The Highs and Lows of Energy Drinks
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About the Show
On this episode, Chuck Gaidica is joined by Care Management Physician for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Dr. Angela Seabright. Together, they talk about the good and bad of energy drinks, what's in them and some other ways you could get the energy you need to go about your day.
In this episode of A Healthier Michigan Podcast, we explore:
- What's in energy drinks
- How they effect the body
- Are they a danger to us
- What are some alternatives
Transcript
Chuck Gaidica:
Energy drinks, some promise to give you wings while others say they'll keep you alert and unstoppable. But are they really fueling your day, or are they just setting you up for a crash? This is A Healthier Michigan podcast, episode 183. And coming up, we're diving into what those energy drinks are doing to our bodies. Welcome to A Healthier Michigan podcast. It's a show dedicated to helping you build healthier habits, one small step at a time. I'm your host, Chuck Gaidica, and every other week we sit down with a certified expert and we explore topics that make a real difference in our everyday health, from food to fitness to sleep to stress management. And in this episode, we're cracking open the truth about energy drinks. What benefits, if any, do they really have, and what risks should we know about? And are there better ways to boost your energy without a potential crash? With me today is Dr. Angela Seabright, care management physician for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Dr. Seabright, good to see you again.
Dr. Angela Seabright:
Good to see you. Thanks for having me.
Chuck Gaidica:
So I think a lot of us think we know a lot about energy drinks. We're exposed to them a lot while we're on the go, usually, even if it's just getting gas running in for something. But this energy drink market has grown more than 70% since 2018. So that explains a lot of why my eyeballs are seeing this stuff. But with that rise in popularity comes a gigantic question: are they really good for us? So what's actually happening there? Are they really good for us? And doctor, what's going on in our bodies once we start to bring one of these in?
Dr. Angela Seabright:
Yeah, it's a great question because it is a growing industry. It's a billion-dollar industry. They're very popular, but we need to know the risks associated with these types of drinks. Just because you can pick one up at the grocery store or the gas station doesn't necessarily mean that it's safe, and what's happening in the body really depends on the drink and what the ingredients are, but most energy drinks have caffeine and sugar. Those are usually the two main ingredients that you're going to see in an energy drink. And before we get into the caffeine, I just want to touch on sugar. So we know about sugar, we know it's a carbohydrate. We know that it provides energy and fuel. Glucose is actually the primary energy source for the brain. And if anyone spends time with kids after Halloween or after a birthday party where they've consumed an excess amount of sugar, what's happening is they're literally bouncing off the walls due to that glucose or that sugar load, which gives a quick and temporary surge of energy.
But what happens after that quick surge of energy? Usually, you have a crash. Now, adults, same type of thing happens. We may not be bouncing off the walls. We may not be as sensitive as kids because we're bigger, our brains are developed. But these energy drinks and the sugar in them still does have that effect, that surge of energy from the sugar usually followed by a crash. And just for comparison, a 12-ounce can of Coke has about 39 grams of sugar, which is almost 10 teaspoons, and some energy drinks have 50 to 60 grams of sugar.
Chuck Gaidica:
Wow. Yeah.
Dr. Angela Seabright:
So it's a massive amount of sugar. So you're going to get a surge of energy, but you're also going to have that crash. Caffeine. So caffeine is one of the main ingredients that you see in these energy drinks. Caffeine works by blocking a chemical called adenosine. Adenosine promotes sleep. So when you block adenosine, you're going to be more awake, you're going to have more alertness. You might notice an improvement in focus. Caffeine also increases dopamine, so does sugar. Dopamine is that reward neurotransmitter in the brain. The more dopamine, the better you feel, and that's going to reinforce the habit. So a typical energy drink can have anywhere from 70 to over 200 milligrams, sometimes 300 milligrams of caffeine, while a cup of coffee, an eight-ounce cup of coffee, has about a hundred milligrams of caffeine for comparison. So, quite a bit of caffeine and sugar in these energy drinks.
Chuck Gaidica:
So I know that many, if not most, of these energy drinks have a warning label. If you're into it, I'm not sure you're paying attention to what the warning label means. So while we're talking about this, the question is there really any such thing as doing this in moderation? For some people, they're saying, "Well, sometimes I just pound down two soft drinks and it's no big deal. So that's why this is no big deal to me." But it seems like people that I've seen or know who are doing energy drinks, it's usually more than one, sometimes, maybe even in the next half a day. They're doing this early in the day, and I'm not quite sure how you can cut back except to cut back, but let me ask you about sugar. What is the difference between the sugar, and I guess now there's this big national discussion? Is it high fructose corn syrup versus cane sugar? I'm not sure that your body knows, but maybe. The difference between sugar and sugar-free would that help you at all, even though it's got all that caffeine?
