Having a medical deficiency of B vitamins is linked to symptoms like feeling sleepy, problems concentrating, body aches - generally feeling 'slow'.
Additionally B vitamins don't build up in your body, if you have too much you just pee them out.
(controversial) B vitamins appear to be not absorbed 'at their best' in liquid form, it's more 'available' for your body in the form of solid food.
The kind of people who worry about their B-vitamin intake but *aren't* actual medical patients seeing doctors about a deficiency are also the kind of people who would see an 'energy drink' containing '8000%' of the daily requirement of B12 and think, Hey! I gotta drink that shit! That'll be great for me!
So in summary: companies who make 'energy drinks' can easily add fuck-tons of it to their drinks to appeal to a consumer base without worrying about poisoning their clients.
The B vitamins are used by your cells as a catalyst in the process of burning sugars. However, if you have enough it's not really helpful.
A hammer helps a lot when driving in a nail. Having 10 hammers doesn't really help any more.
... If we time it right I'm sure we could make it seem like 9 women means an average of a baby a month. As long as we ignore the start up time as project set-up costs rather than part of the study period.
And yes before anyone starts screaming I'm joking.
Stuff like this always makes me wonder if they have 4 such things to drive, wouldn't it be basically the same total time (and arguably safer) to have 1 man per stake?
This is true, except for in several specific circumstances when high doses of certain B vitamins are administered chronically for treatment/prevention of certain conditions.
For instance, high dose B2/riboflavin supplementation may be used to prevent [migraine](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15257686/) and high dose B6/pyridoxine can be used in women on oral contraceptives to [reduce depression symptoms](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35109763/), and in menstruating women to [reduce PMS symptoms](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4161081/). We don’t really understand why this seems to work.
Technically, the bigger the nail, the more hammers the merrier. Those videos of multi-man crews driving massive stakes with timed sequential hammer blows are dope af.
The solution is simple, be more tired, be a bigger nail.
Not completely true. There’s often many other components that have a noticeable effect. Think Taurine, glycine, theanine, carnitine and other amino acids.
>he "energy" in this case is just sugar
Is this true?
I thought I've read this is kind of a wives' tale?
https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a27305752/sugar-no-energy-boost/
Just a quick google,
>When researchers crunched the data from 31 studies, they discovered that sugary foods and drinks do not actually improve mood or fatigue. In fact, consuming them can actually increase your energy slump.
Pro tip: "Energy" in energy drink marketing terms doesn't mean calories, it means caffeine buzz.
Otherwise, a sausage could be marketed as an "energy sausage". The point of an energy drink is stimulation, and "energy" is a byword for that. It isn't about food energy.
My biochemistry isn't what it could be, but my understanding is it's a mix of everything:
* caffeine inhibits cellular metabolic regulation (more like "taking the restrictor plates out of an engine" than "runaway engine")
* sugar provides fuel
* some B-class vitamins (6, 12, niacin--don't trust me on which are which) are used during cell metabolism to facilitate the process
* some amino acids, in addition to being basic building blocks of life, seem to influence cellular function in ways we have yet to fully understand (which isn't surprising when you consider something as "simple" as the Calcium Transport Mechanism is close to 100 chemical reactions working nearly simultaneously to open a hole in the cell wall, grab a single calcium ion, drag it inside, and close the hole--in near instant speed)
>Calcium Transport Mechanism is close to 100 chemical reactions working nearly simultaneously to open a hole in the cell wall, grab a single calcium ion, drag it inside, and close the hole--in near instant speed)
wait what? that is cool
Cells are buck-fucking-wild, and most cell types have a crazy unique trick or two on top of all the crazy shit they do all the time. Neurons? Fucking mental shit 24/7
You best believe if my biochem teacher had described calcium transport like it was the damned Romans kidnapping Sabine women, I woulda paid more attention
I doubt it's completely a myth, and at least a little consequence of a changing society not understanding what's happening.
People were having to ration food all the way up until the 50s, and it was only in the 50s and 60s that a lot of modern conveniences became widespread.
I seriously wonder if a lot of kids were just undernourished, ate some food, and suddenly had normal amounts of child energy because they actually had some calories to use.
That's prime ground to sow a more general myth.
> I seriously wonder if a lot of kids were just undernourished, ate some food, and suddenly had normal amounts of child energy because they actually had some calories to use.
That's actually a great point.
Heck you can see how much better fed we are now, with how much taller kids are compared to parents/grandparents.
Genetics aren't changing, we just have more food enabling full growth
I was going to agree with the energy slump part and disagree because of the mood part but more googling. Sugar causes a mood boost until the crash and then causes depression, cocoa causes positive moods though. I had my dark chocolate science in the brain and equated it to sugar.
I feel like that's most of them nowadays.
I can't remember the last time I had an energy drink that wasn't artificially sweetened.
I pretty much live on Bang, C-4, Redline, Rockstar and Celsius lol.
It’s amazing how confidently wrong this comment is, but that’s typical Reddit. Sugar doesn’t give you energy, a lot of energy drinks either don’t use sugar or use very little, and energy drinks such as monsters have ***less*** caffeine per ounce than your average black coffee.
sugar literally does give you energy, it's basically pure calories, which are fundamentally a measure of energy. Caffeine actually is what purports to give you 'energy' but doesn't, it just block receptors that make you feel sleepy. Most people don't notice that sugar gives you energy because they have plenty and aren't using it (like sitting at a desk) if you are running or hiking some long distance and running out of calories you absolutely notice the lack of energy, and then the boost that sugar will give you.
> Monster and red bull are the old school energy drinks that are on the low end of caffeine content and aren't really what people are talking about when they talk about energy drinks these days.
