Energy Drink Ingredients

What’s in that can of instant party?

There are about as many different types of energy drinks out there as there are different types of soda or breakfast cereals. So it’s inevitable that the ingredients that prepare you for takeoff vary as energy drink manufacturers seek to put together the next best buzz.

The assorted ingredients – chemicals, compounds, herbs and vitamins – in each drink will obviously affect its taste, the type of energy created, the duration of the buzz and its health-related properties. However, one thing’s for sure: each brand tries to outdo the next when it comes to the high, and many energy drink devotees encourage this in their constant quests for the next and best.

Ingredients that add to the taste of a certain drink (in addition to the amount of sugar it contains) may turn you onto one drink over another. The types of ingredients you’ll look for in an energy drink will depend partly on your preferred tastes, and partly on the high you’re hoping to achieve. For example, if you’re looking to stay awake while studying for your SATs, you’ll need to seek out a drink that has high caffeine content and low sugar content. Yet, rather then going on the recommendation of the raver kid down the hall, you might want to know what you’re actually pouring down your gullet, and for that you’ll need to read the drink’s nutritional label.

On average, most energy drinks will contain the same base ingredients: carbonated water, citric acid, corn syrup, sodium, fruit juices, niacin, sucrose, fructose, phosphate, riboflavin, dextrose, sodium benzoate, potassium chloride, herbs, sodium citrate, gum Arabic, caffeine, taurine, guarana, gingko, sugar, vitamins, inositol, carnitine, ginseng, green leaf tea and milk thistle. Stimulants like caffeine, taurine and guarana are added to give you that feeling you get when you drink a cup of java – times three.

Sugar is probably the other integral ingredient. If your drink contains too much sugar, your high will be ephemeral yet short-lived. This is because your insulin levels will suddenly spike because of the sugar overload, and then come crashing down as the sugar works its way out of your bloodstream. An energy drink with too much sugar will likely leave you feeling more exhausted and cranky than before you had the drink. However, sometimes a short-lived high is all you need.

The marketing of energy drinks is confusing because it focuses on so-called “healthy” ingredients such as ginseng and green tea, which have shown themselves as beneficial antioxidants that encourage alertness. Yet ingredients with negative affects – such as caffeine, sodium, sucrose, fructose and guarana – are often overlooked in the marketing of these drinks. Any doctor will tell you that substances containing synthetic stimulants – like high levels of caffeine and sugar – should be consumed in moderation because of the unnatural way that they rev up a person’s heart rate and insulin levels. After all, if you partake of too much of any unnatural stimulant – cigarettes, alcohol, soda pop, coffee or energy drinks – you could be sacrificing your body in the long run for the short-term effects.