Dr. Angela Seabright:
It can help. So there are some that are sugar-free. So if you look at the label, it'll say sugar-free. It'll have less calories, less carbohydrates because of that. But usually what's happening is they're using a different sweetener such as Stevia or artificial sweeteners like sucralose, which is Splenda, or aspartame, which give it it's sweet taste. In fact, these sugar substitutes are often hundreds of times sweeter than real sugar without the calories. And so it may be beneficial for people who have issues with sugar, who have to stay away from sugar if they're diabetic, they really are trying to avoid that sugar spike. However, some evidence does suggest that these artificial sweeteners actually have the same effect on the brain as sugar, meaning more cravings, and even some types of artificial sweeteners can evoke an insulin response. So it's not necessarily, you're not in the clear if it says sugar-free, I mean, in some people it may be a helpful substitute, but there's a lot we don't know about some of these sugar-free or these additives.
Chuck Gaidica:
And the caffeine, short of cutting down on the milligrams of caffeine, there really is no substitute I've heard of that can do the same thing that's legal. I mean, that's not a prescription, but caffeine itself is that the only way you could cut down is to literally see one of those energy drinks with less in it?
Dr. Angela Seabright:
Yep, you'd want to slowly taper your amount that you're taking in. People who use caffeine or drink caffeinated beverages on a daily basis they actually have a hard time just stopping cold turkey. You may have some withdrawal effects, headache being the most common. You may feel more fatigued, you may have irritability, and so you really should taper off the caffeine if you're looking to cut down.
Chuck Gaidica:
Yeah, yeah. Now, you did mention in passing the idea that there are other ingredients often in these drinks. What are those, and do they rank anywhere close to the caffeine and the sugar in terms of potential harm to us?
Dr. Angela Seabright:
Yeah, that's a great question because some people may hear, okay, well, if I have an energy drink that's a hundred milligrams of caffeine, or I drink a cup of coffee that's a hundred milligrams, what's the difference? Well, it's really about those added ingredients, and the number one is sugar. So, unless you're dumping 12 teaspoons of sugar in your coffee, you're going to get a lot more sugar in these energy drinks. Other ingredients, guarana, it's an extract from South American fruit plant, and it's actually a highly concentrated source of caffeine. It's got two to three times more caffeine than coffee beans.
Chuck Gaidica:
Wow.
Dr. Angela Seabright:
So it is a stimulant, and that's often seen in these energy drinks. Taurine is an amino acid that's naturally occurring in the body. It can come from some food sources. In high doses, it's found to enhance physical and mental performance. We're not exactly sure on the mechanism, but it does support calcium signaling, which can have some effect on heart rate and blood pressure. So, really the jury's out on what exactly it's doing, and it's not so much these ingredients, but how are they interacting with each other? How are they interacting with the caffeine in the energy drinks? Can they interact with certain medications you may be on? So there's just a lot of questions about all of these ingredients in combination in these drinks.
Chuck Gaidica:
I remember even years ago that guarana, did I say it properly? Is that how you say it? Guarana?
Dr. Angela Seabright:
Yep, yep.
Chuck Gaidica:
Yep. That was causing heart palpitations in some people because I think those were available maybe even in a tablet form or something. Maybe they still are. But I remember hearing, be careful if you've got a heart condition or you don't want to develop one, that this stuff can really give you this rush that can, for some, it's just an energy boost, which is what we're seeing commercially now, but for others it could be some other side effect.
Dr. Angela Seabright:
Yeah, it's that highly concentrated form of caffeine. So definitely has stimulant effects.
Chuck Gaidica:
So this idea that if I were inclined to read a can and see it's an energy drink, it's going to help me focus or the taurine is going to help me do that, right? So there is an upside, potentially, that you're going to get what? More focus? Energy?
Dr. Angela Seabright:
So there are some health benefits, but it's not necessarily from the energy drink. So I want to be clear about that. There's really no evidence to support use of energy drinks, but there is some evidence that there may be some health benefits from caffeine when consumed in moderation. We know that caffeine there are well-established effects on cognitive performance, increased alertness, improved reaction times, decreased fatigue. And so there are some benefits with that boost in energy, alertness and focus as we mentioned. There's even been some studies showing that caffeine may reduce Type 2 diabetes risk, certain types of cancers, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's. So this is the caffeine, not the energy drinks. Again, there's really nothing in the literature that says energy drinks are beneficial to your health.
And then on the flip side, we know that there are definitely some short-term effects and potentially harmful effects, such as elevated heart rate, elevated blood pressure, anxiousness, feeling jittery. If pregnant women are consuming caffeine, it can reduce fetal growth and increase their risk of pregnancy loss. Caffeine actually constricts your blood vessels, which is the reason why it can cause that increase in your heart rate, blood pressure, palpitations, and making you feel rather jittery.
