A new study just released in the American Journal of Medicine looked at looked at the impact of consuming one 250-ml energy drink on platelet and endothelial function. These are different types of cells in the body that are strongly associated with heart attack risk when they don't function correctly. The link to the article is attached at the bottom. YOU SHOULD READ IT. Even if you think you won't understand it, give it a look. It's very, very interesting. Anyway, if you want to get Rudog smart and have the edge over your buddies, this is how you do it. You read "smarty pants" stuff and actually get smart. There aren't TOO many fancy words in this one, so please check it out.
Rudog gets asked all the time what its thoughts are on Energy Drinks. People want to know things like: Are they safe? Do they "work"? Do they NEED one? Well, first of all, context is everything. There is no generic answer for this one.
As for safety: Energy Drinks (Monster, Red Bull, Muscle Milk, etc) haven't been out that long, and there hasn't really been enough time or interest to study them. Studies take time, especially GOOD ones. They can take years. When there isn't a lot of research to look at, the Rudog recommendation is to proceed with caution. Drinking them sometimes would seem reasonable, but to drink lots of them seems extreme. Any product on the market has passed some "basic" tests----such as, the identified ingredients in the product do not knowingly cause harm or death. That's a good test to pass. It's also known as GRAS(Generally Recognized as Safe). With more time and more consumption, more information becomes available and sometimes it is determined that a product is NOT safe.
As for effectiveness and whether or not you NEED one: It really depends on what the goal of the user is. Energy Drinks can serve a purpose, but they must work in cooperation with the regular eating and training that is going on. Get with a dietitian (hello, Rudog?) and see if supplement drinks should or need to be a part of your regimen. If they don't, you would do better to save the money and purchase that extra private training session you need. =)
As with anything, moderation and common sense should be the priority. Make sure you know WHAT you are drinking and WHY. How can you determine if something is working, if you don't know what it is supposed to do? If you can't answer both of those questions, don't do it.
There have been some studies published within the past couple of years that are beginning to look at Energy Drinks. They are by no means conclusive, but they certainly are a start. If you want to know more about how to evaluate whether a research study is "believable" or valid, Rudog members can check the Rudog website for an article back in January that was written about how to evaluate research and what to look for.
Rudog highly recommends checking out the following link. Read the whole thing, because towards the end of the page there are some comments where the author contacts some of the various energy drinks for comments. Your thoughts and comments on the article are welcome!
Study links energy drinks to heart attack risk
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