They can make you more tired. Consume too many, and they could kill you.
‘Energy’ drinks are not confined to the gym these days. When you’re hot, thirsty and your energy levels are flagging, there is nothing better than a cold can or bottle of something, and every supermarket, corner shop and petrol station is happy to give you a whole selection to choose from. An energy drink is the perfect way to rehydrate, and to give you a boost of va-va-woom to get you through the rest of the day, right?
Wrong.
The vast majority of ‘energy’ drinks on the market are actually misnamed. They mostly contain stimulants such as caffeine and/or plant extracts. Stimulants don’t actually boost your energy levels.
Stimulants rev up your nervous system, increase your heart rate, and indirectly increase your stress hormone levels. In fact, some ‘energy’ drinks have such high levels of stimulants, that, if you drink the things regularly, they can kill you. Yes, that is not an exaggeration: there have been a number of deaths linked to over-consumption of stimulants through energy drinks.
The main ‘energy’ boosting ingredient is usually caffeine. Caffeine is a mild diuretic. Drink enough of the stuff, and you’ll likely pee out more water than you took in. This is counterproductive. Caffeine is effective as an ergogenic aid, ie as something that you consume that enhances your speed, strength, focus etc. 1- 2mg or the equivalent of 2 cups of coffee is sufficient to give you a quick boost. One 330ml can of Red Bull contains 9.9g of caffeine. They coyly disguise this as a percentage, so you have to do the math to work it out.
It seems like a lot of us believe the myth, though. According to Statista, in 2024 energy drinks commanded nearly 7% of the soft drinks market, a market share worth around £4 billion. This breaks down to an average annual spend per person of £60 per year. That’s a lot of dosh spent on single use bottles/cans containing a liquid of dubious usefulness.
So what are energy drinks?
Before I answer that question, let me give you a quick canter round some physiology basics.
To understand what an energy drink is, you need to know what the body uses for energy in the form of fuel. Think of the analogy of putting petrol in your car – provided your car is a petrol-fuelled model, all well and good, your car will work. You want the car to move faster, you need to press the accelerator.
The same with energy drinks – if you want more energy, then you need fuel. Caffeine and other stimulants simply press the accelerator.
The most readily digestible and easy to use form of energy for your body are simple carbohydrates, ie sugars. Sugar is readily broken down into glucose in the digestive system, which is then taken up into the blood stream. With the help of insulin, glucose molecules enter cells in the body, where they are basically converted into energy through a process known as cellular respiration. This produces a molecule called adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which essentially is how the body uses fuel from food for metabolic processes. In other words, it enables our bodies to repair and maintain themselves and to carry out whatever activities we choose.
The body can also create energy from fat, via the process of ketosis. This is a much less efficient process.
If your body is using protein for energy, then you are breaking down muscle because of extreme starvation, and you have a much bigger problem to deal with than worrying about whether your drink is an energy drink or not.
Many so-called energy drinks contain little or no carbohydrates (ie sugar), having replaced it with artificial sweeteners to meet the demand for low calorie (note calorie = a unit of energy). Or in the UK to get around the sugar tax on soft drinks that contain sugar.
So the manufacturers had a look to see what else could give the illusion of giving you the energy boost that artificial sweeteners don’t, and came up with the idea of using a bunch of stimulants instead.
Some drinks contain a cocktail of herbs, vitamins and minerals, in the name of boosting your energy levels. Taurine, guarano, ginseng, the variations are endless. Taurine is an amino acid that most of us get enough of through our food. It is also thought to have an action on the heart; its use alongside large doses of caffeine could potentially be synergistic, and contribute to the risk of heart problems.
The herbal ingredients don’t provide fuel either. They may or may not moderate how your body responds to stress. The same goes for any vitamins and minerals included. Magnesium, in the appropriate form, can act as an electrolyte and replace magnesium salts lost in sweat. Vitamin A, which is fat soluble, is unlikely to be absorbed when consumed in a drink that contains no fat.