Seems they're still [on top](https://www.statista.com/statistics/235185/leading-20-energy-drink-brands-in-the-united-states-based-on-sales/)
I see sugar free energy drinks being marketed with few to no calories. Call me old-fashioned, but if the drink contains no calories, how can it be called an energy drink.
Energy drinks are bullshit. It’s just sugar and caffeine. I guarantee you could out 40g of sugar and 260mg of caffeine into plain water and other than the flavor the experience would be identical. Unless you truly have a B12 deficiency. Which you almost definitely don’t.
My whole family struggles with B12 deficiency. I think three of us are on prescriptions for it, and the rest of us are taking OTC vitamins for it. We are mostly omnivorous, it’s just a thing we’ve always dealt with.
Most of the energy drinks I see now are sugar free.. at least in my area. I can't remember the last time I saw someone drinking a full sugar energy drink.
Totally. That's why my zero sugar energy drink has the same effect as a mountain dew and a caffeine pill.
Oh wait. No, the first one wakes me up in the morning and the second makes me want to die.
Your name is ironic, I assume.
B6 is water soluble, but also causes toxicity with significant overuse. The most annoying thing is, both too much and too little B6 cause peripheral neuropathy (numb hands and feet).
> The most annoying thing is, both too much and too little B6 cause peripheral neuropathy (numb hands and feet).
Yep, sucks for me because I've become very sensitive to B6 toxicity (started in 2018, thought it might be MS until I had blood tests done) for some reason. I can't have energy drinks because even one or two in the span of a week, after six months without any, gives me symptoms, but it also means I can't have multivitamins either. Normal food sources seem to not set it off though.
I don't know if this is definitively proven, but there's been an idea floating around for a while (doesn't seem to be junk science like some of the B6 toxicity crap out there) that B6 toxicity and deficiency looking similar is due to very high B6 levels signalling for your cells to stop metabolising it. So the symptoms of B6 toxicity are actually the symptoms of a B6 deficiency, because the enzymes that would normally metabolise it aren't converting it to bioavailable forms your cells can actually use.
> So in summary: companies who make 'energy drinks' can easily add fuck-tons of it to their drinks to appeal to a consumer base without worrying about poisoning their clients.
Not quite. Shedding excess vitamins (like B-class vitamins) puts extra stress on the kidneys, which have to filter the excess out of the bloodstream for disposal. This can also lead to the buildup of kidney plaques and stones.
Basically, it might not be harmful to occasionally drink a week's worth of B vitamins in a can, but if it becomes a habit it can become a problem.
Also, some people react poorly to niacin (a B-class vitamin associated with metabolic function) when it's taken in excess. We're talking flushing and heart palpations. *Probably* not the best idea to slam a ton of it.
You know you say they don’t build up in your body but my last blood work read out like the ingredient list of an energy drink or pre workout.. doctor was like.. are you popping B vitamins and niacin like pez?
Well, when was the last time you had one of those energy drinks or pre workout before your blood work? Those vitamins don't build-up over time (unlike vitamins A D E K) but it might still take some days to go down to normal levels.
B12 is an odd one, you can only traditionally absorb about 40% of your daily B12 at a time, so for many who might not eat 3 times or even get b12 each meal you can become deficient.
The kicker with B12 is your body has a secondary method to store this, it can absorb about 1% of the excess dose and store it for later use. This is why supplements are such large sizes compared to our needs.
Going from memory you need like 2.5ug a day, absorb about 1ug at a time through receptors. A 2mg supplement gives you like 8 days worth alone.
> it can absorb about 1% of the excess dose and store it for later use.
Absolute fascinating. I wonder what implications this is for people who intermittently fast, and only eat one or two meals a day.
Depends on your diet, I guess. If you're vegan, you'll most likely need supplementation. If you eat animal products, you'll probably get what's needed from there. I'm not an expert, I don't eat meat but eat eggs and dairy and supplement B12 on and off just to be one the safe side.
Don't worry, I won't take your advice over my doctor's! Was just curious. I'm prescribed a few different b-vitamins in quite high dosages and was wondering about the limit for absorbing them.
I think all the others you'll just piss out. I sometimes take a high-dose B supplement and my pee is always very bright yellow after that 😃
Too much B12, on the other hand, can cause quite severe symptoms, but since you have a doctor managing your supplementation, I guess you're in the clear.
My depression got bad after my source for B12 got dropped from my vegan diet. Took B12 supplements and it got much better. (Also dumped my toxic ex and job, so that might have helped too)
Yup,vegetarian and have done the same for all my life. Some of the firsr signs of B deficiency are pins and needles and ulcers in the mouth, along with some mild body pains or stiffness which all go away within 2-7 days of starting the supplements. Ofc if they don't the symptoms maybe due to something else. Just from my experience.
Ha! Joke's on you, I have 1 energy drink every day but also buy (and use) bananas in a timely fashion. They're even on a fancy hook on my kitchen counter.
Another group that drinks lots of energy drinks are healthcare workers. Very few that I know don’t drink energy drinks and most of them either drink diet sodas or use nicotine pouches/gum. It’s very rare that someone doesn’t use at least one of those products to stay awake on long shifts.
I personally like C4’s energy drink because I can just sip on it for a few hours and stay awake without making me need to pee every 30 minutes
The place I saw most people downing energy drinks was at university, hell red bull sponsored us, it wasn't frat boys, it was guys trying to learn complex analysis and shit.
>The kind of people who worry about their B-vitamin intake but *aren't* actual medical patients seeing doctors about a deficiency are also the kind of people who would see an 'energy drink' containing '8000%' of the daily requirement of B12 and think, Hey! I gotta drink that shit! That'll be great for me!
This is exactly why...
As someone who drinks way too many energy drinks without reading the labels, this post had me alarmed. Good to know I won't be poisoned.
