If you're like most people, you reach for a cup of coffee every morning, since the caffeine can give your brain that get-up-and-go you need to wake up from a night of sleep. Recently though, energy drinks like Red Bull and Rockstar are becoming more popular, since they also give people the buzz they're after.
There are so many different kinds now and they all contain caffeine, but do they contain more than a person should consume in a day? To find out read more
Check out this chart to see how these caffeinated beverages compare.
| Drink | Amount of Caffeine |
| 8.3 oz Red Bull | 80mg |
| 16 oz Monster | 150mg |
| 16 oz. Rockstar | 160mg |
| 16 oz. Rockstar Punched | 240mg |
| 16 oz. Full Throttle | 142mg |
| 16 oz. Burn | 199mg |
| 12 oz. Coca-Cola | 29mg |
| 12 oz Diet Coke | 38mg |
| 16oz. Grande cup of Starbucks Coffee | 330mg |
| 1 oz. Starbucks Espresso | 75mg |
| 8 oz. Organic Black Tea | 65mg |
| 16 oz. Starbucks Hot Chocolate | 25mg |
For the average person, up to 300mg of caffeine a day is considered a safe amount to consume. If you have too much each day, it could affect your sleep patterns, heart rate, blood pressure, cause headaches, or cause a woman to give birth to a smaller baby. As you can see from the chart, energy drinks contain far less caffeine than a Grande cup of Starbucks coffee, which exceeds the recommended daily amount. Most people don't realize how much caffeine they're getting, whether through coffee, soda, or energy drinks, because the amount of caffeine is often not on the container. So if you love caffeine, it's best to limit yourself to one energy drink, or go for a smaller cup of coffee.
Fit's Tips: If you find that you're often tired all day and need a boost, drinking a caffeinated drink is only a temporary fix. In order to have energy all day, make sure you're getting enough sleep each night, getting enough protein, and exercising regularly.
Soft Grey
John Lewis
Miss Sixty
Fit - is there any ingredient in energy drinks other than caffeine that isn't safe or ideal?
1silly3 bring up a great point here - many energy drinks contain additives like guarana or taurine or other unusual things that may cause more problems than the caffeine! This definitely should have been included here because I don't worry about the amount of caffeine but whatever else they've added in. I know that there have been medical reports concerning these additives and their dangers!
2From what I understand, most of these drinks (I know Monster does this, for example) warn that you should not consume more than three of them in a day due to the levels of taurine and potential negative effects. I agree with silly3 and lolbaby575--even though I don't drink energy drinks, things like that are of much more concern to me than caffeine levels.
3I went to a seminar on current drug trends (I'm a social worker not a drug addict
)
and they were really worried about these drinks (esp. Rockstar & Monster). Like tothers have said the taurine/guarana can be VERY dangerous. Sure they're natural & healthy in small
doses, however these drinks mix large amounts of various these various ingredients. There are NO long term studies on the effects of the drinks. I get nervous when my fiance drinks a monster,
but the big problem is children (who are 1/3 of an adult size) drinking 3, 4, 5 of these (just before school). I think the important thing is to monitor children drinking them (ban them from
schools possibly?). An adults should be cautious when drinking them (read the ingredients and google what they are it's kind of scary!). And of course women who are pregnant should STEER
CLEAR! I'm NOT an expert (AT ALL) on these drinks, but there definitely needs to be long term studies on these drinks! I'll admit it I'm a coffee adict and enjoy an occasional Red Bull or
Enviga, but hearing about the potential side effects (brain damage!?) has got me worried!
4I can't stand these drinks, I think its all the sugar they have in them. They leave me feeling sick to my stomach not energized.
5Hm. I thought Red Bull would be worse.
I heard (rumor alert) that they are trying to ban mixing Red Bull and Vodka (or other alcohol) in DC because it has hard on your heart since it is a stimulant and a depressant mixed together into one.
They arent banning Red Bull, just serving it mixed with alcohol.
6Ugh, those gross. My bf drinks them all the time. He used to drink Enviga, which has Splenda or aspartamene in it, so it wasn't bad on the calories, plus it's a smaller portion. But those are impossible to find now, so he drinks the Monster, or whatever he can find. I think they are SOOO bad.
7Rockstar tastes naaaaaaaaaaasty.
8I've only tried a sip of someone's Red Bull and vodka just out of curiosity, but otherwise I've never had an energy drink. They gross me out. I'll just stick with my SMALL coffee if I need a little boost. I am surprised to see that black tea has more caffeine than a Diet Coke!
9oh my gosh, i drink a venti starbuck's coffee almost every day. no wonder i am so jacked up!
10guilty
...i like the pomegranate rockstar.
11I'm the same as nikodarling...it's the sugar that really jacks up my system.
12love monters. haven't had one in quite some time though. but when i worked at a clinic i'd drink one every other day. coming down from those drinks suck though, it drains you. but i usually drank 2 bottles of water each day also cause i would feel dehydrated.
13Warning about the energy drink "Spike Shooter." I seriously felt like I was going to die about a month ago when I drank one small 8 oz can of this stuff (for the first time), which I purchased from 7-11. My body is pretty much immune to caffeine, as Monster and Red Bull for example, have no effect and I can fall asleep after drinking a few. I didn't think I would react much, if at all to the 300 mg of caffeine in Spike, as well as having 25,000% of your daily value of niacin, in addition to other supplements. After 30 minutes, my body was convulsing, I was burning up but freezing at the same time, as my body shivered and began to sweat profusely. Since I have panic attacks quite often, I began my breathing exercises to try and calm myself down but they just didn't work. For the next 48 hours, I was bed-ridden, shaking, sweating, and felt like I was going to throw up the entire time (even after not eating 24 hours after consuming the drink). Obviously I could not sleep. I couldn't get out of bed without feeling weak and to top it off, it felt like I had the world's worst hangover, like nothing I've ever felt before. Needless to say, I swore off caffeine for good. After my experience, that was enough to make me never want to go near it again. I am currently working on getting 7-11 to stop carrying the drink, as if it had that effect on me, I can't even imagine what it could do to other people.
14Mmm, Red Bull.
I find you either love it or you hate it.
I hated it... till a few years ago I ended up having 40 free cans of it in the fridge with nothing else to drink but water.
So I popped and can and started playing DDR. First sip was gross. But I hate wasting things, so after every song I'd chug as much as I could out of the can. By the time I stopped playing DDR, I had way more energy than I did than I started with. And with that, I was hooked.
Now I think they taste good. I think it's like beer... totally an acquired taste.
15I've heard about people mixing Red Bull with vodka, which is one of the dumbest things you can do because it messes with your liver and affects how you process the alcohol. I never drink energy drinks anyway, mostly because they're a rip off, but this is just another reason not to.
16I don't go near these.
17I've always liked Red Bull, but I don't drink them too often.
18I saw a woman working out at the gym who was guzzling a redbull on the treadmill in place of her water. I thought that was strange and completely disgusting.
19we all think that red bull was the worst
20and i usually went for the starbucks coffee as the less of two evils
its really suprising that its only 80 compared to starbucks
Those Dew AMP ones give me the shakes and feel funny, bad bad bad.
21OMG I am so confused, i dont know what to drink
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