JTF.ORG Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Dan Ben Noah on January 10, 2012, 07:35:02 PM
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Shalom
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While on deployment this year, I noticed a lot of people preferring energy drinks like Red Bull and Monster over regular pops like Coke and Pepsi. Apparently some energy drinks have vitamins such as B12 in them, whereas pop has nothing healthy. However on the cans they have warnings limiting people to 3 cans per day and saying that they are not recommended for people sensitive to caffeine. Before my deployment I'd never tried the things, but I kind of got onto them and now I'm drinking one per day if I'm near a place that sells them. I haven't noticed any problems as a result of them but I feel kind of odd drinking something that has a warning on the back. I know we have some JTFers in the health profession, and Chaim is an expert on all things healthy, so I was wondering if any of you could tell me what the health benefits/risks of drinking energy drinks are. Thanks in advance.
Energy drinks have twice as much caffeine I believe as soda.. Just remember that... they are equivalent to a cup of coffee. Some people with heart problems can have issues with too much caffeine at one time. I actually had a friend who just past away from a rare heart condition, and there is a possibly that having too much coffee the night before contributed to it.
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While on deployment this year, I noticed a lot of people preferring energy drinks like Red Bull and Monster over regular pops like Coke and Pepsi. Apparently some energy drinks have vitamins such as B12 in them, whereas pop has nothing healthy. However on the cans they have warnings limiting people to 3 cans per day and saying that they are not recommended for people sensitive to caffeine. Before my deployment I'd never tried the things, but I kind of got onto them and now I'm drinking one per day if I'm near a place that sells them. I haven't noticed any problems as a result of them but I feel kind of odd drinking something that has a warning on the back. I know we have some JTFers in the health profession, and Chaim is an expert on all things healthy, so I was wondering if any of you could tell me what the health benefits/risks of drinking energy drinks are. Thanks in advance.
Some of these energy drinks can have a lot of sugar, which can cause an insulin spike than will lead to an energy crash. On the other hand, the sugar-free drinks have Aspartame or other artificial sweeteners that are also unhealthy.
Generally, your better off getting your energy from proper sleep, diet, and exercise. Try some deep breathing if you feel tired, oxygen is what you need when you yawn and feel tired.
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Dan, you're a young healthy person. So I don't understand why you would need energy drinks. You, and everyone else for that matter, need to get enough rest and exercise.
Coffee, on the other hand, is a different story, as there are health benefits. But from what I understand these, energy drinks are like liquid "uppers." Don't get addicted to them. There's a reason there are warnings on the labels. Try and get your energy from generally healthy foods.
Also, Maimonides is absolutely right about sugar. It's very bad for you, as are the artificial sweeteners. They can still make you gain weight despite having "zero" calories.
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Well if the only problems are that they have the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee and some sugar in them, I don't see how they can be too much harm every once in awhile. The sugar looks to be less per serving than a can of pop. I don't really need energy drinks, I just like them. I still get rest and exercise and function fine without them. I was worried that maybe the energy blend may have some chemical properties that would cause long-term harm to the body.
Dan, they're stronger than a cup of coffee.
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Regarding RED BULL:
France and Denmark prohibited Red Bull as a cocktail of death, due to its vitamin components mixed with GLUCURONOLACTONE, a highly dangerous chemical, which was developed by the United States Department of Defense during the sixties to stimulate the moral of the troops based in VIETNAM, which acted like a hallucinogenic drug that calmed the stress of the war.
But their effects in the organism were so devastating, that it was discontinued, because of the high index of cases of migraines, cerebral tumors and diseases of the liver that was evident in the soldiers who consumed it.
And in spite of it, in the can of RED BULL you can still find as one of its components: GLUCURONOLACTONE, categorized medically as a stimulant. But what it does not say on the can of, RED BULL are the consequences of its consumption, and that has forced us to place a series of WARNINGS:
1. It is dangerous to take it if you do not engage in physical exercise afterwards, since its energizing function accelerates the heart rate and can cause a sudden attack.
2. You run the risk of undergoing a cerebral hemorrhage, because RED BULL contains components that dilute the blood so that the heart utilizes less energy to pump the blood, and thus be able to deliver physical force with less effort being exerted.
3. It is prohibited to mix RED BULL with alcohol, because the mixture turns the drink into a “Deadly Bomb” that attacks the liver directly, causing the affected area never to regenerate anymore.
4. One of the main components of RED BULL is the B12 vitamin, used in medicine to recover patients who are in a coma; from here the hypertension and the state of excitement which is experienced after taking it, as if you were in a drunken state.
5. The regular consumption of RED BULL triggers off symptoms in the form of a series of irreversible nervous and neuronal diseases.