The effect of stimulants in ramping up your nervous system, increasing the work your heart does (which can be experienced as anxiety), and triggering the release of hormones that keep you alert is essentially a stress response. Long term, it will impair your sleep, mess with your digestive system and leave you feeling even more tired. Metabolic excitation is not cellular respiration.
In fact, excessive caffeine consumption can cause all manner of health problems up to and including heart attacks. It is a worrying trend that and increasingly younger people are suffering from cardiac arrest in the couple of hours after drinking energy drinks, or who drink them on a regular basis.
Personally I think that energy drinks that contain these ingredients are mis-described: they should be called stimulant drinks. But that wouldn’t sound as attractive, would it?
What should you do instead?
If you want to boost flagging energy levels, then you need to consume fuel, either in the form of food or a drink that contains an easily digested carbohydrate. The problem with going the sugary drink route, is that it will give you a quick high by spiking your blood sugar, but it won’t last. Within a matter of hours I can guarantee that you will be craving snacks/feeling ‘hangry’.
‘Energy’ drinks are unlikely to satisfy any hunger pangs even in the short term. They might make you feel alert, even hyper. But you need to understand that they do this by stimulation not by providing energy in the form of fuel for your body. The can of Red Bull I checked out in the supermarket also contains sugar, so arguably it does provide some energy; anything that is labelled as ‘zero’ generally doesn’t.
Sustaining your energy levels across the day means eating balanced meals, with portions sizes that match your energetic output needs.
The only real use for drinking sugary drinks is if you are exercising hard. A gentle 30 minute workout really doesn’t call for extra fuel. An intense 30 spin class might. As might any physical activity lasting an hour or more.
When you exercise, it places stress on your body. This diverts blood and metabolic resources away from your digestive system. For this reason, if you need to refuel while exercising, and immediately after, it needs to be in the most easily absorbed form possible. Some sugar coupled with electrolytes to replace the minerals you lost through sweat fits the bill here.
Let’s go back to the origin of the energy drink phenomenon. In the 1960s, a doctor called Robert Cade looked at basic physiology, and made a drink comprising water with sugar and salt and a squeeze of lemon juice for flavour, for a Miami football team playing in the steamy humid heat of Florida. This was the original composition of Gatorade, which was the first drink aimed at rehydration and energy for sports people. The brand has come a long way since then, and though it still is basically sugar and salt in water along with some flavourings and colourings. However, possibly as a sop to the sugar tax, it now also contains artificial sweeteners, which have no nutritional value whatsoever.
I’m not mentioning a brand for you to rush out and buy it. The point I want to bring out is that originally the creator of the drink looked at how the body works, and simply used the ingredients needed to replenish physical energy (sugar) and replace lost electrolytes (salt). The human body has not evolved so much in the last 60 years that its basic needs are different.
So instead of forking out on expensive sports drinks that may or may not contain fuel, almost certainly contain stimulants (caffeine, guarana, taurine etc), and have a whole load of chemicals including sweeteners, colours, flavours and stabilisers – all of which have the potential to mess with your digestive system and overstimulate your heart – don’t follow the brand-led herd and make your own energy drink.
It’s simple: for one litre of water add a level dessert spoon of granulated sugar, and electrolytes as directed. I use Elete (https://eletewater.co.uk/). I have no affiliation, I like the product because it doesn’t contain anything other than electrolytes, and is almost tasteless. It’s also Informed Sport approved, which is important for anyone competing under rules. Alternatively you could use the rehydration sachets you can buy in the pharmacy that are designed for people who are losing fluids to acute digestive disorders – just add more water than directed.
Sometimes keeping things simple really is the best way.
Learn more about balancing your blood sugar
I have created a mini-training in which you can learn the basics:
- What is blood sugar balance
- Why it’s important
- How to identify spikes and dips
- How to put together meals that will keep your blood sugar and your energy levels consistent
You can purchase the training here.
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