How bad is red bull for you, really?

I like to drink it every few days or so, if I feel I’m lacking sleep and need a bit of a boost! I don’t drink tea or coffee so I tell myself that makes it ok 🙂 . I know some people say its really bad for you and you shouldn’t drink it etc. I know some guys that drink it before an XC race and go like a rocket though 😉 .

Sooo??

Like most things it’s ok in moderation. Lads at work drink shit loads of this and monster energy etc though. No idea why when they are sat in an office all day.

I’m not entirely sure it’s THAT bad for you relative to other sugary drinks.

It’s sugar, which is obviously bad for you if you drink it a lot; a moderate amount of caffeine; and taurine which is an essential amino acid afaik and found to a lesser extent in meat, and also a lot in the human body.

Anecdotally it’s extremely good at keeping me awake – better and with fewer negative side effects than coffee.

One can makes me feels very anxious. I don’t normally drink tea or coffee so I guess that means it’s really bad for me.

Iv bin told the “original” red bull was used in trials for american infantry as a instant perk up, after trials found to be rotting the insides of troops and thus was pulled, waterd down versions now on sale to the public, i used to be a monster feind (khaos) 3-5 per week as i worked on the doors and they were a staple of my diet, que stomach pains and a trip to the docs and hey presto ulcers due to too many monsters, i now steer well clear not good in my opinion, plus red bull banned in quite a few places.

One point of view

Red Bull is incredible. If I’m knackered, I only have to drink a can of it, and instantly I am nervous, jittery and incoherent, and still knackered.

I hate the stuff.

mightymule – Member
Red Bull is incredible. If I’m knackered, I only have to drink a can of it, and instantly I am nervous, jittery and incoherent, and still knackered.

I hate the stuff.

+1 this.

There was a guy I used to work with who, as far as we could tell, pretty much lived on Red Bull and coffee – he must have got through about 6 cans a day. He looked a bit like the Danny DeVito character The Penguin except considerably faster moving and very jerky, several tics and stammers which may or may not have been casued by the excessive caffeine consumption.

The only other thing about him was that he was constantly in the toilets. He became known as the Trap 4 – a joint reference to the 1980’s spoof horror claymation programme The Trapdoor, and his favourite toilet compartment, trap four in the row of cubicles. Everytime he came out of there, the cubicle looked like it had been on the recieving end of a particularly violent carpet bombing campaign.

Red bull used to make me sick, always about 3am.

When I stopped adding vodka to it, it just made me nauseous – I guess my brain remembers the former-life abuse.

I used to work for Red bull F1 team, so we got cases and cases for free but after the Dietician and FIA doctor Sid Watkins told me about it, i exchanged my quota every week to my local pub in exchange for Stella. i drink it now if im driving long distances and i want to zone out ,but other than that i keep away -Taurine aint good for Ya.

I like Monster too but don’t think there’s any need for the cans to be that big…

Iv bin told the “original” red bull was used in trials for american infantry as a instant perk up, after trials found to be rotting the insides of troops and thus was pulled, waterd down versions now on sale to the public

I’m almost certain that it didn’t Rot any American Infantry Troops (Urban Legend ??)

“Original” Redbull was on sale in Austria when Iived there in the Late 80’s/Early 90’s (the only country it was sold in at the time)
And it was stronger (caffeine/taurine content) than it is now, but we drank shed loads of it and nobody rotted.

Not actual red bull, the idea behind it, pumped up taurine drinks to stimulate and prolong them in war a few lads have told me the same thing that have toured with yank troops, might be a myth but my ulcers and rb being banned in some places still enough for me ;/

mightymule – Member

Red Bull is incredible. If I’m knackered, I only have to drink a can of it, and instantly I am nervous, jittery and incoherent, and still knackered.

I hate the stuff.

+2

It’s ok if you take it every day …
However , if you dip in and out, and take it every other day or so, it makes you gay ….

😆

Red Bull origanally came from Thailand and is still sold there as Gating Dang (red bull)and Dieter M/Shmitd(current owner ) tried it whilst in a Taxi going to a toothpaste conference ,My Thai father in law uses it if he drives long distances ,its good for a couple hours concentration if you really need it but to sit at a desk or just do your job, your rotting your brain ,#trust me

I saw Floyd Landis neck one down immediately after finishing stage 17 of the 2006 TDF so it must be good for you 😀

It was banned in France then but I guess that was the least of his problems

Micheal mcc -its sold in Thailand, non carbonated and in bottles that are 80ml -oh as a side note the bottles are glass as alu cans tend to rot-just a thought ?