CONCLUSION: It is a drink that should be prohibited in the entire world as when it is mixed with alcohol it creates a TIME BOMB for the human body, mainly between innocent adolescents and adults with little experience.
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I would have to concur with Lisa, briann, IsraelForever and Maimonides.
The healthiest route to go is with tea. Particularly black tea with no milk, no sugar or sugar substitutes. It's rich in antioxidants and I haven't read any conflicting reports concerning its health. The verdict is not out yet concerning coffee. I've read scientific reports citing health benefits and reports citing health risks. If you want to go the coffee route though I would limit my intake to one 8-12 oz cup in the morning.
The horrible health ramifications greatly outweigh the benefits that may be derived from consuming these energy drinks.
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I know two or three people at my work who claimed they love to drink Red Bull and alcohol. I thought it sounded stupid...
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I drink black or earl gray tea....best thing for you
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If they have caffeine, bitter orange, yerba mate, or any similar substances, not at all.
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I've had several boxes of Red Bull. Each box has 6X4 cans.
I can tell you, they're not as effective as a simple cup of coffee or tea.
Why? Its got about as much caffeine as a cup of starbucks coffee. So....Well, its also got truck loads of sugar. The overdose puts me to sleep.
Whereas a simple cup of coffee or tea with some cream or milk or without will keep me alert for few hours.
They're pointless wastes of money.
There is one energy drink thats in the same type of can as red bull.
Jamba
No, I don't work for jamba.
I had those this week and it seems to have the same effects as coffee/tea with sugar and fruit juice.
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IsraelForever, regarding the glucuronolactone horror story, I found this on Wikipedia from Snopes:
Glucuronolactone has received some notoriety due to urban legends that it was a Vietnam War-era drug manufactured by the American government. The rumor goes on to say that it was banned due to several brain tumor-related deaths. The rumor has since been proven false, as neither the cited British Medical Journal article nor the "banning of its consumption" ever occurred. Furthermore, no warnings appear on the Food and Drug Administration website regarding its potential to cause brain tumors or other maladies.
Aha! Okay, so that knocks down that. Actually, I did mean to check it out before I pressed "Post". That part did sound fishy.
I've read that a drink like Gatorade is better for you.
Even though I've heard that Red Bull can be bad, when it comes down to it, how many people die or are hurt from drinking Red Bull? Wouldn't it be banned if so many people were getting hurt from drinking it? I guess it can't be THAT bad.
I'm not a doctor, so take what I say with a grain of salt. But not too much salt, cuz salt is bad for you in high amounts!
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Why are you asking us about this Dan if you already have your mind made up?
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Regarding RED BULL:
.........
CONCLUSION: It is a drink that should be prohibited in the entire world as when it is mixed with alcohol it creates a TIME BOMB for the human body, mainly between innocent adolescents and adults with little experience.
ban? really? it is not the gov'ts business to mess with that stuff.
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I wouldn't ban it. I got that off the internet to show what's been said about the product and how people react. I have heard bad things about Red Bull for a number of years.
I also wouldn't drink it. But that's just me.
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Every once in a while I've used energy drinks when I had to go to work or had to do something physical when I was absolutely worn out and sleep wasn't an option. I think they can be used as an occasional tool by relatively healthy people.
For a regular basis, I think it's a bad idea. They do make your heart beat faster than normal and have stimulants other than just caffeine in them. I think at the very least this could age your heart faster if you drank them regularly. It's hard to know exactly how badly a particular drink will affect you because of the mix of different chemicals in them.
I can see if you had a serious need for alertness in a combat situation or something like that it might be useful to help you stay alert but not as an every day soft drink.
I notice if I drink one when I'm tired they work as usual but if I drink one when I don't need it I get the jitters.
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Dan, I think it's best that you stick with coffee. Why risk your health?
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Red Bull contains at least three types of active ingredients in abnormal quantities: Caffeine, Taurine, and Sugar. Even more harmful is the habit of taking them with alcohol, caffeine and alcohol are a bad combination.
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I really never understood the appeal of caffeine/alcohol mix. When are you supposed to drink it? You can't drink alcohol in the morning and you probably don't want to drink caffeine at night. I've had a little bit of Bailey's in some coffee or hot cocoa a couple of times but that was for the flavor of it. I'm not sure what people get by mixing something like red bull with alcohol.
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Dan, don't take your good health for granted.
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I really never understood the appeal of caffeine/alcohol mix. When are you supposed to drink it? You can't drink alcohol in the morning and you probably don't want to drink caffeine at night. I've had a little bit of Bailey's in some coffee or hot cocoa a couple of times but that was for the flavor of it. I'm not sure what people get by mixing something like red bull with alcohol.