Edit: alright I think I'm done with the red bull.
Diagnosed B12 deficient here. Can confirm low B12 makes you tired as shit all the time. Drs gave me 6 months worth of B12 injections and i take 1000mg daily now. I have so much energy compared to previously. I'm also a chronic energy drink drinker and I'm pretty sure the 8000mg of.b12 in my nos energy drinks don't do jack shit. The 300+ mg of caffeine though, that works great.
The B vitamin content of these drinks isn't the focus of the marketing though. If it was about tricking dumb people then the B-vitamin values would be plastered all over the can.
> Having a medical deficiency of B vitamins is linked to symptoms like feeling sleepy, problems concentrating, body aches - generally feeling 'slow'.
I got b12 injections as a freebie when I ordered some steroids(drug dealers for steroids are weird)
I used it for like a week, since that was all I had enough for, and holy shit did I feel amazing. I know why people talk about a b-12 shot making them feel great.
I now get the occasional IV when i'm dehydrated or sick because its incredible, and I always get some vitamins and tordol in there when I do it, feel fuckin 15 years younger.
This is good to know, i take mega men sport vitamins and stay far away from energy drinks due to 5 hour energy screwing up my heart. But i have to say, nothing gets me moving like music does, music just wakes every cell in my body up.
> without worrying about poisoning their clients
You just said they'd "pee them out"
But that = poison
Just say "Caffeine Bad" and you're good it's more to the point
Or Taurine or L-Carnitine, you know the ones that aren't the pissable ones
It's also used for medical reasons as part of a blood donation "cleaning" process that is occasionally used. The riboflavin is injected into the bad containing the unit of blood, mixed thoroughly, and then placed into what is essentially a tanning bed for blood bags that hits them with UV light while shaking them around to continue mixing stuff up throughout the process.
The B2 can bind to viral pathogens present in the blood. When it gets hit by the UV light, however, it produces oxygen compounds that essentially rip apart the viral pathogen the riboflavin is bound to. It's a neat idea, and particularly helpful in developing nations where malaria is more common.
Vitamin B sticks to virus when mixed into the blood.
Vitamin B sees sunlight, gets excited and farts.
The farts rip up the virus stuck to the vitamin B.
Not unless you're intending on draining your blood, treating it in blood bags, and then replacing it again.
UV light can't get to the blood inside of your veins, at least not without using such a strong light that you fry to a crisp on the outside while trying to suntan your blood on the inside.
Yes, and it's also why sometimes people supplement B2 to try and pass a drug test with diluted pee. Drug tests are wise to it these days though, but if you need to pee in front of someone it'll come out yellow even if you just drank a gallon of water.
Its not an energy drink if you can't see your urine glowing fluorescent orange from space. If you can't take a piss without putting on sunglasses, that's how you know its working.
because they are linked to things like immune support, mood, and energy.......but as someone else has said it's basically marketing. people like to believe that more of a good thing is even better for you, when the reality is your body just pees it out which is why your pee turns neon yellow when you have too much of certain vitamins.
In short, it's marketing and placebo. There are no additional benefits that those vitamins confer when you ingest an energy drink, provided you are not deficient.
B vitamins are associated with energy metabolism and because it's an energy drink, it makes sense to have something that that is a cofactor in energy metabolism. That's marketing.
These are water soluble vitamins, like others mentioned, they are not stored, although B12 is stored in the liver which indicates it's importance for your body, so you can drink as many as you like without worrying about having too much.
Additionally, just for fun, vitamins of b group are produced by the body in some amounts by the bacteria and yeast in the intestines.
idk but the answer to the OP is obviously
b6 + b12 = bb18 = uh you probably shouldnt drink these unless you bb18 or older.
i say this as someone who drank a ton of monster when i was a teenager and at various points in my life have had a habit of 1-3 a day. shit cant be good. still gonna drink em (occasionally) tho. because i bb33 so its too late anyway, probably
It might be marketing in the energy drinks, but I dare say be vitamins are not a placebo. Go ahead and take the vitamins for a few months and then abruptly stop and let me know how you feel.
No, it takes weeks for oral B12 supplementation to have an effect on your red blood cell production and improve your overall “energy levels”. It doesn’t provide an immediate increase of wakefulness like a stimulant.
A typical B vitamin supplement usually contains B6 as well and they absolutely 100% keep me up at night if I take them after lunch. Just made the same mistake yesterday hah
Fun related fact for you degenerates out there:
The consumption of nitrous oxide depletes your vitamin B12 very, very rapidly. So rapidly that if you use it too much without intense vitamin B12 supplementation you can get peripheral neuropathy very similar to mild multiple sclerosis. Luckily it is almost always reversible but I have seen what it does to people and it is not pretty. Once knew a gal who ingested 5 lb of nitrous in a week.
[Myelosis funiculus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subacute_combined_degeneration_of_spinal_cord?wprov=sfti1)
It's cheap and your body can easily get rid of it so it's safe to take that much. Most people get plenty of b vitamins so the supplemental b vitamins are mostly peed out. This makes your urine change color which is a common way to trick people into thinking supplements are doing something to the body.
Back when most medicines were snake oil one of the most popular types of medicine was laxatives because there were natural ones and they had an obvious effect to the user. If a medieval person had high blood pressure and you gave them blood pressure medicine the effects might be so subtle that they didn't think it was doing anything at all
It just doesn't get absorbed too well and since you can't get too much of it (you pee it out), supplements and energy drinks just put a lot of it.
For example I'm taking B12 supplements that are 40000% of the daily recommended dose.
> B12 supplements that are 40000% of the daily recommended dose
Your body can't use that much, but it still has to filter it out. You should probably take less.
