is drinking an energy drink bad for an athletic?

Answer 1

depends which one. It's basically a sugar caffiene high. I know it sounds stupid but I wsih they made red bull without caffiene

Answer 2

What are energy drinks?
Energy drinks are beverages like Red Bull, Venom, Adrenaline Rush, 180, ISO Sprint, and Whoopass, which contain large doses of caffeine and other legal stimulants like ephedrine, guarana, and ginseng. Energy drinks may contain as much as 80 mg of caffeine, the equivalent of a cup of coffee. Compared to the 37 mg. of caffeine in a Mountain Dew, or the 23 mg. in a Coca-Cola Classic, that's a big punch. These drinks are marketed to people under 30, especially to college students, and are widely available both on and off campus.

Are there short-term dangers to drinking energy drinks?
Individual responses to caffeine vary, and these drinks should be treated carefully because of how powerful they are. Energy drinks' stimulating properties can boost the heart rate and blood pressure (sometimes to the point of palpitations), dehydrate the body, and, like other stimulants, prevent sleep.

Energy drinks should not be used while exercising as the combination of fluid loss from sweating and the diuretic quality of the caffeine can leave the user severely dehydrated.

Know what you're drinking. Energy drinks are not necessarily bad for you, but they shouldn't be seen as "natural alternatives" either. Some of the claims they make like "improved performance and concentration" can be misleading. If you think of them as highly-caffeinated drinks, you'll have a more accurate picture of what they are and how they affect you. You wouldn't use Mountain Dew as a sports drink. And a drink like Red Bull and vodka is more like strong coffee and whisky than anything else.

What happens when energy drinks are combined with alcohol?
Energy drinks are also used as mixers with alcohol. This combination carries a number of dangers:

Since energy drinks are stimulants and alcohol is a depressant, the combination of effects may be dangerous. The stimulant effects can mask how intoxicated you are and prevent you from realizing how much alcohol you have consumed. Fatigue is one of the ways the body normally tells someone that they've had enough to drink.
The stimulant effect can give the person the impression they aren't impaired. No matter how alert you feel, your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is the same as it would be without the energy drink. Once the stimulant effect wears off, the depressant effects of the alcohol will remain and could cause vomiting in your sleep or respiratory depression.
Both energy drinks and alcohol are very dehydrating (the caffeine in energy drinks is a diuretic). Dehydration can hinder your body's ability to metabolize alcohol and will increase the toxicity, and therefore the hangover, the next day.

Answer 3

Depends on the energy drink.
But clean water is best.
Cos it doesnt have sugar which makes you fat.
Sure it gives an energy boost but it wears out and where does that leave you?
Building up a natural source of energy is best

Answer 4

i believe so. energy drinks make you feel and think that you still have heaps of energy but in reality your body needs to rest already. it's always better to go natural and organic. energy drinks have too much chemicals.

Answer 5

Yes, and no. It depends on the kind you're talking about. I suggest you stay away from caffiene, carbonation and junk like that. It'll only make you more tired and make you crash afterwords and mess up your metabolism.

Get more rest if you need it and eat more veggies, protein and fruit.

Answer 6

energy is good, drinks are bad.

Answer 7

Main Category: Nutrition/Agriculture News
Article Date: 07 Mar 2005 - 8:00am (PDT)

When pop princess Britney Spears needs a pick-me-up, she turns to a popular energy drink for a quick boost. Red Bull mixed with apple juice, she has said, “really pumps me up.”

And that's the idea. Highly caffeinated energy drinks - such as Red Bull, Go-Fast! and Monster - market themselves as sources of increased energy and concentration. Their websites feature high-flying motorcyclists and upside-down skateboarders as dynamic embodiments of all that concentrated energy.

But are these drinks good for you? Maher Karam-Hage, M.D., an addiction specialist at the University of Michigan Health System, raises some concerns about the beverages, particularly when they are mixed with alcohol, ingested before intensive exercise or used by children.

“In the United States, these energy drinks have not had any warnings. In Europe, it's been more cautionary,” says Karam-Hage, medical director of the Chelsea-Arbor Treatment Center, a joint program of the U-M Health System and Chelsea Community Hospital. He notes that France has banned some of the drinks and other countries have placed restrictions on them. “In this country, our advertisements for these drinks and the marketing are ahead of the science.”

The energy drinks typically contain sugar, caffeine (often 80 mg per can, about the same as a cup of coffee), and taurine, a sulfur-containing amino acid. Some countries have raised concerns about the amount of caffeine in the drinks and the uncertain health effects of taurine. Energy drinks are different from sports drinks, which tend not to have caffeine or taurine and are lower in carbohydrates.

While Karam-Hage stops short of saying people never should consume energy drinks, he says that mixing them with alcohol is dangerous and should be avoided.

“The best analogy I can come up with is it's the same as driving a car, putting one foot on the gas and one foot on the brakes,” he says of combining the stimulants in caffeine and the intoxicating effects of alcohol.

Mixing alcohol and caffeine is nothing new - think of the people who try to sober up by drinking coffee after a night at the bar - but Karam-Hage says the belief that caffeine makes someone alert after drinking alcohol is a myth.

“You feel a little bit more alert and a little more awake, but in reality, your reflexes are not changed whatsoever. You're still intoxicated,” he says. “And that's exactly the same problem that happens with energy drinks: people drink more and feel like, ‘oh, I can handle a bit more alcohol then.' ”

When people consume these beverages before intensive exercise, he says, they should be aware of the effects the drinks have on people's bodies. They can put a strain on the body due to the caffeine and, in some of the beverages, other diuretics. These can cause dehydration or even collapse, particularly if people drink more than one can before exercising, Karam-Hage says.

He is particularly concerned about the popularity of the drinks among young people. The beverages can cause children to be hyperactive, fidgety or even rageful, he says. And because the drinks are so small in size, people may be inclined to drink more than one at a time, he says.

“Most of us wouldn't really let our children drink two or three or even four cups of coffee, but children go to the store around the corner and find energy drinks,” he says. “That can be dangerous.”

Facts about energy drinks:

-- Most energy drinks contain caffeine, often about 80 mg per can (about the same as one cup of brewed coffee and more than the amount in two cans of Coca-Cola)

-- Taurine, which the body produces on its own, is a sulfur-containing amino acid often marketed as an antioxidant, anti-anxiety treatment and a heartbeat regulator, but some scientists and health care providers say it is unclear what effect it has

-- Caffeine will not reduce the effects of alcohol

For more information, visit these web sites:
U-M Health Topics A-Z: Caffeine and athletic performance med.umich.edu/1libr/sma/sma_ca...

U-M Health Topics A-Z: Pre-competition meals
med.umich.edu/1libr/sma/sma_co...

The effects of caffeine on children
kidshealth.org/parent/nutritio...

The effects caffeine has on people's bodies:
nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/a...

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Answer 8

they are a stupid fad. Soon the FDA will tell the facts about them.

Answer 9

read BOLONS informative message