The caffeine kick makes it possible to consume even more alcohol because it takes away some of the fatigue feeling from the alcohol. That is why people like vodka-redbull when they are partying at the clubs.
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Energy drinks are not healthy. I would just stick to coffee.
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Looks like you already have your mind made up.
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I really never understood the appeal of caffeine/alcohol mix. When are you supposed to drink it? You can't drink alcohol in the morning and you probably don't want to drink caffeine at night. I've had a little bit of Bailey's in some coffee or hot cocoa a couple of times but that was for the flavor of it. I'm not sure what people get by mixing something like red bull with alcohol.
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False sense of being alert while actually being drunk, it's self-deceiving
Most of these drinks have several stimulants in them in the form of caffeine and some herbs that co-augment each other in terms of wakefulness, but they are quite bad for you
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בס''ד
These drinks are temporary artificial stimulants. They are very unhealthy. I think it's better to be tired (as bad as that is) than to be unhealthy.
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While on deployment this year, I noticed a lot of people preferring energy drinks like Red Bull and Monster over regular pops like Coke and Pepsi. Apparently some energy drinks have vitamins such as B12 in them, whereas pop has nothing healthy. However on the cans they have warnings limiting people to 3 cans per day and saying that they are not recommended for people sensitive to caffeine. Before my deployment I'd never tried the things, but I kind of got onto them and now I'm drinking one per day if I'm near a place that sells them. I haven't noticed any problems as a result of them but I feel kind of odd drinking something that has a warning on the back. I know we have some JTFers in the health profession, and Chaim is an expert on all things healthy, so I was wondering if any of you could tell me what the health benefits/risks of drinking energy drinks are. Thanks in advance.
My guess would be they are not healthy at all.
The caffeine intake is a problem. The reason people "prefer" these to soda is because they are loaded with a ton more caffeine. So it's like soda but worse. Maybe there's also less sugar than soda, I don't know, but it's probably not the point. Personally, I would never touch one of these things, and I barely ever drink soda either, but for sure would never touch an energy drink.
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My guess would be they are not healthy at all.
The caffeine intake is a problem. The reason people "prefer" these to soda is because they are loaded with a ton more caffeine. So it's like soda but worse. Maybe there's also less sugar than soda, I don't know, but it's probably not the point. Personally, I would never touch one of these things, and I barely ever drink soda either, but for sure would never touch an energy drink.
Is it not permitted to even touch an energy drink? Or is it just not to drink it?
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Is it not permitted to even touch an energy drink? Or is it just not to drink it?
Permitted? By whom? I was giving my personal preference.
And "even touch it" is an obvious figure of speech. It means not drinking it. It does not mean literally "not touching it." Did you seriously think that I meant that?
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Permitted? By whom? I was giving my personal preference.
And "even touch it" is an obvious figure of speech. It means not drinking it. It does not mean literally "not touching it." Did you seriously think that I meant that?
No KWRBT... I was just having a little fun... It was a joke.
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By the way, I have never even touched an energy drink myself, come to think of it...
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The caffeine kick makes it possible to consume even more alcohol because it takes away some of the fatigue feeling from the alcohol. That is why people like vodka-redbull when they are partying at the clubs.
That sounds really dangerous. I've never really been the type to see the appeal of actually getting drunk. One drink to loosen up and relax a little yes but getting more and more drunk no.
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False sense of being alert while actually being drunk, it's self-deceiving
Most of these drinks have several stimulants in them in the form of caffeine and some herbs that co-augment each other in terms of wakefulness, but they are quite bad for you
Thanks for the reply. I can see why that would be bad especially if it alter's someone's sense where they think they're sober enough to drive but are fooled by the deceiving effect of the caffeine.
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I know two or three people at my work who claimed they love to drink Red Bull and alcohol. I thought it sounded stupid...
Ya, guys in Yeshiva did this a lot LOL
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From Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Bull
The results of a study showed that the ingestion of one, 250mL can of sugar-free Red Bull, in a sample of 30 healthy young adults, had an immediate detrimental effect on both endothelial*** function, and normal blood coagulation. This temporarily raised the cardiovascular risk in these individuals to a level comparable to that of an individual with established coronary artery disease.
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*** The endothelium is the thin layer of cells that lines the interior surface of blood vessels and lymphatic vessels.
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From Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Bull
The results of a study showed that the ingestion of one, 250mL can of sugar-free Red Bull, in a sample of 30 healthy young adults, had an immediate detrimental effect on both endothelial*** function, and normal blood coagulation. This temporarily raised the cardiovascular risk in these individuals to a level comparable to that of an individual with established coronary artery disease.
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*** The endothelium is the thin layer of cells that lines the interior surface of blood vessels and lymphatic vessels.
Good point: all stimulants can produce a vasospastic response