Chuck Gaidica:
So I assume, like anything, that you get a habit formed, you certainly could become addicted to this. Am I right?
Dr. Angela Seabright:
Absolutely. And it really goes back to that reward system in the brain and that increase in dopamine. Not only do people like feeling more focused and attentive, but that increase in that dopamine and that feel-good neurotransmitter really reinforces the habit. But I would just want to make a distinction too, between dependence and addiction. So dependence has to do with the physical adaptation to a substance, which can happen to the body if you are drinking caffeinated beverages every day, your body is going to develop that dependence to it. You may even develop tolerance, meaning you need more of it to achieve the same effect. So maybe you used to drink one cup, now you need two cups to get that same effect, and you can experience withdrawal when you don't have it.
So the headaches, the fatigue, the irritability. Addiction, on the other hand, is the dependence, that physical dependence plus the compulsive use of a substance despite the harmful consequences. And we see that more with substances like opioids and alcohol. So most people who use caffeine they do become physically dependent, but not necessarily addicted, but when it comes to energy drinks, some people do have that compulsive behavior or difficult cutting back on those types of drinks.
Chuck Gaidica:
So caffeine itself, is there anything that's safer, or is it really a matter of how much you're using, and that's the thing you have to be careful of?
Dr. Angela Seabright:
So you do have to be careful on the amount of caffeine. So the general recommendation for adults is to limit caffeine intake to 400 milligrams per day, which is roughly equivalent to about two to three cups of coffee. And so I would say alternatives to energy drinks if you do want that little boost, but you don't want all of the stuff that comes in an energy drink, certainly coffee, green tea, tea might not have as much caffeine, but certainly it does have some caffeine. And the benefits of coffee and tea are that they're both rich in antioxidants, which can help your body fight against free radicals, which can prevent disease development, but let's not forget also about good old H2O or water.
So water and hydration are so important for your overall health. At the cellular level, we need hydration for all of our organ functions and processes. Our brain is 75% water, so when you're dehydrated, you're drowsy. Hydrated, you're happy, and they've actually done studies on people who have been fluid restricted or dehydrated. They give them some water, and within minutes, they note improvement in their mood and cognition. So, definitely, I think water is underrated as far as an energy drink.
Chuck Gaidica:
But you know this, we're being marketed to all the time. My wife and I were passing through an airport recently, and I wanted to get a bottle of water before I get on the plane, and there's this Smartwater, whatever the brand-
Dr. Angela Seabright:
The Smartwater.
Chuck Gaidica:
... maybe that's what it's called, and it's supposed to help you with all kinds of stuff. And I looked at her and I said, "Seriously? Anyway, so what do you think? Well, this make me smarter." She went, "No, I would just get the regular water, it's not going to help." And it was an interesting-
Dr. Angela Seabright:
Save your money.
Chuck Gaidica:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's the kind of comment my wife would like: "Okay, no, just save the buck and get the regular water." But we're being marketed with all these different things that are going to enhance our lives in some way or another, and I think we owe it to ourselves to pay attention to a warning or become a label reader, whether it's a can of baked beans or whether it's an energy drink. Just really get into what it is you're ingesting and get to know what it is.
Dr. Angela Seabright:
And that's so important. The marketing is important, and that's the unfortunate thing too about these energy drinks is that the marketing is usually toward young adult males, and we've seen a lot of issues with them not really understanding the risks with these energy drinks, possibly even combining the energy drinks with alcohol, which can also be very dangerous and so the risks are there. The risks are real with these drinks.
Chuck Gaidica:
So we've talked about, and I've used the word crash, is there an average time that if you were to ingest these things in the morning, how long would it take for your body to start to have some symptoms that you're coming down off of the sugar high or the caffeine? Is it four hours? What would be an average, do you think?
Dr. Angela Seabright:
Yeah, usually about four hours with the caffeine. The sugar can work pretty quickly, so that could be, depending on how much sugar is in the drink, it may happen within an hour or two. Again, it depends on how much sugar is there, but yeah, we're talking hours.
Chuck Gaidica:
So if you do become dependent or addicted over a period of time, you mentioned someone who's pregnant, but what other effects could this have that you've been able to see that are documented or even anecdotally in a practice that you're seeing that if you have intake over time, there are issues here that can occur-
Dr. Angela Seabright:
So the biggest issues are the tolerance, meaning you need more of it to achieve the same effect. So rather than one energy drink, you bump up to two energy drinks. The other one is the dependence, meaning you get those withdrawal symptoms. If you stop the main symptom is usually headache, but it can definitely cause some irritability, fatigue, brain fog, and since it stimulates the nervous system, long-term use can worsen anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia or sleep problems, mood fluctuations, irritability, agitation, and so on.
