Energy Drinks - boost or burden?
Soft drinks are probably acknowledged by most people to be a source of fluid that probably isn't the healthiest option. However, there is one type of soft drink that seems to carry with it an air of elitism - the sports and energy drink! Why is that these drinks don't seem to carry the same concerns for the potential to negatively affect health?
Perhaps it is the advertising and media that has somehow grasped our attention in recent years. Glaxosmithkline, the large pharmaceutical company who owns the number one leading brand of sports drink, Lucozade, invested £8 million in 2008 on a huge advertising campaign to bring their brands of sport, energy and hydroactive the the forefront of the sports drinks market. In 2009 Lucozade introduced a new product the energy shot, branded Alert, on the back of another multi million pound advertising campaign. When there is money like this guaranteeing that the public are virtually indoctrinated into buying these products to have the extra edge it is not surprising that they occupy the number one place in the market. The heavy investment in advertising is clearly working with the annual turnover for the lucozade brand in excess of £253 million in 2008, virtually twice as much as the next leading brand. The brand has seen double digit market growth consistently for several years. As a nation we obviously believe that these drinks can pick up and restore our flagging energy levels as a quick fix whenever that is required on the sports field, in the gym, or even at work.This is certainly the impression that is portrayed through the advertising. The scientific data promoted on the Lucozade website shows improvements in performance across a variety of athletes when they ingest lucozade. However, in the majority of cases the drinks and performance are tested on very small groups of elite athletes, between 6-10 in number and are compared in their effects against a placebo drink which in most cases is water. Clearly anything that supplied energy when compared to a drink that supplied no energy would provide some level of difference in performance!
The ingredients in a Lucozade Sport with caffeine boost are:
INGREDIENTS: Whilst some of the ingredients in this drink are not normally foods that one would expect to find in the kitchen, the basis of the energy secret in Lucozade and many other sports drinks is simply just simple carbohydrate in the form of glucose combined with some complex carbohydrate in the form of maltodextrin. Not very technical after all. Glucose syrup is most commonly derived from corn and like most other simple sugars can cause significant disturbances in blood sugar. In fact lucozade original, which also uses corn based glucose syrup, has a glycaemic index of 95/100 and a glycaemic load of 40. A glycaemix index above 85 is considered high and a glycaemic load above 20 is considered high. In a nutshell lucozade will raise your blood sugar faster and dump a massive load of sugar into your blood stream in a very short time. Your body will have to respond to this significant blood glucose challenge. This has two very distinct effects, it dramatically increases blood insulin levels and it significantly affects blood pH. Such high blood insulin levels not only drive these simple sugars into the muscle tissue for conversion to energy, but it also drives excess glucose into fat cells to be stored whilst preventing the release of fats as a fuel. Most people who are overweight will experience low energy levels and feelings of fatigue and will likely turn to an energy drink in their efforts to lose prior to exercise or a workout. But a huge spike in blood sugar and therefore insulin prior to a workout pushes the body towards carbohydrate dominant energy production and inhibits the release of stored fats to be burned during the workout! This is completely detrimental to the exercise objective. In a significant portion of the population whose metabolism is dominated by the oxidative rate (rate of burning fuel) the rapid intake of simple sugars present in a sports drink will acidify their blood pH. An acid pH in these metabolic types will reduce the affinity of the blood for oxygen and increase its carbon dioxide carrying capacity. This will increase breathing rate and feelings of breathlessness during exercise and reduce the delivery of oxygen to the cells which will reduce the energy producing properties of the cell! How is this meant to benefit exercise? Fat storing and reduced oxygen as a result of drinking an 'energy' drink prior to a workout! Maltodextrin can be made from corn, wheat, potato or rice. This potentially means that both the glucose syrup and maltodextrin have been sourced from corn, which is one of the most common genetically modified crops on the planet alongside soya beans. As if there wasn't enough sweetness to the drinks from the mass of simple and complex carbohydrates, but many energy drinks have artificial sweeteners added in an attempt to keep the total calorie levels down. Sweeteners like aspartame and acesulfame K have distinctly checkered pasts. Aspartame breaks down easily in heat and during storage to its neurotoxic components: phenylalanine, aspartic acid and methyl alcohol. According to the US Food and Drug Administration, aspartame is associated with headache, dizziness, loss of balance, mood swings, nausea, memory loss, muscle weakness, blurred vision, fatigue, weakness, skin rashes and joint and musculoskeletal pain. It is one of the most complained about additives in FDA history. Acesulfame K is less studied than aspartame, but it has still been shown in some studies to increase cancer rates in lab animals, though these findings have been disputed. It has also been shown to stimulate insulin response, as if the pancreas wasn't already under enough drive to release insulin to keep up with the large carbohydrate load. Remember when insulin is elevated fat burning isn't happening! So are we tired and fatigued enough that it is worth sacrificing our health at the profit making altar of GSK, Pepsi, Coca Cola or Red Bull? Each of these manufacturers of sports drinks in the UK is banking on you and I not being able nourish ourselves sufficiently to have consistent energy. When our energy is low, they rely heavily on our impulseto buy and restore that energy fast! They are doing something right if their turnover and profit margins are anything to go by - or is it that we are clearly doing something wrong and hence the need to keep boosting our lack lustre energy levels. You may ask then what is the alternative? Has nature provided a refreshing, hydrating, mineral rich drink that is better suited for consumption during hard work and exercise. There are two possible options that may serve you well in these circumstances, one is completely natural and the other requires you to mix it up yourself from natural ingredients. These are excellent ways to benefit from a natural isotonic drink to restore some energy and hydrate the body at the same time. The manufacturers of precision engineered sports drinks would rather you didn't know how these drinks are made and that there are natural options that are just as effective, if not better!
Water, carbohydrate blend (glucose syrup, maltodextrin), citric acid, acidity regulator (sodium citrate), preservative (potassium sorbate), stabilisers (acacia gum, glycerol esters of wood rosins), sweeteners (aspartame, acesulfame K), caffeine (0/016%), antioxidant (ascorbic acid), flavourings, vitamins (niacin, pantothenic acid, B6, B12).
