How do Energy Drinks give you Energy?

And now, it’s time for Who Smarted. Psst. Hey, smarty pants, give me just a second while I pick out something to drink at the grocery store. Hmm, let’s see. They got busted blueberry blast, kiwi kryptonite, goin’ ape grape, mango monstrosity, peach power, and rhino colada.

Oh, boy. As you might be able to tell from the names of these drinks, I seem to be standing in the energy drink aisle. And I got to say, it’s a bit much. In fact, oof. Hey, sorry, bro, didn’t see you there.

Say, you grabbin’ that last rhino colada? Nope, it’s all yours. Sweet. Oh, yeah. This one’s the best. Well, except for a strawberry banana bomb cyclone, but they’re always out of SPBC. It’s like a total bummer, bro.

Uh, definitely, bro. So, you love energy drinks, huh? Who doesn’t, bro? Actually, the name’s Trusty Narrator. Cool, I love names with adjectives in them. I’m Extreme Eric. Extreme Eric? Wow, sounds like you could be an energy drink.

Ha, you know, you might be right. I slam down so many energy drinks every day, I’ve probably got more Red Bull in me than Red Blood. Ha ha, ha ha. Uh, you seem pretty happy about that. Why wouldn’t I be?

Who doesn’t like energy? Speaking of, I’m feelin’ a slight dip in stamina. Better pop a peach power. Ah, that’s better. So, I take it you know a lot about energy drinks? I sure do. Like, which ones are extreme?

And which ones are turbo? And which ones are orange? And which ones are not orange? Cool, cool. But do you actually know what’s in them, Extreme Eric? For sure, it’s like powerful, molecularized energy crystals and other cool stuff.

It’s totally good for you, it keeps you alert. She could be your most extreme self. Ooh, ooh, ooh, woo! Check out this back flip. Whoopsie. Clean up an aisle three. Yeah, I’m not saying that energy drinks don’t give you energy, but energy drinks are actually not that great for you and you definitely shouldn’t drink them every day.

What? Smarty Pants, what do you think? Are energy drinks good for you? What are they made of? How do they give you energy? And should kids be drinking them? I sure hope so. I just ordered a year’s supply for my nephew.

He just turned six. Oh boy. I’m definitely glad you ran into me, Extreme Eric. Looks like it’s time for a big whiff of science and history on… Thank you. Who’s smarted? Who’s smarted? Who’s smart? Is it you?

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Woohoo! Check out this cartwheel! Clean up an aisle four. Okay, Eric. First things first, you need to stop doing gymnastics in the grocery store. It’s not my fault! It’s the energy drinks! Bro, I’m so pumped!

Right. That’s it. because they’re loaded with caffeine. Caffeine? What are you talking about? Caffeine isn’t coffee. Does watermelon attack taste like coffee? I don’t think so, bro. Well then, check the ingredients on the can if you don’t believe me.

Let’s see. Caffeine, 200 milligrams. Whoa! There is caffeine in here. That’s right. And you know why? Um, because caffeine gives you energy. Yep, caffeine is a stimulant that increases the activity of your brain and your nervous system and basically gives you a feeling of alertness and wakefulness.

Which is why people drink coffee in the morning, right? Exactly. Now, here’s the big question, smarty pants. How much caffeine do you think a can of energy drink has compared to a cup of coffee? Is it A, five times more, B, 10 times more, or C, about the same amount?

If you said C, about the same amount, you’re right. So, what you’re saying is coffee and energy drinks are exactly the same, right? Wrong! Well, they both definitely contain caffeine. A couple hundred milligrams, to be exact.

But in coffee, the caffeine is naturally derived. Plus, coffee has some good stuff in it too, like antioxidants, and vitamin B3, and potassium. But with energy drinks, in addition to caffeine, they have lots and lots of something else.

Any guesses what it is, smarty pants? Here’s a hint. It rhymes with booger. Umm, boogers? No. Did you get that right, smarty pants? Mmm, sugar. Dream Eric loves sugar. Most people do. After all, sugar is delicious.

But too much of it isn’t good for you. And you know how you feel super alert and energized after having an energy drink? Check out this split press to a handstand. No! No more supermarket gymnastics.

Okay, okay. It’s just that I’m so energized. Of course you are. That super great extreme feeling you have after having an energy drink is from the combination of caffeine and sugar. Okay, and? And what the sugar does is spike your blood sugar levels.

This creates short periods of energy. Followed by a drop in blood sugar. That’s called a sugar crash. You know, come to think of it, sometimes I do feel kind of sleepy and not extreme. Right after I felt very extreme.

Exactly. Too much sugar will do that to you. And too much caffeine can increase anxiety, disrupt sleep, and even give you an irregular heart rhythm. Yikes, that sounds not good. Nope, not good. But if energy drinks are mostly sugar and caffeine, how come- And they all have such cool names and colors and say they do all kinds of different stuff.

Like some help you study, some help you rule at sports, and all kinds of stuff. That my extreme new friend is you falling victim to the wonderful world of marketing. Marketing? What’s that? Marketing.

As in the way companies promote, sell, and convince you to buy their products. Let’s look at some of these energy drink slogans. Fly by night. Experience the phenomena. No sleep. Yeah, so extreme. Not really.

You’re not actually going to fly. There’s no phenomena. And while you’ll probably have trouble falling asleep, all we’re really talking about here is a caffeine filled sugary drink. That’s it. There isn’t much more to it than that.

Besides, energy drinks aren’t anything new. They’re not? Nope. Smarty pants. Any guess when the first energy drink came out? Was it the 1920s? The 1940s? Or the 1950s? The answer is the 1920s. One of the first energy drinks was made in England in 1927.

