by Samara Alpern
Daily Lobo columnist
Whether you're facing a boatload of homework, a double shift at work or just a plain old boring life, nothing gives you cracked-out vigor like a Red Bull. Sure, it may taste like medicine, but that's how you know it works, right?
The Red Bull we are familiar with is an Austrian version of a Thai energy drink. Krating Daeng - red bull in Thai - was developed by a pharmaceutical company in Bangkok, hence the curious list of ingredients in every can. Does Red Bull speed metabolisms, improve reaction times, heighten concentration and enhance mood, as the Austrian manufacturer claims?
Out of a recipe of taurine, glucuronolactone, B vitamins, sugar and caffeine, something in there definitely gives you a wicked chemical vibration.
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There are 1,000 milligrams of pharmaceutical-grade taurine in every can of Red Bull. Taurine is basically an amino acid, whose major function in the body is to help metabolize dietary fats. You might be tempted to conclude that this is the ingredient behind Red Bull's claim that the drink speeds metabolism - and while burning fat, too. Sorry, but no.
Healthy people's bodies make all the taurine necessary for optimum physical function, and consuming more taurine through diet has not been shown to amp your metabolism further. If anything, consuming high doses may have adverse health effects. France, Norway and Denmark do not permit Red Bull to be marketed as a regular soft drink because of its taurine content, and - no kidding - recommend consumers get medical advice before imbibing.
Another unusual ingredient in Red Bull is glucuronolactone, a metabolite which naturally occurs in the body. Among the scientific community, little is known about glucuronolactone. In fact, the term is absent from most medical dictionaries. Only a relative handful of medical journal articles in the last 50 years refer to the molecule, let alone investigate its physiological effects in any detail. Compare that to the more than 12,000 articles examining taurine. What on earth does glucuronolactone do to enhance performance? Literally, nobody knows.
Red Bull also contains some B vitamins - niacin, B6, B12 and pantothenic acid - which are essential to the body for retrieving energy. Jim Swan, professor of anatomy and physiology at UNM, said, "Most people with an ordinary diet get what they need." The only situation where consuming B vitamins improves energy is when a person suffers a B vitamin deficiency. As with taurine, taking extra B vitamins will not increase energy metabolism in healthy people.
That leaves boring old sugar and caffeine to explain how Red Bull gives you wings.
The drink contains both sucrose - table sugar - and glucose. Glucose is the sugar most quickly absorbed by the body, so Swan hypothesizes that you may feel the energy from those 5.25 grams of glucose 30 minutes before you feel the energy from the sucrose. Each Red Bull contains about as much total sugar as a candy bar.
Caffeine has effects with which most of us are familiar. But did you know that extensive scientific research has proven caffeine does in fact increase metabolism, improve physical performance, sharpen concentration and lift emotional status? Coincidentally, these are all claims made for Red Bull. These benefits come with modest caffeine consumption, usually a cup of coffee's worth or less. Consumed at higher levels, caffeine can instead cause anxiety, headaches and degraded concentration, among other effects. Each serving of Red Bull has the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee, and can be assumed to have similar effects.
The Red Bull company maintains that it is not the effect of each individual ingredient, but the synergistic effect of all the ingredients together. This theory sounds good, but there is no quality scientific data to support it.
Since the basic formula for Red Bull was developed in Thailand, it's possible that taurine, glucuronolactone and B vitamins are valued for different medicinal properties than they are in the United States, but according to Western science, these ingredients have questionable physiological value at best.
A cup of sweetened coffee or a Coke or two will do basically the same for you as a Red Bull - at about a quarter of the price.
Samara Alpern is a nutrition major at UNM. You can send your health and nutrition questions to opinion@unm.edu or lobonews@unm.edu.
