To many students, finals week conjures images of two things: all-night cram sessions and the energy drinks that fuel them.
While popular drinks such as Red Bull and 5-hour Energy may help give sleep-deprived students the momentum needed to make it through the day, nutritionists and dietitians warn against their use because the drinks frequently contain unhealthy levels of caffeine and untested dietary supplements that go largely unregulated by the Food and Drug Administration.
University of Maryland Medical Center nutritionist Mindy Athas said because the FDA only investigates dietary supplements when a complaint is filed, there is no way of knowing whether an energy drink actually contains what companies claim it does on the can.
“You just have to be aware that anything that has an herb or a supplement in it can either contain none of what it says, three times the amount of what it says or could actually contain what it says,” she said. “You just don’t know because no one’s going to investigate or test it unless that company sends it to an independent lab to be tested.”
This worries nutritionists because many energy drinks contain herbal additives — such as guarana, taurine and ginseng — which are marketed as natural but whose effects are not completely known.
“Energy drinks tend to have not only caffeine and sugar or some kind of sugar substitute and a whole boatload of B vitamins, but they also throw in all these arcane plane or herbal extracts,” said sociologist Kathleen Miller, who researches energy drink use at the University at Buffalo. “We have really no idea how they interact with each other.”
The additive guarana, often found in “caffeine-free” energy drinks, is concerning to health professionals because it actually contains caffeine that is undocumented on nutrition labels. According to a study in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics published in earlier this year, a milligram of guarana can contain anywhere from 40 to 80 milligrams of caffeine, but manufacturers are not required to list its caffeine content.
Officially, energy drinks tend to have between 70 and 80 mg of caffeine per serving. Red Bull, for example, has 80 mg of caffeine per 8.5-ounce can. By comparison, a cup of coffee typically has between 65 and 120 mg of caffeine. One energy “shot,” 5150 Energy, contains 500 mg of caffeine per one-ounce bottle.
“Our big concern is that people tend to drink [energy drinks] really fast, so they’re getting a concentrated amount of caffeine in a very short period of time. It’s a little bit of a shock to the system,” said campus dietician Jane Jakubczak. “That can be hard on the heart and on your blood pressure. … It’s a stimulant, so it revs up those things very quickly.”
Jakubczak said coffee is usually a safer way to get a caffeine fix because people tend to sip it rather than chug it. She also said many people “over-drink” energy drinks, particularly those that contain more than one serving per container.
Athas also recommended eating protein-rich foods such as tuna fish, because protein suppresses seratonin, making you more alert. Athas said to stay away from carbohydrates, which make you sleepy.
Both said the best way to feel awake is not caffeine at all — Jakubczak said students frequently miss out on the two basic sources of energy: sufficient sleep and nutritious food. Jakubczak said she is amazed at the number of students who go all day without eating because they are too busy with classes and activities.
“If you’re not giving yourself sleep, and you’re not giving yourself good food, then you have to rely on something, and that’s when people have to rely really heavily on caffeine to keep them going,” she said.
Junior bioengineering major Michi Shank said she drinks about 10 energy drinks a week — about two per day — because they help her stay focused in class and when she is studying.
“If I’m really tired and don’t have an energy drink then I’m focusing on staying awake,” she said. “I’ll write stuff down but not necessarily understand what I’m writing.”
Miller said it’s this chemically fueled lifestyle that makes college students the ideal market for the energy drink industry, which has grown into a multi-billion-dollar industry since Red Bull was introduced to the U.S. from Austria in 1997. Dining Services reported selling 30,543 energy drinks and shots in its convenience stores last semester, with peaks during midterms and final exams.
“College students tend to be sensation seekers,” Miller said. “They tend to be very responsive to themes in the advertising that emphasize excitement, and being extreme, and rebellion, and defiance and living your life on the edge.”
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