Hey everybody, welcome back to Explained Back in 5, the podcast where we take the questions you always want to ask and talk about them in a way that's easy to understand. We are your hosts, I'm Tim. Hey everyone, I'm Kevin. So Kevin, today we're talking about energy drinks, and here's a question to get us started.
What is it in energy drinks that provides a kick that otherwise doesn't come from, say, coffee or tea and the caffeine in those? Well, like I said, caffeine is actually the main ingredient, but it's actually all the other things like sugar, sweeteners, taurine, amino acids, and B vitamins are some of the other ingredients used. A lot of energy drinks have this energy blend section on it that gives each stimulating ingredient. Oh, I should look out for that next time.
And what distinguishes it from, say, coffee or tea? Oh, so an energy drink is just the type of drink containing some of those stimulant compounds, which is marketed as providing mental and physical stimulation. But it's all kind of a gray area, you know, because like, except coffee, tea, and other naturally caffeinated drinks are usually not considered energy drinks, right? Other soft drinks such as cola may also contain caffeine and a lot of sugar, but are not considered energy drinks either.
I see. Remember we did our very first episode on caffeine? Of course, of course, where we asked if caffeine has zero calories, then how's it give you energy, right? That's the one, that's the one.
I still love it, but we were newbies at podcasting back then. Now, wasn't Pepsi originally marketed as an energy-boosting drink? Yes, yes, it was. So energy drinks were an active subset of the very early soft drink industry.
So remember, the name of Coca-Cola itself was derived from two active ingredients, which are both known stimulants, right? The coca leaves and cola nuts. We actually did an episode on Coca-Cola recently, too. Ah, yes, that was a much more recent one.
And it wasn't just in the United States that the soft drink industry started early on the energy trend. In England, I used to come across this drink called LucasAid, which was also one of the very first energy drinks, I believe. Indeed, indeed. In the UK, LucasAid Energy was introduced all the way back in 1927 by Newcastle pharmacist, William Walker Hunter, as a hospital drink for actually aiding the recovery.
And it was in the early 1980s, it was then promoted as an energy drink for, quote-unquote, replenishing lost energy. And, you know, even in Japan, the energy drink dates at least as far back as the early 1960s with the launch of a brand called Lipoviton. Back in Europe, energy drinks were pioneered by Lisa's company with a product named Power Horse. Before, Dietrich Matischitz, who was an Austrian entrepreneur who introduced an energy drink brand that's actually not a worldwide bestseller in the 21st century.
I think you must be talking about Red Bull. Of course. Of course, it's Red Bull. Matischitz developed Red Bull actually based on this Thai drink called Kripting Dane, which itself was also based on the Japanese drink Lipoviton.
And, of course, we all know that Red Bull now has become a dominant brand, especially in the United States, after its introduction in 1997. In fact, someone calculated that its market share hit nearly like 50% in 2005. Matischitz has a net worth of unbelievably more than $20 billion, thanks to the success of his invention. Wow.
So there's a lot of money in energy drinks, clearly. Now, why are energy drinks sometimes considered bad for your heart and bad for you in general when they only have as much caffeine as a standard cup of coffee, many of them? Yeah, you're right. You know, you often get health warnings on energy drink cans.
So, for example, the Austrian Power Horse energy drink says, consumption of more than two cans in a day may be harmful to your health, not to be used for pregnant women, breastfeeders, children under the age of 16, people with heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, allergy to caffeine, and athletes during exercise. That's a pretty long list. So, basically, don't drink too much of it, then. Yes, yes.
All good things, too much could be bad for you. So, there's a volume and also the speed of drinking that kind of makes it a major hazard. The goal for coffee is generally to keep you awake, and you drink it hot, and you drink it slow, unlike, you know, a can of Red Bull. So, you also have to consider the environment in which energy drinks are consumed, right?
Like, often at parties or in social settings, where energy drinks are consumed in maybe big quantities and often chug really fast. And finally, there's another danger here with mixing. Energy drinks are also used at parties in combination with alcohol, and so all those associations just make it not that great for your health if you drink a lot of it. I see.
Now, if those are the risks, what about the benefits? Do they actually make you more alert? Oh, actually, so on this question, the answer is not really clear from the scientific evidence. Energy drinks have the effects of caffeine and that sugar provide, but there is actually little or no evidence that the wide variety of other ingredients in that energy blend have any, you know, strong effect.
Most of the effects of energy drinks are on cognitive performance, such as increased attention or reaction speed, are primarily due to, well, that basic presence of caffeine. Interesting. Did you learn something new? If you did, send us an email.
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