Energy drink
Energy drinks are beverages with legal stimulants, vitamins (especially vitamin B) and minerals to give the user a burst of energy. Common ingredients include caffeine, guarana (caffeine from the Guarana plant), taurine, various forms of ginseng, maltodextrin, inositol, carnitine, creatine, glucuronolactone and ginkgo biloba. Some contain high levels of sugar, or glucose. These drinks are typically marketed towards young people, students, people 'on the go' and those who play sports. Many such beverages are flavored or colored to resemble other soft drinks.
History
Jolt Cola was one of the first energy drinks available in North America, first released in the 1980s. It was essentially an extremely high-caffeine, high-sugar brand of cola. It pioneered a marketing strategy still widely in use by energy drinks today, targeting a generally younger audience, mostly students and professionals, busy people and billing itself as something that was not necessarily healthy but which would allow them to cram more hours into their day. Later, marketing turned further and further toward people involved in the technology industry, and consequently, energy drinks today are commonly associated with the image of a hacker or IT professional, sitting up late at his computer trying to stay awake.
The recent energy drink phenomenon in North American seemed to follow the sudden popularity of Red Bull, which still has roughly 70% of the market, and Pepsi's aborted Josta, which contained "exotic" South American herbs.
In Japan, the energy drink phenomenon dates at least as far back as the early 1960s, with the release of the Lipovitan D drink from Taisho Pharmaceuticals. Most such products in Japan bear little resemblance to soft drinks, and are sold instead in small brown glass medicine bottles or cans styled to resemble such containers. These "genki drinks" are marketed primarily to the salaryman set, to help them work long hours, or to stay awake on the late commute home.
In the beginning of the 21st century, the addition of energy components into alcoholic berverages made an impact on the market. Many malt beverages such as Sparks, 3sum malt beverage, and Max capitalized on the effects of caffeine while drinking alcohol.
Energy drinks are different from sports drinks. Most energy drinks simply provide lots of sugar or caffeine. Sports drinks are intended to replenish electrolytes, sugars, water and other nutrients and are usually isotonic (containing the same proportions as found in the human body).
Addiction potential
The only possible physically addictive ingredients in most of these drinks are caffeine and guarana, which cause physical addiction in large doses or with prolonged use (quantities in energy drinks are comparable to amounts in coffee). Since withdrawal from both is usually mild, mainly headaches, addiction to energy drinks is mostly psychological addiction.
Table of energy drinks
A table of energy drinks follows, with a few coffee variants listed for comparison, and marked in a different color. Note that caffeine content in coffee flavors varies, depending on both caffeine content and how the caffeine beans were roasted. Source of some data listed below: Energy Fiend.
| Energy drink | Caffeine (mg/oz) |
|---|---|
| 180 | |
| 3SUM (with 6% alcohol) | |
| Adrenaline Rush | |
| Adrenaline Rush (Sugar Free) | 8.93 |
| AMP | 8.93 |
| Battery | |
| Bawls | 6.70 |
| BE (with 4.4-6.6% alcohol) | |
| Boo Koo | 5.00 |
| Booster | |
| Coffee, brewed | 7-16 (varies) |
| Coffee, instant | 9-14 (varies) |
| Catalyst | |
| Clone | |
| Commando Bear 2000 | |
| Crunk!!! | 12.02 |
| Cult | |
| Diesel | |
| Donkey Kick | |
| Espresso | 20-50 (varies) |
| Full Throttle | 8.81 |
| Go Fast | |
| Guru | |
| Hansen's Energy | |
| Impulse | |
| Jolt Cola | 6.00 |
| Jones Energy (Mixed-Berry) | |
| Kore | |
| Lift plus | |
| Lipovitan D (リポビタンD) | 14.8 |
| Lost | |
| Max Velocity | |
| MDX | 5.88 (diet: 6.25) |
| Monster | 8.75 |
| No Fear | 9.38 |
| Phantom | |
| Piranha | |
| Pimp Juice | 12.50 |
| Pit Bull | |
| Purdey's Activation | |
| Red Bull | 9.64 |
| Red-Eye | |
| Red Jak | |
| Red Thunder | |
| Rip It | |
| Rockstar | 9.38 |
| Rockstar (Diet) | |
| Rockstar (Cola) | |
| Rooster Booster | |
| ROX | |
| Rush! | |
| Rushh | |
| Semtex | |
| Silverback | |
| SoBe Adrenaline Rush | 9.52 |
| SoBe Energy | |
| SoBe No Fear | |
| SoBe Power | |
| Socko | |
| Socko Slim | |
| Sparks (alcoholic) | |
| Stacker 2 (Pounding Punch) | |
| Stacker 2 (Sinful Citrus) | |
| Steven Seagal's Lightning Bolt | |
| TNT | |
| V | |
| Von Dutch | |
| XS | 10.12 |
| Zygo Energy Vodka |
References
- Study of sleep and energy drinks. PMID 11897259