It was initially called glucozade, but the name was changed to leucozade. I got to say, I don’t know about those names, bro. Yeah, but bad names aside, it was basically just sugar water marketed as an energy drink for sick people to make them feel better.

The slogan was leucozade AIDS recovery. Oh, I get it. It’s not good, but I get it. You might be surprised to know it still exists today, but the recipe is a bit more advanced. Right. Then in 1949, an energy drink called Dr.

Enough was formulated in the USA. True or false, smarty pants? Dr. Enough was invented by an actual doctor. The answer is false. Ah, so close. It was invented by a businessman named William Mark Sorts.

And although it was still mostly sugar and caffeine, to be fair, Dr. Enough was loaded with B vitamins. And surprise, surprise, you can still get that today too. A bottle of Dr. Enough contains about 80% of your recommended daily requirement of niacin, thiamine, potassium, and iodine.

Hey, that stuff sounds good for you. Am I right? Yes. Listen, energy drinks aren’t that bad for you every now and then for a quick pick me up, but you shouldn’t have them all the time. Oh, and they are definitely not for kids.

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Now back to Who’s Smarted. Do you really need another one? This is your third one in the last 10 minutes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s the last one. Well, until bedtime. Anyway, what were you saying about no energy drinks for kids?

What I’m saying is all energy drinks have caffeine in them, and caffeine isn’t good for children. Why not? Because kids are way more sensitive to caffeine than adults. In kids, caffeine can cause disruption to sleep patterns and the regular routines, which are extremely important during development.

And too much caffeine in anyone can cause jitteriness, increased blood pressure, and dehydration. To name just a few things. So what you’re saying is, don’t buy my six-year-old nephew a year’s supply of energy drinks.

Definitely not. Oh well, he also loves Minecraft. But wait, before you said all energy drinks were pretty much just caffeine-filled sugar water. But how can that be when I see some have crazy ingredients in them?

Oh yeah? Like what? Well, two ingredients I see on lots of energy drink cans are guarana and tareen. Those aren’t just sugar and caffeine, right? They’ve got to be good for you. Right? Right? Well, yes and no.

Let’s tackle them one at a time. Guarana is a common ingredient in energy drinks due to its high caffeine content. It’s a plant that’s native to South America that contains about twice as much caffeine as coffee beans do.

Yes, so extreme. Uh-huh, which is why it’s so popular in energy drinks. It’s a plant that’s safe to ingest, but it does have a lot of caffeine. Oh, and speaking of guarana, true or false, smarty pants, herbivores, or plant-eating animals tend to not eat the guarana plants, berries, and seeds.

If you said true, you’re right. I guess those little leaf-eating critters just can’t handle the extreme caffeine. Whoo! That’s right, Eric. Maybe you could take a page from their book and lay off the stuff a bit.

Now that would be extreme. Yeah. And speaking of extreme, the other ingredient you mentioned, taurine, is pretty powerful. It even sounds powerful, taurine, taurine, taurine. What is it? Well, for starters, it’s a little bit weirder than garana.

How so? Well, while garana is a plant, taurine is a naturally occurring amino acid that was originally discovered in the bile of an ox in 1827. That is extremely gross. So what does it do? Well, first off, it’s not an essential nutrient to humans.

But you can consume it, and it does have some benefits. It basically regulates calcium in nerve cells and controls inflammation. What does that have to do with giving you energy? It doesn’t. Again, it all goes back to marketing, bro.

With taurine, there’s always been kind of a vague and generic claim of youthfulness and vitality. But it’s probably not doing much for you, though it’s not really doing any harm either. But you want to hear something kind of crazy?

In one study, taurine was given to middle-aged mice and monkeys, and the results were their muscles, brains, and immune systems functioned better. And the lifespan of the mice also increased by about 10%.

Whoa, if taurine can make mice live longer, can it make people live longer too? Don’t get too excited. There’s no evidence of that, yet. And I wouldn’t recommend having too much of it, mainly because we don’t know what the risks are.

But even though taurine isn’t essential to humans, there is a common beloved household pet that must have taurine in its diet. Smarties, any guess which pet? Is it A, dogs? B, hamsters? Or C, cats? Hmm, I’m going with hamsters, because hamsters are totally extreme.

I’ve got a hamster named Shredder who can chew through anything. Cool story, bro. But it’s actually C, cats. Meow. If cats are deficient in taurine, they could eventually go blind. But since cats cannot produce taurine on their own, they must get it from their food, which means all cat food contains taurine.

Or they could just drink energy drinks. Do you really think cats need more energy? Good point. So, to recap, energy drinks are fine to enjoy every now and then for grown-ups, unless you shouldn’t be having sugar.

And they’re definitely not for kids, ever. Sorry, smarty pants. If you want to stay hydrated and boost your energy, try some cool, refreshing water instead. Water? Water? Yep, water. It comes in ultra, mega, crystal clear.

Nice. Now that’s what I call extreme. Do you love Who Smarted but don’t love all the ads? We get it, but we also need the ads to pay for the show. However, there is a way you can listen to Who Smarted without any ads.

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Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts or on our website, whosmarted.com. Just click subscribe. And teachers, click on educators to get Who Smarted Plus for free. Thanks for smarting with us. A special shout out to super smarty fans, William and Alba, in Karimios, British Columbia, Canada.

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This episode, Energy Drinks, was written by Phil Jacked Up Jeremy and voiced by Adam Celsius Davis, Monster Max Kamaski and Jerry Colburn. Technical direction and sound designed by Josh Redbull-Hahn.

Our associate producer is Max Kamaski. The theme song is by Brian Ghost Suarez with lyrics written and performed by Adam Tex Davis. Who Smarted was created and produced by Adam Tex Davis and Jerry Colburn.

This has been an Atomic Entertainment production. Who Smarted.

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