energy drinks -opening a can of worms.
 

yah so ive pretty much noticed the abundance of energy drinks out there nowadays and was wondering which ones are the best? and what if any are the benefits of the common supplements added to it?, besides caffeine and sugar.

the reason i asked is because I'm trying to kick the soda habit, but i find am pretty much tired all the time, and need to focus, so ergo the energy drinks(the sugar free kind). just too much sugar in all the tonic i used to drink. anyways, there's nothing like a good cup of coffee in the morning or b vitamins, but i feel like coffee makes me way too jittery, and it seems that the supplements they add to the energy drinks(taurine etc) take away the bad effects of the caffeine(either that or they have less caffeine per ounce(as i usually drink iced coffee.)

here's an example of an energy drink and the supposed supplements listed in said energy drink:


monster energy: per 8 oz-
has 80 mg of caffeine(according to wiki)
1000 mg taurine
200 mg panax ginseng
energy blend(2500 mg)- L-carnitine, glucose, caffeine, guarana, inositol, gluconorolactone, and maltodextrin

now besides the taurine and inositol which we already now alot about, what would be helpful besides them? and also, what energy drinks have people tried out there? i know there is one big one that vitamin shoppes sell called xtrem shock, which has a whole bunch of crap added to it( pardone my french.)

i find that the caffeine in coke or diet coke is too little, being around 30 mg per 8 oz, and 80 mg per 8 oz is too much sometimes, so i prefer around 60 mg but am flexible.

Ha !

I have only tried red bull... gosh, I was in the middle of the jungle too tired as we had been looking for fossils... nasty... and I gave that thing a little try... I cant even remember the taste as I barely drink a mini portion and gosh, I literally felt I could fly !!!!!!! :yikes:

For me it was too stimulating....

By the way, my ex boss is considered like "the mother of taurine", (you can google her, Herminia Pasantes) and says taurine has NOTHING to do with energy or stimulation ;)

right it doesnt, but it sure does help take back the kick that caffeine has on your heart down a notch, so u don't have extreme heart palpitations.

hehe

Well, knowing that the meat is the best source of taurine.... (liver in first place, and I quite like it, so, I might eat some liver... :rolleyes: ) Im wondering if I drink a heavy coffee next to my meat... will that reduce the coffe side effects like palpitations or pupil enlargement !? :yikes: Never thought of that before.... intersting....

oh, sorry, im rambling... Id better go to sleep. :D

My chiro had some of these samples I was impressed at how energized calm, focused I felt and the feeling lasted all afternoon/evening with no "crash".
I did buy the concentrate for a few months but it is spendy. It's one of those things that if you join you get a small discount.

http://us.univera.com/products/xtra/agelessxtra

I think there are other types of these products out there- searching by the ingredient names might be a way to find them.

But these are based on building your body vs what the "energy" drinks do.

yah that looks good, only it has cordyceps(me and mushrooms don't get along), and doesnt contain caffeine. i would rather just go with the new energy supplement if i was looking for something without caffeine, FRS, which i think contains an energizing form of quercetin amongst other things.

I should have added that you'd have to check that those ingredients wouldn't interact with any meds or OTC supplements.

I was thinking that if you are tired all the time {unless you have chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia? type of syndrome} that your adrenals could be depleted... it's been a long time since I read about that though..
but building your body up vs relying on a energy drink in the long run would be much better for you.

Once in awhile wouldn't hurt if that is what you meant.. but I would not drink them regularly.

what about some of the Sobe type juices, some of those have energy stuff added. yummy too.

zipfizz
 

zipfizz is a nice little drink mix, that i noticed was of good quality.

and contains lots of other good stuff too, electrolytes, alpha lipoic acid etc.

http://www.zipfizz.com/



comparison chart


altho im trying to find a good place to purchase this, but so far havent found anything good. they are 2$ per tube on the website, not including shipping

I wonder how they got 900mg of potassium in there? FDA max is 99mg of added potassium in a supplement or food.
900mg is more than most RX potassium replacements.

hmm yah, thats a little much