By Andrew Bates, The Phoenix (UBC
Okanagan) KELOWNA (CUP)

Ts: all-nighter is a shared university
experience.

Whether you were late for a paper, or
partying, or just reading Wikipedia at all hours, most
university students have forgone sleep for a night at
least once.

It’s no surprise, then, that many students turn to
energy drinks to make it through.

Energy drinks present a health controversy. Some
love them, while others refuse to drink them; several
outlets refuse to sell them, and others just don’t care.

When it comes to the risks, the warning’s on the
can. But do we always read it?

They give you wings
It used to be that it was really easy to tell what
was giving you energy and how. Looking for food
energy? Go for pasta, which is full of carbs that turn
right into food energy. Coffee? Caffeine. The words
even sound the same.
However, energy drinks go beyond the regular
bolt of caffeine to keep you
bolting up in your seat.

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caffeine, instead citing 2,500
milligrams of “energy blend,” which includes six
different ingredients.

A key ingredient in some energy drinks, especially
Red Bull, is taurine. Taurine is an amino acid that
appears naturally in the body. According to Red
Bull, taurine is secreted at times when the body goes
through extreme stress and helps regulate the body’s
temperature. It is also the ingredient famously
believed to be a part of a bull’s testicle; at least in
Red Bull, the nutrient is synthesized.

Another important energy drinks ingredient is
glucuronolactone, which in addition to being a

long word, is the carbohydrate many link to the
detoxifying qualities of red wine.

Additionally, energy drinks contain high amounts of
B-group vitamins — B-12, etc — which help speed the
conversion of things that are already in your system
to energy, but contributes to the “crash” when you
run out of carbs to burn.

With all of these ingredients and vitamins, Health
Canada is a little worried.

“Some ‘energy drinks’ may have to be regulated

as natural health products . . . depending on their
ingredients (such as caffeine and vitamins), and

the claims they make,” states a fact sheet on their
website. “Natural health products have to undergo a
review process for their quality and safety.”

Health Canada so far has only bestowed that status
on one drink: Red Bull.

“They also have to display recommended conditions
for use, as well as cautions,” reads the website.

In that way, Red Bull is a lot like a medicine; don’t
take it except how the instructions say you should.
But how many people listen?

The warning’s on the can

It is rare to find a person who isn’t at all wary of
energy drinks. But the fact is that most of the most
worrisome health problems that result from energy
drinks result from misusing the drinks.

Red Bull’s warning not to drink any more than two
cans in a day sounds a little severe, especially when
you consider that energy drinks served in a 16-0z
tallboy can like Monster constitute two servings and
therefore a day’s worth of energy in a single go.

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However, it’s important not to forget the well-
publicised case of the Irish basketball player who
died during a game after drinking four cans of Red
Bull, though his death from Sudden Adult Death
Syndrome has not been official linked to the energy
drink.

And if we aren’t the person who pops a can of Amp
Energy like it’s candy, don’t we all know someone
who does?

More worrisome than overuse, according to health
professionals, is mixing energy drinks with alcohol.
Drinking Jagerbombs may be almost a national
pastime for the YouTube set that saw My New
Haircut; but it becomes a little more worrisome
when you consider that all four reported cases of
problems arising from energy drinks came from
mixing them with alcohol, which in some cases led
to heart irregularities.

Risk of a heart attack is not something I'd consider
part of a good night of drinking.

Energy drinks also have other effects on alcohol
drinkers. Alcohol’s a depressant, while energy
drinks are a stimulant, so they clash in that way.
Both booze and energy drinks dehydrate you, so mix
the two and you’ll pass out quicker and are more
likely to wake up with a wicked terrible hangover.
Another effect of some of the ingredients in energy
drinks is to mask the effect of the alcohol you’ ve
already had; so while you think you’re on pace and
in control, you might actually be just a badly-placed
DJ track away from breakdancing to the Backstreet
Boys.

“Red Bull Energy Drink is considered a health
product in Canada and should be used according to
the label instructions,” Health Canada warns on its
website. “It is not wise to drink excessive amounts
of any ‘energy drink’ or to mix them with alcohol.”
So the next time you line up some Rockstar and
vodka, it’s good to know what you’ re up against.

Do we need protection?

You may have noticed there aren’t a lot of places

to buy energy drinks on Canadian campuses. While
the UBC Students’ Union Okanagan (UBCSUO)
carries them in both the used bookstore and the
pub, they are absent from the cafeteria or any of the
other Aramark-ran locations on the UBC Okanagan
campus.

The UBCSUO is unapologetic about stocking
energy drinks, says general manager Rob Nagai.
“In terms of being in stock, they actually fly off the
shelves,” he said. “A lot of people want them, [and]
I think that they are aware of the health risks.”
Health risks or not, there is a Red Bull cooler behind
the bar at the union-run pub, and Jagerbombs are
occasionally on special at the bar.

Nagai also mentions promoting energy drinks can
sometimes benefit student clubs on campus.

“What usually happens with those kinds of
marketing techniques is that there’s some kind of
[reciprocal arrangement],” he said. “For something
like the Jib-Jam, which was sponsored by Red Bull
two years ago, they gave out the product for free
and helped them with some of the funds in terms of
making the budget work.”

The Jib-Jam was a snowboarding party held by the
Mountain Riders club that took place in the UBC-O
courtyard.

Students, for their part, aren’t too worried.

“We sell soda and pop, and that’s something we
know that’s bad,” said Jahmira Lovemore-White,

a first-year science student at UBC-O. “We know
Pepsi’s bad and the school sells it all the time,
right?”

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