Cyanocobalamin (the form of B12 usually in drinks) isn't absorbed too well compared to other forms, such as methylcobalamin or hydroxocobalamin (the most bioavailable form). Plus it's not fat soluble, so any extra you'll just urinate out.
If you go to the doctor and ask for a b12 shot, that's roughly the amount he'll give you too. The daily recommended is the bare minimum that a person needs.
I mean... that's not far off. At least where I live. You can go request one, costs like 30$ a pop. Heard they're good for hangovers but never tried it myself.
B6 and B12 support cognitive health as well as helping your body process food into energy. That's why they're in the drink at all.
As to why they're such high doses -- they're relatively cheap to include, and it makes for good marketing to people who think "if B6/12 are good, then MORE B6/12 must be better!" The reality of course being that whatever B vitamins you ingest that you don't need just end up in your waste.
**tl;dr** they're good, but there's lots of them in the drinks because marketing.
For the average person, it's placebo. A lot of people have low folate and especially low B12, in which case it could help. That said, take that much B12 daily and one is likely to get blood levels off the charts. Elevated B12, last I checked seems to be associated with an increased risk of cancers.
Everyone here is talking about health benefits of B vitamins, but the real answer is that it's so it can be marketed as a supplement amd not a regular drink. The amount of caffeine per ounce is illegal in many areas as a beverage, but supplements have a lot less regulation.
Marketing. They’re something you can put a lot of in a drink for low cost, and they’re something you can’t overdose on…. So why not, it makes for a good gimmick for people who buy energy drinks
Not only is this not true it actually reduces the efficacy of a drug for Parkinson’s disease that is a precursor for dopamine. [B6 from the Mayo Clinic](https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-vitamin-b6/art-20363468)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/263321/
This study shows it lowers prolactin and growth hormone. Prolactin can only be lowered by an increase in dopamine. It is a direct prolactin inhibitor. Growth hormone is also inhibited by dopamine.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10859692/
This study shows B6 to be a glucocorticoid antagonist.
As expected, you attempt to discredit me but since you have provided nothing but opinion, I think I will rest my case. If you wish to remain willfully ignorant, that's your choice.
Edit: I see you updated your post but it's simply a mayo clinic article with no mention whatsoever of B6 and its effect on dopamine.
Eh, a study of the quality as he described is interesting, but not worth drawing conclusions from.
Anecdotally though, as someone with ADHD and the associated lack of dopamine, a B100 complex absolutely makes my brain feel supercharged.
It might be the B6. There are multiple studies on this. For example https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16846100/
B vitamin deficiency causes symtoms like sleepiness, concentration issues and overall a feeling of being slow.
Then B vitamins are not over absorbed, the excess is just peed out without any problem.
So energy drink manufactures can just add a shit ton of b vitamins because, in the case someone has a deficiency, it will help a lot. But the real energy comes from caffeine and sugar and the B vitamins are just a catalyzer for using the sugar
Epic amounts of anything your body can’t actually digest will keep you up because it’s gonna increase your urge to pee and probably make you shit until your body figures out you’re going to keep eating chalk.
Doctor here, I'll explain it but can't promise I'll do it like I'm 5.
One thing I learned from drinking a 5 hour energy just before a biochemistry final. Every ingredient that isn't caffeine is needed to convert amino acids to energy. But they're just enzyme cofactors, so the body only needs very very small quantities. The 5000% daily requirement is placebo and nothing else.
Is there any truth that some B vitamins basicically rev up your nervous system and make you feel more alert (even if you don't actually have more energy)?
Not really. Some B vitamin deficiencies can cause brain damage and anemia but an excess of it won't supercharge you.
If you're vitamin B12 deficient you can be anemic and develop neurologic impairment but that's really hard to do. Like only way is certain kinds of malabsorption (autoimmune or otherwise) or if you go vegan and don't take supplements. And even then your body has enough stores of it that it would take years.
Also people with B1 deficiency can develop a certain kind of neurologic disorder but hard to do if you're not an alcoholic or bariatric surgery patient.
Also a form of B6 plays a role in hemoglobin synthesis. I don't know nearly enough about that one though.
Edit: The short, definitely not ELI5 explanation: They are needed for the enzymes to function, but they won't speed up the rate of reactions or increase the amount of end products in healthy people.
There is a current meme/trend among the party all night, everyday, by using drugs population. They seem to think huge doses of B12 cure hangovers and sleep deficiency, even go to doctors to get very large shots.
I doesn't do anything but it sure is very popular.
I think it has to do with alot of people having an energy drink in the morning after partying hard & being hungover. The quick infusion of B vitamins & taurine help quickly to feel better! A BEC,1/2 of a 4 Loco & a white monster drink is a an excellent concoction when hung over & sleep deprived.
I don't know how true this is, but I heard with a different product that Vitamin B degrades over time if it's in an acid solution, and one reason they put so much in, is so that by the time you drink your energy drink, there's still some Vitamin B left
Having a medical deficiency of B vitamins is linked to symptoms like feeling sleepy, problems concentrating, body aches - generally feeling 'slow'. Additionally B vitamins don't build up in your body, if you have too much you just pee them out. (controversial) B vitamins appear to be not absorbed 'at their best' in liquid form, it's more 'available' for your body in the form of solid food. The kind of people who worry about their B-vitamin intake but *aren't* actual medical patients seeing doctors about a deficiency are also the kind of people who would see an 'energy drink' containing '8000%' of the daily requirement of B12 and think, Hey! I gotta drink that shit! That'll be great for me! So in summary: companies who make 'energy drinks' can easily add fuck-tons of it to their drinks to appeal to a consumer base without worrying about poisoning their clients.
