Behind the Hype: Energy Drinks
Miranda Grayson from St. Andrews, Manitoba wants to know what’s up with energy drinks like Red Bull. These drinks are bringing on the hype and Street Cents is getting behind it!

Viewer Letter

Hey Street Cents!

Could you guys please find out about the Red Bull energy drink and other energy drinks like it?

They sell them at one of the hills where I snowboard so I'm wondering if they’re good to drink while snowboarding?

Miranda Grayson
St. Andrews, Manitoba

Street Cents Response

Good question Miranda. Energy drinks are one of the hottest things in the beverage industry right now. People are buying them like crazy!

But energy drinks aren’t really the best for drinking before and during physical activity. That doesn’t mean it’ll hurt your snowboarding. But if you want to perform your best, there are better ways to boost energy.

Price

Energy drinks are expensive compared to similar sized sports drinks like Gatorade (under $2.00) and sodas like Coke ($1.00 to $2.00). The energy drinks Street Cents bought range in price from $2.30 plus tax and deposit to $3.50 plus tax and deposit.

A distributor for an energy drink called Hype (Street Cents Paid $2.69 plus tax and deposit) told Street Cents the herbal ingredients they put in their drink are expensive. He says Hype is manufactured in Europe and shipped to Canada. That also adds to the cost.

Energy Drinks

The main thing that gets you going in most of these drinks is the sugar and caffeine. So they’re not to be confused with sports drinks like Gatorade. Sports drinks are supposed to help keep you hydrated. The distributor for Hype says their drink is more of a stimulant to help fight sluggishness. Energy drinks are actually more like soda pop than sports drinks.

Nutritionists told Street Cents these calories are where the energy comes from in these drinks.

But most energy drinks have stimulants in them too. For example, a lot of them have an herbal ingredient called Guarana. Guarana has naturally occurring caffeine in it. Caffeine is a stimulant, an upper, not the same thing as energy.

A lot of energy drinks have other stuff in it like vitamins and other herbal ingredients. But those herbal ingredients are often in such small amounts that they wouldn’t do anything for you anyway. For example, SoBe beverages have Creatine. Some athletes use Creatine to increase muscle recovery and get larger and stronger fast. But in order to meet a typical Creatine loading regime from the Creatine in a SoBe Citrus Energy Drink, you’d have to drink 89 bottles of the stuff every day for five days.

As far as vitamins go, yeah, they’re good for you. But the nutritionists Street Cents spoke to say they don’t increase your energy.

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