"Feeling tired? Grab a bottle. Need to stay awake for a long drive or a late-night shift? Grab a bottle." This is a common slogan for many energy drinks. In recent years, the market for energy drinks has developed rapidly. Data shows that the Chinese energy drink market has rapidly risen from 2007 to 2017 and has been steadily growing.
Now, energy drinks are very common in major supermarkets, and many people believe they are healthier than regular sweet drinks, and they are also the mental support for workers who have to stay up late. However, there has been recent news that drinking too much energy drinks may cause anxiety and insomnia.
This has made many workers feel a tremor in their hearts: Is this true? The energy drink in their hands suddenly doesn't taste good anymore. How harmful is it to stay up late often? Should we drink energy drinks in our daily life? Let's talk about energy drinks.
Can drinking energy drinks help to refresh and fight fatigue?
For modern workers, endless work, irresistible socializing, and indispensable relaxation and entertainment have made staying up late a common occurrence.
We don't need to introduce the harm of staying up late anymore. Some people may think that although staying up late is harmful to health, energy drinks are "nutritious" and can be drunk during the night to refresh and wake up the brain, and they can also fight fatigue! So, what about this kind of drink?
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According to the provisions in "GB/T 10789-2015 General Rules for Beverages," energy drinks are a type of special-purpose beverage. Energy drinks do not contain alcohol, but they contain caffeine, vitamins, and a series of "functional ingredients" such as taurine, ginseng, and guarana.
Caffeine can excite the sympathetic nervous system, stimulate the brain to wake up, promote blood circulation, improve attention, enhance alertness, and thus achieve the effect of relieving fatigue; taurine can quickly eliminate free radicals and regulate calcium ion transport, which also has an anti-fatigue effect; other ingredients also help to reduce the impact of fatigue.
Animal experiments have shown that giving mice energy drinks can improve exercise endurance, increase liver glycogen content, reduce the level of lactic acid and urea nitrogen in mice after exercise, and have an anti-fatigue effect on the body. Moreover, the greater the amount of energy drinks consumed, the more obvious the effect.
So, if we only look at this perspective, drinking energy drinks during the night may indeed have a certain anti-fatigue effect. Many friends also feel "refreshed" when they drink a can during the night. But the question arises, what is the price?Do Energy Drinks Have "Side Effects"?
Energy drinks generally taste good and are very palatable, making it easy for people to consume too much of them. Some people even treat them as regular beverages, drinking one bottle after another, leading to excessive intake of caffeine and sugar.
Let's first talk about caffeine. Excessive intake of caffeine can be harmful to health, causing symptoms such as insomnia, palpitations, and anxiety, and may also lead to dependence. For example, if you drink one can of energy drink today and feel energetic, you may need N+1 cans to achieve the same effect if you drink it regularly, resulting in an increasing intake of caffeine.
Studies have shown that drinking 250 milliliters of energy drinks daily can increase the risk of anxiety and depression in young adults. For teenagers, their ability to metabolize caffeine is weaker than that of adults. If they frequently consume energy drinks, it will not only increase the risk of depression but also reduce the sleep time of teenagers, leading to sleep disorders.
In addition, excessive intake of energy drinks can lead to changes in vascular endothelial function, causing acute vascular endothelial disorders. It was reported that a 14-year-old boy experienced chest pain and discomfort after drinking energy drinks for 5 consecutive days before participating in a running race, and an electrocardiogram showed atrial fibrillation. Another healthy 28-year-old man suffered from sudden cardiac arrest after drinking 7-8 cans of energy drinks before participating in a motorcycle cross-country race.
The Science Consensus on the Relationship between Coffee and Health, released by five institutions including the Food and Health Information Communication Center, the Nutrition and Health Institute of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Food Hygiene Branch of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association, recommends that the daily intake of caffeine for ordinary adults should be controlled within 400 milligrams. The caffeine content of general energy drinks is 50-504 milligrams per can or bottle. If the consumption is not well controlled, it may lead to excessive intake of caffeine.
For example, the following is a popular brand of energy drink that many people often drink, and the bottle is marked with 50 milligrams of caffeine per can.
Figure: E-commerce platform
Some brands of energy drinks do not mark the caffeine content on the bottle, but this does not mean there is no caffeine, and the content may be very high. For instance, someone once evaluated several energy drinks on the market and found that among the six common energy drinks tested, the lowest caffeine content was 41 milligrams, and the highest reached 83.49 milligrams. The one with the highest caffeine content did not mark the caffeine content on the bottle.Secondly, excessive intake of energy drinks can lead to a high intake of sugar. The "Chinese Dietary Guidelines" suggests that the daily sugar intake for each person should be controlled within 25 grams, while the sugar content of energy drinks is generally not low. The evaluation mentioned earlier showed that among the 6 commonly available energy drinks tested, the lowest sugar content was 1.32 grams per can, and the highest reached 37.62 grams per can, exceeding the 25-gram standard with just one can.
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Excessive intake of sugar not only increases the risk of dental caries but also increases the risk of obesity and chronic diseases. Data statistics show that in 2017 alone, nearly 13,000 deaths in China can be attributed to coronary heart disease and diabetes caused by sweet drinks.
So, don't think that energy drinks can refresh and have some nutritional components and drink them without restraint. Only by controlling the amount can we make better use of it.
Can everyone drink energy drinks?
Although drinking energy drinks can make you energetic, it is not recommended for everyone. The following five groups of people should especially control the amount, and if they feel unwell, they should not drink:
1
Pregnant women and lactating populations
Most energy drink labels will indicate that pregnant women and lactating people should not drink, to avoid affecting the health of the fetus and the baby.Children and Adolescents
Individuals in this age group have a lower metabolic capacity for caffeine, and excessive consumption can cause greater harm.
3
Patients with Gastrointestinal Diseases
Caffeine can stimulate the secretion of stomach acid, which may lead to discomfort.
4
People Taking Medications
Those who are currently taking certain medications should not consume energy drinks without consulting a doctor to avoid affecting the efficacy of the medication.
5
(The original text ends abruptly, so there is no content to translate for point 5. If there is more information to be added, please provide it, and I will be happy to translate it.)Alcohol Consumers
Do not consume energy drinks while drinking alcohol, as it can make people so excited that they do not realize they are drunk, thus drinking more alcohol and increasing the harm to the body.
Summary:
To avoid the damage caused by staying up late, the best method is not to stay up late.
Occasionally refreshing oneself when feeling sleepy and tired is understandable, but do not use it to sustain life! If you are really tired, take a break!
Moderate consumption of energy drinks can make you more spirited and clear-headed when facing the things and work in front of you. However, excessive consumption can increase the risk of anxiety, depression, obesity, chronic diseases, and sleep disorders.
Finally, a reminder: energy drinks are not medicine and cannot cure diseases.