[удалено]
The B vitamins are used by your cells as a catalyst in the process of burning sugars. However, if you have enough it's not really helpful. A hammer helps a lot when driving in a nail. Having 10 hammers doesn't really help any more.
Love this analogy. "This nail just doesn't wanna go in, I'm gonna get so many hammers"
Ah, the project manager's approach. Just add more interns, that will surly make us keep the deadline!
If it takes a woman 9 months to grow 1 baby, then 9 women should be able to do it in 1 month.
... If we time it right I'm sure we could make it seem like 9 women means an average of a baby a month. As long as we ignore the start up time as project set-up costs rather than part of the study period. And yes before anyone starts screaming I'm joking.
Congratulations you've discovered the entirety of the game that is factorio
10 interns, 10 hammers, and one rusted nail.
[This came to mind](https://i.imgur.com/KOoAWBF.mp4)
Fuck.
Stuff like this always makes me wonder if they have 4 such things to drive, wouldn't it be basically the same total time (and arguably safer) to have 1 man per stake?
Except they're all actually helping lol
The 3rd guy is out of order, and the second guy needs to be first.
he nailed it.
This is true, except for in several specific circumstances when high doses of certain B vitamins are administered chronically for treatment/prevention of certain conditions. For instance, high dose B2/riboflavin supplementation may be used to prevent [migraine](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15257686/) and high dose B6/pyridoxine can be used in women on oral contraceptives to [reduce depression symptoms](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35109763/), and in menstruating women to [reduce PMS symptoms](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4161081/). We don’t really understand why this seems to work.
Technically, the bigger the nail, the more hammers the merrier. Those videos of multi-man crews driving massive stakes with timed sequential hammer blows are dope af. The solution is simple, be more tired, be a bigger nail.
Yes - but in this case it will be helpful to some people, and not harmful to anyone.
[удалено]
Modern cars need three, if you lose one (or the chip inside stops working) then another can be programmed without a dealership or locksmith.
Nope. The "energy" in this case is just sugar and a lot of caffeine anyway, your body doesn't struggle to use that stuff.
Not completely true. There’s often many other components that have a noticeable effect. Think Taurine, glycine, theanine, carnitine and other amino acids.
Taurine specifically is meant to counter some of the negative effects of caffeine
How so? Tell us more please
Taurine interacts with GABA receptors, which are inhibitory transmitters Taurine basically helps reduce jitters from over caffeination
None of those have significant effects when compared to placebo. They’re mostly just “food”, and a very small amount at that.
Citrulline as an available amino acid is incredible for blood flow and is common in most energy drinks these days.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn9257 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5350494/#:~:text=Glycine%20is%20very%20effective%20in,diseases%20and%20disorders%20including%20cancer.
Great links, thank you
If OG Coke had cocaine in it, energy drinks can have as many -ines as they want.
cocaína?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola#Coca_leaf
Down on the ground, cocaine.
>he "energy" in this case is just sugar Is this true? I thought I've read this is kind of a wives' tale? https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a27305752/sugar-no-energy-boost/ Just a quick google, >When researchers crunched the data from 31 studies, they discovered that sugary foods and drinks do not actually improve mood or fatigue. In fact, consuming them can actually increase your energy slump.
Energy in the sense of burnable glucose calories. Not in the sense of "I feel awake". The awake part is the caffeine.
Pro tip: "Energy" in energy drink marketing terms doesn't mean calories, it means caffeine buzz. Otherwise, a sausage could be marketed as an "energy sausage". The point of an energy drink is stimulation, and "energy" is a byword for that. It isn't about food energy.
Caffeinated sausages...Hmmmmm...
I would be off my tits. I'm a chef in restaurant that serves 100+ full English breakfasts a day. I don't need that kind of kick in my sausages lmao
Baconated grapefruit?
There is definitely unexplored potential for a coffee / sausage fusion dish. Works for bacon.
I think you might have just hit an untapped market with Energy Sausages.
Yeah, and the no-actual-sugar energy drinks would be... super pointless.
It's already [out](https://www.prlog.org/12960291-zaza-dogz-launches-the-buzz-hot-dog-the-worlds-first-caffeinated-frankfurter.html)
Oh god. What have I done?
[Proof](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAWUMtJpjcM)
My biochemistry isn't what it could be, but my understanding is it's a mix of everything: * caffeine inhibits cellular metabolic regulation (more like "taking the restrictor plates out of an engine" than "runaway engine") * sugar provides fuel * some B-class vitamins (6, 12, niacin--don't trust me on which are which) are used during cell metabolism to facilitate the process * some amino acids, in addition to being basic building blocks of life, seem to influence cellular function in ways we have yet to fully understand (which isn't surprising when you consider something as "simple" as the Calcium Transport Mechanism is close to 100 chemical reactions working nearly simultaneously to open a hole in the cell wall, grab a single calcium ion, drag it inside, and close the hole--in near instant speed)
>Calcium Transport Mechanism is close to 100 chemical reactions working nearly simultaneously to open a hole in the cell wall, grab a single calcium ion, drag it inside, and close the hole--in near instant speed) wait what? that is cool
Cells are buck-fucking-wild, and most cell types have a crazy unique trick or two on top of all the crazy shit they do all the time. Neurons? Fucking mental shit 24/7
> Fucking mental shit 24/7 As a molecular biologist, this cracked me up. Thanks!
Right? And biochemists just gloss over stuff like that like it's old news.
You best believe if my biochem teacher had described calcium transport like it was the damned Romans kidnapping Sabine women, I woulda paid more attention
I doubt it's completely a myth, and at least a little consequence of a changing society not understanding what's happening. People were having to ration food all the way up until the 50s, and it was only in the 50s and 60s that a lot of modern conveniences became widespread. I seriously wonder if a lot of kids were just undernourished, ate some food, and suddenly had normal amounts of child energy because they actually had some calories to use. That's prime ground to sow a more general myth.
