Man sues Red Bull

[Racket_Man]

because it is too weak.

http://money.msn.com/now/post.aspx?p...7-7e1b71096082

He claims that a regualr cup of coffee and NoDoz (caffine pills) tabs have way more caffine.

This is the first time I have EVER heard a complaint about "energy" drinks not being powerful enough.

[bara]

Im pretty sure I just saw something in the paper recently about those energy drinks getting people in the ER...Ill just stick with coffee.. and preferably lots of sleep the night before.. thank you very much.

[Nekojin]

The man has no leg to stand on with regard to the advertising campaign. Since the literal meaning of the ad slogan, "Red Bull Gives You Wings," is obviously not true, it's obvious hyperbole. They're not making any actual claims about the contents of the drink, so there's no false advertisement going on. If you read too much into a slogan as silly as that one, it's your own fault, not Red Bull's.

[crashhelmet]

Energy drinks get their sources of "Energy" from more than just caffeine. They don't advertise to be caffeine drinks or caffeine supplements.

Their other sources are
Taurine - Taurine is naturally found in meat. In the human body, it's designed to help your muslces get the necessary fuels that it needs. It's believed that it helps to consume the fatty deposits on your liver and other organs to get that fuel. Energy drinks tend to have a shitload of Taurine in them. It's what gives them that biter taste.

IIRC, Taurine is required by the government to be included in all cat food. Cats go blind if they experience a Taurine Difficiency.

Vitamin B3 (aka Niacin) - Niacin takes stored simple carbohydrates and fat and burns them off as fuel, giving you energy. However, there's only so much your body can ingest (~35mg) before you start to "flush." This is the reaction most people experience that gets scary. What most people fail to realize is that Niacin is found in a lot of foods already. Chicken, Salmon, Broccoli, Apples, and Spinach are "super foods" because they contain "high" amounts of Niacin.

Vitamin B6 - Help promote Gluconeogenesis and increases your metabolism, providing more fuel for your body.

Vitamin B12 - there really is no use for it here, other than a B12 difficiency can cause damage to the brain and nervous system. It's believed that an abundance of it helps "spark" the activity in the brain. It makes you feel awake.

All of the B Vitamins are water soluble, so you'll pee out any excess that you intake. Including the B3/Niacin. However, there's always a however, they're always coupled with caffeine. Caffeine dehydrates your body. If you don't have the water in you because of the caffeine, you won't have the water in you to pee out the excess vitamins. This taxes your kidneys and causes problems there.

[Amanita]

About the article claiming that energy drinks have caused a spike in ER visits- I was talking about that with a friend recently. I told her that I would hate to see things like that leading to blanket bans or other nanny-state foolishness.

You see, I'm a night shift security guard, and I use the things for their intended purpose. One can of Monster a couple of hours into my shift helps keep me from getting dozy, especially if I haven't gotten enough sleep that day. But I only drink that one can (that's the dose recommended anyhow), and I don't combine it with other stimulants, or guzzle the stuff when I'm not working.

I think that education is key here- perhaps so many of these young people are getting into trouble out of ignorance. Don't go all puritanical on them, don't use scare tactics, just the facts, so hopefully they will learn how to use energy drinks responsibly, instead of doing dumb things with them like downing three huge ones in an hour, or mixing them with ritalin.

[daleduke17]

About the article claiming that energy drinks have caused a spike in ER visits- I was talking about that with a friend recently. I told her that I would hate to see things like that leading to blanket bans or other nanny-state foolishness.

One of Chicago's alderman is wanting to ban the energy drinks. It would be a ban sort of like the NYC soda ban: anything over a certain mg of an ingredient (180mg, but I forget of what) and it would be banned. Monster's 22oz drink would be banned, but the 16oz wouldn't. If I can find the article, I'll post it later (it is lost to the winds of the internet right now).

[HYHYBT]

One of Chicago's alderman is wanting to ban the energy drinks. It would be a ban sort of like the NYC soda ban: anything over a certain mg of an ingredient (180mg, but I forget of what) and it would be banned. Monster's 22oz drink would be banned, but the 16oz wouldn't. If I can find the article, I'll post it later (it is lost to the winds of the internet right now).

That seems particularly counterproductive for canned drinks: someone who wanted the 22oz is likely to take *two* of the 16's, meaning they got twice as much as the city wanted them to instead of less than half again as much (because who's going to leave half an open can sitting around for later?)