Energy Drinks - An Increasingly Unhealthy Habit
2 comments so far
Although this blog is fairly new, I have to admit I never imagined myself writing something preachy. I’m not one to talk when it comes to unhealthy habits, I’ll be the first to admit that. Although I’m a skinny-mini, once in a blue moon I’ve been known to down entire boxes of doughnuts in one sitting. But the sugary goodness of Krispy KremeTM is really nothing in comparison to the caffeinated monstrosity I discovered the other night: Spike Shooter.
I’m sure you’ve all heard of the infamous Cocaine Energy Drink, but did you know that Spike contains even more caffeine? It may be a mere 20mg (6.7%) more, but that extra caffeine adds up. Spike delivers the same caffeinated punch as 3 cups of coffee (300mg) in a mere 8.4 oz can. It claims to be “The Hardcore Energy Drink” and I’ve come to discover through personal experience that this claim is not completely unfounded.
I had the pleasure- yes, pleasure (please take note of my obvious sarcasm) of witnessing my boyfriend’s reaction to this so-called energy drink that, as of 2008, is being openly sold across the US. At about 1AM Tuesday morning, my boy-toy arrived home from a friend’s house, completely shaken. My first thought was that he had been in some sort of accident because of his quivering hands and bright red face. I had to have asked something along the lines of, “Are you okay?” because he quickly explained that he hadn’t followed the warning label on the drink (that drink being Spike Shooter Energy Drink). I went to go give him my customary welcome-home hug when I realized he was shaking from head to toe and could barely stand because his knees were buckling.
Maybe I’m being a bit melodramatic because he IS my snuggle bunny, but I couldn’t believe that he was having this sort of reaction to an energy drink. The worst part was that he didn’t even finish a full can!
But really, it all boils down to this:
The Risks
- Spike Shooter + Prescription Meds = NO-NO
You can find the following warning on any Spike Shooter can:WARNING: Do not use if you are under the age of 18 or elderly. Do not take with any other stimulant or weight-loss supplement or any prescription or over-the-counter medicine. Do not use if you are pregnant or nursing or at risk of being treated for high-blood pressure, heart disease, hyperthyroidism, spasms, psychiatric disease, suffer from migraines, have asthma, or are taking asthma medication. Discontinue use if you experience dizziness, headache, nausea, or heart palpitations. If you have trouble sleeping, do not take within 6 hours of bedtime. Keep out of reach of children.
- It’s just plain BAD for your heart
- Crash & Burn: Dependency!
I can remember back when I was in high school (about 4 years ago) when Red Bull became pretty popular. The parents threw a big stink about their kids becoming caffeinated, sugar-hyped zombies, but I’m sure if they were to look back at the whole situation now, they’d realize that Red Bull had less than 1/3 of the caffeine content of Spike (80mg). The scary thing was, kids would initially start off with 1 or 2 cans of Red Bull and pretty soon they’d be drinking entire 6-packs before school on the bus because the “buzz” or “rush” wasn’t as intense as it used to be. Then Rockstar became pretty popular (keep in mind that these are the order in which energy drinks became popular where I live) with 160mg of caffeine, double that of Red Bull in a slightly larger can. Pretty soon kids would develop some sort of tolerance and drink 3 or 4 cans at a time. The increase of caffeine in energy drinks only continued to climb (or rather, double) with the introduction of drinks like Cocaine, Blow, and finally Spike Shooter.
Now, I’m sure you’ve gotten an idea of where I’m going with this by now, but I’m going to state my audacious opinion regardless. Kids (and adults) are progressively developing this unhealthy drug-like dependency on these caffeinated beverages. That’s not to say there isn’t more in these drinks than caffeine (and I’m not just talking about sugar here), but that’s beside the point. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous we’re reaching the point where we are beginning to ingest so much caffeine that a student from Colorado was hospitalized with a supposed caffeine overdose. How can we legally have a product on store shelves, marketed towards minors, that promotes exponentially increasing the intake of a stimulant due to a developing tolerance?
Credits: Spike Shooter - An Energy Drink Gone Too Far?; Image Credit: Techvat.com
Friday, May 30th, 2008 at 9:50 pm and is filed under Food & Beverages, Health & Beauty, Product Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Well what I have to say about Energy drinks is simple. The caffeine is what I’m after but most of them have to much sugar in them and that’s really what does me in personally. I actually got to try Cocaine Energy Drink and I have to say that it was good, it had a different taste to it and one of the things they did was use something other than sugar for a sweetener.
I really do have to try this Spike energy drink however, as caffeine is what I’m about. I know that I can drink 4 standard Red Bulls for breakfast when I’m out at a convention, the sugar crash in the afternoon sucks… but 4 more takes care of it.
Also, did research on Spike and it even says on the can to start with 1/2 a can to see if you are going to have and adverse reactions to it just as a note.
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