depressant, and even shows signs of helping people with Alzheimer’s. The German government recognizes it as something that helps with memory loss, concentration, and depression. That’s some kick-ass stuff right there. 60mg is a standard supplementation dose, and you can easily take 240mg. If you don’t get this with your drinks, I’d highly recommend supplementing your diet with it.
- L-Carnitine: An amino acid usually created by your liver and kidneys, this stuff helps up your metabolism and energy levels. Because of the way it interacts with your body, it may act as a thermogenic and help increase weight loss and endurance during exercise. The jury’s still out on whether or not you need to supplement unless you have an unusual diet, but you can take 2-6 grams without worry. Make sure you get L-Carnitine, which is the type your body creates and can use. D-Carnitine is “inactive” and may actually hurt endurance levels. Some people take this to support their heart, so putting it in an energy drink that increases your heart rate… good stuff
- Sugars: Glucose is the body’s preferred fuel. That’s why you get hyper with a lot of sugar. Energy drinks contain a ton of sugar. Therefore, energy. It’s a carbohydrate, and a lot of exercise regiments suggest a good dose of sugar for workouts lasting more than an hour. A lot of athletes take it in the form of rice or noodles, so they have timed absorption. You can take a bunch of this easily… 150 grams in your system might get you wired, but probably won’t hurt you.
- Antioxidants: Antioxidants are things that help your body gracefully recover from the damage of free radicals. Vitamin C is an antioxidant, so claiming that your energy drink has a lot of antioxidants is like saying you’re buying really expensive orange juice. But they’re good, they help fend off illness and prevent cellular damage. Vitamins C and E, Vitamin A (aka retinol, beta-carotene), and selenium are all antioxidants.
UPDATE: See the new sugar in energy drinks database for a sortable table of beverage sugar content.
410 Comments
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MONSTER IS BOMB! No other energy drink is better…
Ive been working on making my own energy drink: REMiX, This has helped alot.
Full throttles are amazing,
Ferrsure kidds!!
Blue Demon, Plain, &+ Nature Is One Bad Mother!
^Theyyy rock!!!!^
Yes - Energy Drinks Is The Bomb
HOWEVER - MODERATION
BECAUSE: I know from personal experience that energy drinks, due to the high amounts of unstable ingredients, can cause things that normal coke or pepsi products don’t normally cause such as kidney stones and seizures. Guarine is documented to cause seizures when mixed with high levels of caffeine and taurine. Oh and kidney stones are veeerrryyy painfull - its like giving birth to a golf ball through your winky. You don’t want to try it - all i am saying is that if you drink energy drinks then do it in moderation.
Energy Drinks rock The best ones are AMP’s try there amazing
You know whats fun? (but probly not good for you at ALL) drinking 5 monsters within 20 minutes of each otheR! talk about hyper!
A good idea, if you drink monsters for fun, but you dont really need the energy, drink one then wait a few days, i think (don’t know) if its too bad for your heart, but too much of the stuff will beat the crap out of your heart, so yeah, 5 at once=not good at all lol
Energy Drinks themselves won’t cause kidney stones, your lack of water consumption will. Anyone drinking ED’s should know that they need to flush their system with adequate amounts of water, it’s common knowledge.
Also AMP, like that of Mountain Dew, is probably the WORST ED you can possibly drink. Mountain Dew is already reported as the worst soft drink that’s available, AMP is simply a hyped up version of it.
its all about the energy drinks!!! full throttles best by far… but i guess that monster and rockstars are good to.
Wow, how dumb can one man be!
Of course it gives you energy, It’s a stimulant much like crack, ephedrine, and meth. Why don’t you spend your tweaking time researching what you’re tweaking on.
Avoid the very appearance of evil,
set down the can man!
Energy Drinks are good stuff– the worst thing in them is the extreme amount of Sugar. I prefer coffee for my energy needs, but Amp or Bawls will do it for those long D&D sessions as they run long into the night… 
Oh, and comparing ED’s to meth and crack is a bit of a stretch… Caffeine affects the body in different ways than those drugs, is far less potent and definitely FAR less dangerous. The rest of the stuff in it that gives you energy (b-vitamins and whatnot) are generally good for you in proper doses.
Peace.
i chugged 4 red bulls you now wut happed nuthin except for i got some energy but don’t do that drink them in moderation
monster and rockstar suck bawlz
But if you have too much energy drinks then you’ll get diabetes and a heatattack and die. I don’t like energy drinks because they are to sweet. yuck!
n weed is bad n why ant weed legal these are.
its legal e
monstare is the best
sarah its MONSTAR , not “monstare”. Learn to spell
my bad MONSTER. I guess i got tought a lesson in spelling today .. :S
gotta love energy drinks!!!
Hope u guys know that the ingredient TAURINE in energy drinks is actually bile from oxes and bulls that is stored in there gallbladders its used to digest fat. so basically ur drinking bull stomach acid. haha hope u have fun with that!!!
Energy drinks suck! you are all gonna get fat and die! nasty nasty
id have to say if you can beat my time of chugging a monster in 15 seconds flat ur a champ like me
it burns going down though.
i dont care what EDs have in em they r the shiz
heres what i say
Hey, at least its not “crack”!
and one more thing
anyone try vodka spirit bong
try this
its wierd
evry colored amp
with 2 blue pix stix and
dump a sour spray bottle with that shits amazing
oh and if you try it add me on myspace
bakuryu_1992@yahoo.com is e-mail lemme know how it tasted
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i love energy drinks!!!!
expecially rehabs and monster and rockstars.
i could live off of energy drinks. yep its true.