Are Energy Drinks Bad for You?

We all have heard of Gatorade and Red Bull and the likes. They are categorized, as we all know amongst energy drinks. Now, energy drinks are basically soft drinks, which are advertised as giving energy for the drinker's physical activity. This is of course different from the normal soft drinks.

However, these drinks do not give you energy in the form of calories. Instead, these drinks are prepared in such a way that they enhance the physical performance and mental alertness of an individual by their constituents.

These interact to provide a stimulating effect on the body. Even if it is claimed so, there are contradictory opinions when you ask, are energy drinks bad for you? A low down on energy drink health concerns.

Before we get on to the discussion whether energy drinks are effective or not, an elucidation of its ingredients is imperative. That will make it easier for us to decide upon the consumption of these drinks and how good they are for health.

The ingredients of energy drinks include methylxanthines, for instance caffeine, then vitamin B and herbs. Other ingredients include guarana, taurine and acai. Furthermore, these energy drinks also have different forms of carbonated water, ginseng, inositol, carnitine, creatine and gingko biloba.

If you must have noticed, some of these ingredients are common to diet pills and appetite suppressants. What these substances do is improve your subjective alertness, cognitive and mental performance. The most prominent amongst these is caffeine. For more on ingredients in energy drinks, read energy drink ingredients.

According to reports of few repeated cycling tests which were conducted on healthy, young adults, the muscles of the upper body had gained greater endurance.

Energy drinks are also shown to have restorative properties, due to the combination of glucose and caffeine. This was proven when tired participants in an event were given a glucose based energy drink and they showed significant improvement in their performance after having it. 

Well, these can prove to be useful (there would be at least no side effects) if you consume a single can of energy drink in a day. It would not cause any harm. Have one too many and you might have to face some adverse energy drinks side effects. And as mentioned, too much of anything is bad for you and it goes in case of energy drinks as well.

Considering all these side effects, France had even banned Red Bull. Not to say that these energy drinks can also have a negative impact on the functioning of the heart. Seems as if France banned Red Bull specifically because of the same reason; heart problem, which lead to the death of a young athlete.

Apart from all this, one of the dangers of energy drinks is when drinks like Red Bull are combined with alcohol. This is extremely bad for your body, as Red Bull is supposed to perk you up and alcohol is a downer. Hence, having conflicting drinks is not a very good prospect for your body.

Drinking too much of energy drinks has, as a matter of fact also lead to heart attacks. The worst part is that these drinks give you that sugar rush, where you retain that bolt of energy for some time and then it fades away. You then experience dropped energy levels. After all this, what do you think? Are energy drinks bad for you or is it otherwise?

Well, we would say not exactly, unless you are an athlete and are sapped off your energy in a competition. You can have these drinks in the normal course as well, though you need to keep tabs on how much you consume to avoid its side effects. Take Care!