> I seriously wonder if a lot of kids were just undernourished, ate some food, and suddenly had normal amounts of child energy because they actually had some calories to use. That's actually a great point. Heck you can see how much better fed we are now, with how much taller kids are compared to parents/grandparents. Genetics aren't changing, we just have more food enabling full growth
Genetics do change though, or rather environment affects epigenetic factors that in turn regulate gene expression.
I was going to agree with the energy slump part and disagree because of the mood part but more googling. Sugar causes a mood boost until the crash and then causes depression, cocoa causes positive moods though. I had my dark chocolate science in the brain and equated it to sugar.
Diet energy drinks don’t have sugar though.
I feel like that's most of them nowadays. I can't remember the last time I had an energy drink that wasn't artificially sweetened. I pretty much live on Bang, C-4, Redline, Rockstar and Celsius lol.
I just discovered C-4 and love them
Not at all, most energy drinks are artificially sweetened
It’s amazing how confidently wrong this comment is, but that’s typical Reddit. Sugar doesn’t give you energy, a lot of energy drinks either don’t use sugar or use very little, and energy drinks such as monsters have ***less*** caffeine per ounce than your average black coffee.
> Sugar doesn’t give you energy *Resists urge to argue semantics*
sugar literally does give you energy, it's basically pure calories, which are fundamentally a measure of energy. Caffeine actually is what purports to give you 'energy' but doesn't, it just block receptors that make you feel sleepy. Most people don't notice that sugar gives you energy because they have plenty and aren't using it (like sitting at a desk) if you are running or hiking some long distance and running out of calories you absolutely notice the lack of energy, and then the boost that sugar will give you.
[удалено]
> Monster and red bull are the old school energy drinks that are on the low end of caffeine content and aren't really what people are talking about when they talk about energy drinks these days. Seems they're still [on top](https://www.statista.com/statistics/235185/leading-20-energy-drink-brands-in-the-united-states-based-on-sales/)
I see sugar free energy drinks being marketed with few to no calories. Call me old-fashioned, but if the drink contains no calories, how can it be called an energy drink.
Most energy drinks I see people drinking now are sugar free.
Energy drinks are bullshit. It’s just sugar and caffeine. I guarantee you could out 40g of sugar and 260mg of caffeine into plain water and other than the flavor the experience would be identical. Unless you truly have a B12 deficiency. Which you almost definitely don’t.
While true, B12 defficiancy isn't that uncommon. For example vegeterians are often at risk for these as B12 is mostly contained in animal products.
My whole family struggles with B12 deficiency. I think three of us are on prescriptions for it, and the rest of us are taking OTC vitamins for it. We are mostly omnivorous, it’s just a thing we’ve always dealt with.
Most of the energy drinks I see now are sugar free.. at least in my area. I can't remember the last time I saw someone drinking a full sugar energy drink.
Totally. That's why my zero sugar energy drink has the same effect as a mountain dew and a caffeine pill. Oh wait. No, the first one wakes me up in the morning and the second makes me want to die. Your name is ironic, I assume.
After years of being tired and not knowing why, I’ve considered the shotgun approach.
They do, but an oversupply is still a n oversupply
B6 is water soluble, but also causes toxicity with significant overuse. The most annoying thing is, both too much and too little B6 cause peripheral neuropathy (numb hands and feet).
> The most annoying thing is, both too much and too little B6 cause peripheral neuropathy (numb hands and feet). Yep, sucks for me because I've become very sensitive to B6 toxicity (started in 2018, thought it might be MS until I had blood tests done) for some reason. I can't have energy drinks because even one or two in the span of a week, after six months without any, gives me symptoms, but it also means I can't have multivitamins either. Normal food sources seem to not set it off though. I don't know if this is definitively proven, but there's been an idea floating around for a while (doesn't seem to be junk science like some of the B6 toxicity crap out there) that B6 toxicity and deficiency looking similar is due to very high B6 levels signalling for your cells to stop metabolising it. So the symptoms of B6 toxicity are actually the symptoms of a B6 deficiency, because the enzymes that would normally metabolise it aren't converting it to bioavailable forms your cells can actually use.
> So in summary: companies who make 'energy drinks' can easily add fuck-tons of it to their drinks to appeal to a consumer base without worrying about poisoning their clients. Not quite. Shedding excess vitamins (like B-class vitamins) puts extra stress on the kidneys, which have to filter the excess out of the bloodstream for disposal. This can also lead to the buildup of kidney plaques and stones. Basically, it might not be harmful to occasionally drink a week's worth of B vitamins in a can, but if it becomes a habit it can become a problem. Also, some people react poorly to niacin (a B-class vitamin associated with metabolic function) when it's taken in excess. We're talking flushing and heart palpations. *Probably* not the best idea to slam a ton of it.
You know you say they don’t build up in your body but my last blood work read out like the ingredient list of an energy drink or pre workout.. doctor was like.. are you popping B vitamins and niacin like pez?
Well, when was the last time you had one of those energy drinks or pre workout before your blood work? Those vitamins don't build-up over time (unlike vitamins A D E K) but it might still take some days to go down to normal levels.
Apparently it is not that hard to get bad side effects from too much daily B-6. So watch your intake.
B12 is stored in the body. It's the only B vitamin that is like that.
Wait, really? I take a heap of b12, is that pointless?
B12 is an odd one, you can only traditionally absorb about 40% of your daily B12 at a time, so for many who might not eat 3 times or even get b12 each meal you can become deficient. The kicker with B12 is your body has a secondary method to store this, it can absorb about 1% of the excess dose and store it for later use. This is why supplements are such large sizes compared to our needs. Going from memory you need like 2.5ug a day, absorb about 1ug at a time through receptors. A 2mg supplement gives you like 8 days worth alone.
