Red Bull

I was at the gym last night, and observed someone who had just done a vigorous workout, leaving the gym. He was drinking a 'Red Bull' energy drink. I see people everywhere drinking this stuff, at work, at social events.

For some reason I automatically associate this beverage with "Jolt Cola" of the 80's. I don't know why I make this association, as I have never had neither a 'Jolt', nor a 'Red Bull'.

What struck me as interesting about the guy at the gym, is that he is obviously health conscious, and yet is putting a liquid in his body that may be doing more harm than good. I once read a CBC Market Place Article which I have attached, I don't think I will be purchasing a 'Red Bull' any time soon myself. Have a read, and decide for yourself!

CBC MARKETPLACE: YOUR HEALTH ENERGY DRINKS
Raging Bull: Health warnings over popular energy drink being brushed off?
Broadcast: February 6, 2005

Red Bull was recently approved for sale in Canada.
There's a new drink in town, and it's created quite a buzz. Literally.
Red Bull's high caffeine content, combined with other ingredients, gives people who drink the beverage quite the kick.
But Red Bull has been flagged by some health regulators as a potential danger.
It was recently approved for sale in Canada, although its label must carry several warnings for consumers. And Marketplace has discovered those warnings are being ignored.
Red Bull is an energy drink that's suddenly everywhere. Last year, people in 120 countries guzzled close to two billion cans of the trendy brew. It costs about $3 a shot in Canada.
Developed in Austria, Red Bull's marketing campaign promises the beverage "gives you wings".
FACT
A popular myth claims that one of Red Bull's ingredients, taurine, is an extract from a bull's testicles. While taurine is an amino acid naturally found throughout the body, the taurine found in Red Bull is entirely synthetic.
A drink that gives you wings? That sounds pretty powerful. So what exactly is Red Bull? The makers call it an "energy drink". People we've talked to describe it as "stimulating","addictive", even "crack in a can".
Red Bull: A tempest in a can
The label on a can of Red Bull boasts caffeine, vitamins, a carbohydrate (glucuronolactone), an amino acid (taurine), and about five teaspoons of sugar.
We tested Red Bull for those ingredients. We hired a laboratory to analyze the contents of the slender silver and blue can, and sure enough, the label's no bull. A 250 ml can of Red Bull contains, among other ingredients: 80 mg of caffeine (more than three times the caffeine that's in the same amount of Coke)1000 mg of taurine, an amino acid. It's a combination the company claims will boost your energy.
FACT
Enter the energy wars. In early 2005, the Coca-Cola company plans to launch a new energy drink of its own, Full Throttle. It aims to challenge energy leader, Red Bull.
That combination of ingredients in a can of Red Bull that has a lot of people talking. There's no long-term research on how caffeine, taurine and glucuronolactone interact in the body. That has some countries saying: "No studies? No thank you".
Countries like Norway, Denmark and France are so nervous about the can's contents, they've banned the sale of Red Bull.
French nutritionist Isabelle Vanrullen, who works with the country's food safety agency, says France banned the brew because of how the ingredients in Red Bull interact:
"There are various side effects for each one of these three substances, which vary in degrees of severity. And they can also interact with each other".
The French health committee canned the sale of Red Bull, partly because a study found that rats fed taurine exhibited bizarre behaviour. That behaviour, says Vanrullen, included: "anxiety, irritability, a high sensitivity to noise --sudden jumps in their cages-- and most of all, self-mutilations."
Red Bull is prohibited for sale as a normal soft drink in Denmark, Norway, and France. In 2001, Red Bull was investigated by the Swedish National Food Administration after being linked to three deaths.
Other countries, like Sweden and Iceland, are also concerned about Red Bull's stampede onto the market.
Part of the concern is that Red Bull is an energy drink, but it doesn't replenish the body after physical exertion (like sports drinks such as Gatorade).
In fact, because Red Bull has so much caffeine, it can actually dehydrate the drinker. That means if you're physically exerting yourself and drink just a Red Bull, the lack of hydration could strain your heart.
In 2000, Ross Cooney, a healthy, 18-year-old basketball player from Limerick, Ireland, collapsed on the court and died after drinking four cans of Red Bull before a basketball game.
The connection between Cooney's death and Red Bull remains inconclusive; a coroner's inquest found that he died as a result of Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndrome (sudden death due to cardiac arrest brought on by an arrhythmic episode).
There have been other serious health events reported after people exerted themselves and drank Red Bull. But again, there's no evidence to conclude that the drink's ingredients affected people's hearts.
Two people have reported serious adverse health reactions after consuming the Red Bull energy drink. But Health Canada won't say what happened, or what the circumstances were.
The regulator will say that Red Bull was approved for sale, with strings attached.While sales of Red Bull have soared around the world, the drink had trouble charging into Canadian markets.
Regulators wouldn't let it in, stymied by the fact it's neither a food nor a drug.
Then, a year ago, Health Canada created new legislation for 'natural health products' to regulate everything from vitamins to herbal remedies and, ole! Red Bull was in.