I only have to drink a can of it, and instantly I am nervous, jittery and incoherent, and still knackered

To me it’s too much coffee that does that if I am really tired. Red bull on the other hand is the one that DOESN’T do that. Picks me up really well without any scrambled brain.

The first time I encountered Redbull was at a race sponsored by them in Spain. Everything behind the bar was expensive but the Redbull was free so my post-race thirst was quenched with many, many cans of Redbull. That was 16 years ago and I haven’t touched the stuff since.

I keep a can in the van or car as I know it can offer a temporary “lift” when I am tired. The can usually goes out of date before I’ve drunk it 😉

Thai Redbull is Rocket Fuel compared to the European stuff.

200% the Taurine content
250% the Caffiene content
+ other stimulants such as Inositol.

Austrian Redbull used to be the same until the Early 90’s when it was “watered down” to be sold in the rest of Europe.

This stuff give me he shakes, used to get in holland & barrett power horse[/url]

I guy I used to work with would drink 10 cans a day and not eat at all, he eventually went mad (I caught him one day talking to himself about leaving his wife and kids and making his way to Saudi for a “Better Life” in a very gollum like way). He did do it in the end 😯

I wont touch the stuff.

Just MTFU and have a gram of coke instead……

😉

Germany has tracked energy drink–related incidents since 2002.33 Reported outcomes include liver damage, kidney failure, respiratory disorders, agitation, seizures, psychotic conditions, rhabdomyolysis, tachycardia, cardiac dysrhythmias, hypertension, heart failure, and death.33 Ireland’s poison center reported 17 energy drink adverse events including confusion, tachycardia, and seizures and 2 deaths between 1999 and 2005.25 New Zealand’s poison center reported 20 energy drink/shot–related adverse events from 2005 to 2009; 12 cases were referred for treatment of vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain, jitteriness, racing heart, and agitation.46 The minimum and maximum symptomatic caffeine levels were 200 mg (4 mg/kg) in a 13-year-old with jitteriness and 1622 mg (35.5 mg/kg) in a 14-year-old. The maximum volume consumed was fifteen 250-mL cans (11.5 mg/kg caffeine) during 1 hour.46 One 23-year-old chronic energy drink consumer had a myocardial infarction.46

So that’s caffeine poisoning? Seems unfair to incriminate Red Bull and not espresso then doesn’t it?

What about alcohol related deaths?

Oh, just noticed that they are citing incidents with kids – that could put a different slant on things.

The maximum volume consumed was fifteen 250-mL cans (11.5 mg/kg caffeine) during 1 hour

FFS!

http://www.japha.org/article.aspx?articleid=1043454

one of the better “readable” article I’ve come across on energy drinks concludes….

Little evidence exists in the literature to support beneficial effects of energy drinks. Mechanistically, purported benefits are equally unlikely because the amounts of guarana, taurine, and ginseng found in popular energy drinks are far below the amounts expected to deliver therapeutic benefits. Similarly, the potential for serious AEs is improbable because of the small amounts of those natural products added to the drinks. However, energy drinks can present a safety concern. In particular, caffeine and sugar are present in amounts known to cause a variety of adverse health effects.

the mere smell makes me wretch

I had a can of red bull and about 5 jaegerbombs on thursday night, and my heart was doing about 100bpm at 5 am still. Bit disturbing!

I drank 24 cans over a bank holiday weekend once.. not recommended. I cant drink, smell or be near it these days.

Not quite the same but i did once let my 12 year old have a bottle of Volvic Revive at the Hub Cafe.

She talked constantly, without apparently drawing breath, all the way back to Glasgow.

I remember* drinking “buckets” of Thai red bull, coke, and sang som rum, on a Thai beach somewhere whilst on my elective…I’m still alive.

DrP

*this is a lie – I don’t remember a thing, but do have photo proof….

Stucol

I had a similar experience on the way home from Glentress last year. “Granny” decided it would be a good idea to let my nine year old have a can of rockstar!

She was awake all night !

….
My flat mate of the time acting as “barman”…

Note – for clarity, this was m-150, I think we were sick of red bull at the time….

DrP

I did a week of exams once on pro-plus tablets

Didn’t get much sleep as I was on the bloody bog so much, rather than getting anything constructive done

I remember the first redbull 24 hour race, they gave us a crate of red-bull but we had to promise & possibly sign a it of paper not to drink it during the event.

DR P – thats a brandy your drinking Sangson? and mixing with, M lor, ha, sip ,not the same ,get on the Mekhong whisky neat and wake up with Gating dang , dont mix the whisky or (brandy) with energy drink

It killed a mate of mine, he sprouted ‘wings’ then, not used to them, he flew in to a electricity pylon.