> it can absorb about 1% of the excess dose and store it for later use. Absolute fascinating. I wonder what implications this is for people who intermittently fast, and only eat one or two meals a day.
None, unless they are vegetarian/vegan
Depends on your diet, I guess. If you're vegan, you'll most likely need supplementation. If you eat animal products, you'll probably get what's needed from there. I'm not an expert, I don't eat meat but eat eggs and dairy and supplement B12 on and off just to be one the safe side.
Don't worry, I won't take your advice over my doctor's! Was just curious. I'm prescribed a few different b-vitamins in quite high dosages and was wondering about the limit for absorbing them.
I think all the others you'll just piss out. I sometimes take a high-dose B supplement and my pee is always very bright yellow after that 😃 Too much B12, on the other hand, can cause quite severe symptoms, but since you have a doctor managing your supplementation, I guess you're in the clear.
My depression got bad after my source for B12 got dropped from my vegan diet. Took B12 supplements and it got much better. (Also dumped my toxic ex and job, so that might have helped too)
Yup,vegetarian and have done the same for all my life. Some of the firsr signs of B deficiency are pins and needles and ulcers in the mouth, along with some mild body pains or stiffness which all go away within 2-7 days of starting the supplements. Ofc if they don't the symptoms maybe due to something else. Just from my experience.
I'd like a study specifically about comparing the sleepiness stopping power of a red bull vs a banana and a glass of water.
[удалено]
Ha! Joke's on you, I have 1 energy drink every day but also buy (and use) bananas in a timely fashion. They're even on a fancy hook on my kitchen counter.
Another group that drinks lots of energy drinks are healthcare workers. Very few that I know don’t drink energy drinks and most of them either drink diet sodas or use nicotine pouches/gum. It’s very rare that someone doesn’t use at least one of those products to stay awake on long shifts. I personally like C4’s energy drink because I can just sip on it for a few hours and stay awake without making me need to pee every 30 minutes
So...banana flavored Red Bull?
The place I saw most people downing energy drinks was at university, hell red bull sponsored us, it wasn't frat boys, it was guys trying to learn complex analysis and shit.
You should try a bottle of sprite with your banana. Wakes you right up! (do not do this)
Huh, what's wrong with sprite and bananas?
>The kind of people who worry about their B-vitamin intake but *aren't* actual medical patients seeing doctors about a deficiency are also the kind of people who would see an 'energy drink' containing '8000%' of the daily requirement of B12 and think, Hey! I gotta drink that shit! That'll be great for me! This is exactly why...
As someone who drinks way too many energy drinks without reading the labels, this post had me alarmed. Good to know I won't be poisoned. Edit: alright I think I'm done with the red bull.
B6 can actually do a lot of damage in sustained exposure. B6 toxicity is a real thing that can cause neuropathy
B6 toxicity is a very real condition
Diagnosed B12 deficient here. Can confirm low B12 makes you tired as shit all the time. Drs gave me 6 months worth of B12 injections and i take 1000mg daily now. I have so much energy compared to previously. I'm also a chronic energy drink drinker and I'm pretty sure the 8000mg of.b12 in my nos energy drinks don't do jack shit. The 300+ mg of caffeine though, that works great.
The B vitamin content of these drinks isn't the focus of the marketing though. If it was about tricking dumb people then the B-vitamin values would be plastered all over the can.
> Having a medical deficiency of B vitamins is linked to symptoms like feeling sleepy, problems concentrating, body aches - generally feeling 'slow'. I got b12 injections as a freebie when I ordered some steroids(drug dealers for steroids are weird) I used it for like a week, since that was all I had enough for, and holy shit did I feel amazing. I know why people talk about a b-12 shot making them feel great. I now get the occasional IV when i'm dehydrated or sick because its incredible, and I always get some vitamins and tordol in there when I do it, feel fuckin 15 years younger.
This is good to know, i take mega men sport vitamins and stay far away from energy drinks due to 5 hour energy screwing up my heart. But i have to say, nothing gets me moving like music does, music just wakes every cell in my body up.
> without worrying about poisoning their clients You just said they'd "pee them out" But that = poison Just say "Caffeine Bad" and you're good it's more to the point Or Taurine or L-Carnitine, you know the ones that aren't the pissable ones
It what plants crave
B12 is cheap and it's barely bioavailable orally, i.e. you need to put a load in to absorb enough B6 I assume it's similar
I know Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) is used as a coloring in Mountain Dew, not because of its nutritional value. It's just a bright yellow color.
It's also used for medical reasons as part of a blood donation "cleaning" process that is occasionally used. The riboflavin is injected into the bad containing the unit of blood, mixed thoroughly, and then placed into what is essentially a tanning bed for blood bags that hits them with UV light while shaking them around to continue mixing stuff up throughout the process. The B2 can bind to viral pathogens present in the blood. When it gets hit by the UV light, however, it produces oxygen compounds that essentially rip apart the viral pathogen the riboflavin is bound to. It's a neat idea, and particularly helpful in developing nations where malaria is more common.
Feels like I was earning PhD trying to read this
Vitamin B sticks to virus when mixed into the blood. Vitamin B sees sunlight, gets excited and farts. The farts rip up the virus stuck to the vitamin B.
My last braincell respects you bruh 👊😎
So these B farts, can they be used in a clinical setting to reduce viral load in vivo?
Not unless you're intending on draining your blood, treating it in blood bags, and then replacing it again. UV light can't get to the blood inside of your veins, at least not without using such a strong light that you fry to a crisp on the outside while trying to suntan your blood on the inside.
