If you’re gearing up for a big night for work or play, you may want to consider using an energy drink to keep yourself going strong into the night.Back in the day, when you wanted to stay up late, you’d pound a can of Mountain Dew or a Jolt Cola.  If you didn’t have those, then you’d just have to resort to drinking larger volumes of Coca Cola.  Today, from the standard options like Red Bull, Monster, and Rockstar to increasingly popular alternatives such as 5-Hour Energy and Vitamin Water, there is an almost unlimited number of choices for energy boosting or energy enhancing beverages.  What sets these energy drinks apart from the soft drink with extra caffeine and sugar?

All of the brands tout their unique formula or recipe that helps increase energy levels, but the majority of the energy drinks seem to some common ingredients such as caffeine, taurine, and a number of vitamins (most commonly B3, B6, and B12).  Caffeine is pretty well understood as a stimulant.  As for taurine, there is little empirical data indicating that taurine actually does provide additional energy.  But there is also little to suggest that consuming it would create any negative health effects.

So what about the B vitamins then?  After all, some drinks like 5-Hour Energy has 150% of the Niacin daily value, 2000% of the B6 daily value, and 8333% of the B12 daily value!  According to an entry in the Medical Reference for the University of Maryland Medical Center, all B vitamins have the following characteristics.

• Help the body to convert carbohydrates into glucose, which is burned to produce energy
• Help the body to metabolize fats and proteins
• Promote healthy skin, hair, eyes, and liver
• Help the nervous system to function properly
• Are water soluble – the body does not store them

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) also provide data sheets on B6 and B12.  The NIH prescribes an upper limit (UL) on the intake of B6 to 5000% of the daily value and sets no UL for the safe intake of B12.  (Trust me, this was the first thing I checked when I saw the amounts of B6 and B12 that were contained in the 5-Hour Energy drink.) Interestingly, B6 is needed for the synthesis of serotonin and dopamine which help you to feel good which isn’t such a bad thing.

So there seems to be some relationship between the ingredients of these energy drinks and the production of “energy” somewhere down the line, but at the same time, there doesn’t seem to be any unbiased research teams confirming that energy drinks do in fact boost energy levels.  A sugar rush and caffeine high can certainly be what you’re feeling, but you could potentially get the same benefit from a can of cola.  For me and for many others, the placebo effect is good enough to keep us coming back for more.  Until the FDA begins evaluating the claims of these energy drink manufacterers, we can continue believing in the energy boosting powers of our favorite energy drink.