Chuck Gaidica:
Yeah, so can one who's drinking this stuff, can you just stop tomorrow? Would you notice it? In other words, whatever the symptoms of a crash or anything else that happens in your day. I had two of these this morning. I felt pokey this afternoon. Can I just stop tomorrow? Is that fine?
Dr. Angela Seabright:
Depends on how much you are consuming and how much your body is used to. If you're drinking two energy drinks that have 300 milligrams of caffeine a pop and you stop, you're going to feel pretty miserable. I personally, I drink one cup of coffee a day, and if I do skip, I do actually notice some days that I'll have just a mild headache, and it's probably because I didn't have that cup of coffee. So it certainly can happen, but the spectrum varies depending on how much caffeine your body is used to consuming.
Chuck Gaidica:
Well, I like the idea of an alternative being something that you may even be familiar with. You're not going cold turkey to one extreme, and at the same, you mentioned coffee and tea and the antioxidants that are contained there. And if you can really start to dial it down, and maybe you are having a cup of coffee in the morning, or maybe you like to have a little cookie after dinner, and you want a cup of coffee post-dinner, okay. If it works for you and it doesn't cause you sleep issues, maybe that's going to be the way to back yourself down, huh?
Dr. Angela Seabright:
Right. Yep. You can just slowly dial it down a little bit so that your body can get used to and adjust to the change.
Chuck Gaidica:
You talked about good old fashioned H2O, and so of course, there are those energy or the sports drinks that are closer to water, maybe, but anything else that's an alternative, that's a natural thing that we would be thinking about here to help us?
Dr. Angela Seabright:
Well, those would probably be the main drinks. If you want a little bit of caffeine safely, you can get that through tea and coffee. If you just want to improve your energy levels, and we've talked about this on other episodes, as far as healthy habits, the importance of adequate sleep. So number one way to improve your energy and not be sleepy is to make sure that you're getting the adequate amount of sleep. Movement, stretching, exercise, even if you don't have time for a scheduled exercise session, if you're feeling a little drowsy in the afternoon, just a quick stretch, quick walk around the block, getting up from your desk, doing a walk around your house that triggers that natural dopamine boost. You get your blood circulating, you'll feel a little bump in energy. Getting sunlight is so important.
Going outside briefly definitely gives you a quick boost of energy. We talked about power naps before. Those are a good idea. If you can schedule in a 15, 20 minute nap, that can give you the boost you need to get through the rest of your day. And then even your diet, what you're eating, a snack, a protein. Protein is going to give you that sustained energy versus that quick surge of energy that you get from a sugary snack or a highly processed snack, and then just kind of talking with a friend, listening to music, quick dopamine boost that can help you get through your day without the caffeine.
Chuck Gaidica:
Isn't it so interesting to listen to you as an expert to hear that if you could take out your prescription pad and write a whole bunch of things down of what would be better for us and how to help us move away from an energy drink if it is something that's become an issue, it's all natural stuff? I mean, you're talking about circadian rhythm and vitamin D from the sun and going for a walk and losing some weight, maybe whatever it is. It's like you're not writing prescriptions for drugs. It's like, this is stuff we should just be thinking about for a healthful life anyway.
Dr. Angela Seabright:
Yeah, we lose sight of it, and it's really important sometimes to just keep things simple. It doesn't have to be so complicated all the time.
Chuck Gaidica:
Well, really good stuff. So, as we wrap up Dr. Seabright takeaways for us as we leave the audience today.
Dr. Angela Seabright:
Yeah. So I have two takeaways. The best energy drink is water, and if you're having issues fatigue where you feel like you're reaching for energy drinks or you're tempted to have an energy drink, talk to your doctor. There are medical issues, vitamin deficiencies, certain medications, sleep disorders. All of these can contribute to daytime fatigue. So if you're struggling, make sure you talk with your doctor.
Chuck Gaidica:
This is really good stuff. Thanks so much for being with us again.
Dr. Angela Seabright:
Thank you.
Chuck Gaidica:
Oh, good to see you. Dr. Angela Seabright she's care management physician for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Thank you for listening to A Healthier Michigan podcast. It's brought to you by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. If you like the show, you want to know more, you can check out ahealthiermichigan.org/podcast, and you can leave us reviews or ratings on Apple Podcast or Spotify. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. You get new episodes, old episodes on your smartphone or tablet. So when you're going for that walk, you can take us with you. Be sure to subscribe to us, too. Hit that button to subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. I'm Chuck Gaidica. Be well.
