Lined up on supermarket shelves next to familiar staples such as Gatorade, the juxtaposition alone lets buzz rockets like Red Bull and Monster inconspicuously pass as the embodiment of Sport Drinks 2.0. Yet this new breed of “energy drinks” is loaded with sugar (upward of 60g), jacked with caffeine (as much or more than a cup of coffee), and laden with a number of still unproven products: taurine, guarana, and glucuronolactone, among others.

Led by John P. Higgins, a team of researchers from the University of Texas and the University of Queensland surveyed scientific papers on sports nutrition from 1976 to 2010 for evidence that the main components of energy drinks aided an athlete during competition. Running down the list of drink ingredients, Higgins and his team exposed the reason each was chosen for the energy brew. Caffeine, for example, has been shown to coax fat to burn more efficiently in the body, thereby leaving glycogen stores — a muscle’s energy reserve — untapped.

Pages: 1 2 View All

Authors: Brian Mossop

to know more click here