Energy drinks not only contain a lot of caffeine, but also a lot of sugar to mask their bitter taste. — dpa
It's been a long day, you’ve got a lot on your plate and your batteries are running low.
So you pop open an energy drink, or two.
Is this a safe way to boost your physical and mental performance?
”We view the marketing claims of higher performance and greater alertness critically,” says Silke Vollbrecht, a food and nutrition adviser for the consumer advice centre in the German state of Brandenburg (VZB).
“Manufacturers’ assertions of this kind must be scientifically proven and approved, but most aren’t.”
The caffeine in the popular pick-me-ups is the main ingredient meant to make us alert and productive. “There are usually 32mg of it per 100ml of drink, which is the maximum allowed by law,” Vollbrecht says.
Caffeine generally has positive qualities.
“It stimulates the cardiovascular and central nervous systems, and in moderate doses, can improve concentration and alertness,” says Anke Ehlers, a food safety specialist with the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR).
It can also boost endurance during sport activities, but there’s a caveat: “The drinks can’t offset fluid loss via sweating during sport,” Vollbrecht says, noting it’s far better to drink plenty of water.
What’s more, caffeine has a diuretic effect.
The benefits of caffeine depend on the dose, and energy drinks entice you to ingest large amounts of it in a short period of time.
”Depending on your sensitivity,” says Ehlers, this can cause unwanted side effects such as nervousness, profuse sweating and heart palpitations.
Especially in combination with alcohol, physical exertion or insufficient sleep, too much of the stimulant caffeine can result in dangerous heart rhythm disturbances, the BfR warns.
In short, remarks Ehlers, “health risks from energy drinks are posed mainly by their excessive consumption.”
It’s unclear if heavy, long-term consumption of energy drinks can cause chronic harm to your health, she says, since “there are hardly any scientific data on this yet.”
A joint study by the BfR and Charite University Hospital in Berlin aims to produce findings.
According to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), single doses of caffeine up to 200mg don’t raise safety concerns for healthy adults, nor do intakes of up to 400mg consumed throughout the day.
Pregnant or breastfeeding women should limit their intake to 200mg or less per day, however.
As a guideline, a 500ml can of energy drink typically contains 160mg of caffeine.
Adolescents, the main consumers of energy drinks, shouldn’t ingest more than 3mg of caffeine daily per kilogramme of body weight, the EFSA says.
So the recommended maximum for a 50kg teenager is 150mg, an amount already exceeded by a single large can of energy drink.
High caffeine content isn’t the only potential problem with energy drinks – sugar is, too.
A large can contains about 60g of it, the VZB points out, which is the equivalent of 20 sugar cubes.
”Sugar provides the tempting taste, which is why it’s added in large amounts,” says Vollbrecht.
Another reason is to cover up the bitter taste of the caffeine.
“But heavy sugar consumption,” she warns, “can lead to obesity, diabetes and tooth decay.”
Although some energy drinks are dressed up to look healthy – with images of fruit on the can and touting ingredients such as orange, apple, passion fruit or mango – all they contain are synthetic vitamins that “don’t make the drinks better or healthier,” Vollbrecht says.
As an alternative to energy drinks, the VZB recommends simply coffee.
”The risk of ingesting an excessive amount of caffeine via coffee is comparatively small,” as Vollbrecht sees it, since teens don’t drink coffee and espresso in such large quantities as cool, sweet energy drinks.
”To ingest 150mg of caffeine in a day, an adolescent weighing 50kg would have to drink about two cups of coffee or three espressos, depending on their strength.
“And, you can determine the sugar content yourself, she says.” – dpa