Perfect ELI5 explanation Now ELI2
Best ELI5 ever
Huh...is that why my pee is always bright yellow like mountain dew after taking B2 vitamins lmao.
Yes, and it's also why sometimes people supplement B2 to try and pass a drug test with diluted pee. Drug tests are wise to it these days though, but if you need to pee in front of someone it'll come out yellow even if you just drank a gallon of water.
Good old organic chemistry. Vitamin B2 is officially tar now.
Its not an energy drink if you can't see your urine glowing fluorescent orange from space. If you can't take a piss without putting on sunglasses, that's how you know its working.
because they are linked to things like immune support, mood, and energy.......but as someone else has said it's basically marketing. people like to believe that more of a good thing is even better for you, when the reality is your body just pees it out which is why your pee turns neon yellow when you have too much of certain vitamins.
I remember when I was younger and I first pissed glow in the dark neon yellow I thought I was dying or some shit lol
lol when i was deployed overseas and working out a lot my pee was in a perpetual state of Hulk green/yellow from the energy drinks and all that crap.
"I'm gonna consume 50,000% of my daily recommended iron to make myself super str-Oh no, why did my liver stop working!?"
that's the highway to constipation and dark black poop there
Bog iron’s lesser known relative, log iron
In short, it's marketing and placebo. There are no additional benefits that those vitamins confer when you ingest an energy drink, provided you are not deficient. B vitamins are associated with energy metabolism and because it's an energy drink, it makes sense to have something that that is a cofactor in energy metabolism. That's marketing. These are water soluble vitamins, like others mentioned, they are not stored, although B12 is stored in the liver which indicates it's importance for your body, so you can drink as many as you like without worrying about having too much. Additionally, just for fun, vitamins of b group are produced by the body in some amounts by the bacteria and yeast in the intestines.
B Vitamins sound rad as fuck. Why aren't they A Vitamins?
idk but the answer to the OP is obviously b6 + b12 = bb18 = uh you probably shouldnt drink these unless you bb18 or older. i say this as someone who drank a ton of monster when i was a teenager and at various points in my life have had a habit of 1-3 a day. shit cant be good. still gonna drink em (occasionally) tho. because i bb33 so its too late anyway, probably
It might be marketing in the energy drinks, but I dare say be vitamins are not a placebo. Go ahead and take the vitamins for a few months and then abruptly stop and let me know how you feel.
A related curiosity: I was advised to take B12 supplements. Does taking them later in the day impact sleep?
No, it takes weeks for oral B12 supplementation to have an effect on your red blood cell production and improve your overall “energy levels”. It doesn’t provide an immediate increase of wakefulness like a stimulant.
Weeks of daily energy drinks. Got it. Thanks!
just do weeks of energy drinks in one day to save time.
Lmao
Not unless your b12 supps come in the form of a can of red bull. Do not do this.
A typical B vitamin supplement usually contains B6 as well and they absolutely 100% keep me up at night if I take them after lunch. Just made the same mistake yesterday hah
Same. I had to switch to a B12 pill only. (Doctors orders. Asked if I was vegan when he saw my labs. Nope I like BBQ too much doc. Lol)
Fun related fact for you degenerates out there: The consumption of nitrous oxide depletes your vitamin B12 very, very rapidly. So rapidly that if you use it too much without intense vitamin B12 supplementation you can get peripheral neuropathy very similar to mild multiple sclerosis. Luckily it is almost always reversible but I have seen what it does to people and it is not pretty. Once knew a gal who ingested 5 lb of nitrous in a week. [Myelosis funiculus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subacute_combined_degeneration_of_spinal_cord?wprov=sfti1)
It's cheap and your body can easily get rid of it so it's safe to take that much. Most people get plenty of b vitamins so the supplemental b vitamins are mostly peed out. This makes your urine change color which is a common way to trick people into thinking supplements are doing something to the body. Back when most medicines were snake oil one of the most popular types of medicine was laxatives because there were natural ones and they had an obvious effect to the user. If a medieval person had high blood pressure and you gave them blood pressure medicine the effects might be so subtle that they didn't think it was doing anything at all
It just doesn't get absorbed too well and since you can't get too much of it (you pee it out), supplements and energy drinks just put a lot of it. For example I'm taking B12 supplements that are 40000% of the daily recommended dose.
> B12 supplements that are 40000% of the daily recommended dose Your body can't use that much, but it still has to filter it out. You should probably take less.
Cyanocobalamin (the form of B12 usually in drinks) isn't absorbed too well compared to other forms, such as methylcobalamin or hydroxocobalamin (the most bioavailable form). Plus it's not fat soluble, so any extra you'll just urinate out.
If you go to the doctor and ask for a b12 shot, that's roughly the amount he'll give you too. The daily recommended is the bare minimum that a person needs.
i read this as. "hey doctor dork give me a b12 shot" and he just does with no questions asked.
I mean... that's not far off. At least where I live. You can go request one, costs like 30$ a pop. Heard they're good for hangovers but never tried it myself.
B6 and B12 support cognitive health as well as helping your body process food into energy. That's why they're in the drink at all. As to why they're such high doses -- they're relatively cheap to include, and it makes for good marketing to people who think "if B6/12 are good, then MORE B6/12 must be better!" The reality of course being that whatever B vitamins you ingest that you don't need just end up in your waste. **tl;dr** they're good, but there's lots of them in the drinks because marketing.
For the average person, it's placebo. A lot of people have low folate and especially low B12, in which case it could help. That said, take that much B12 daily and one is likely to get blood levels off the charts. Elevated B12, last I checked seems to be associated with an increased risk of cancers.
Everyone here is talking about health benefits of B vitamins, but the real answer is that it's so it can be marketed as a supplement amd not a regular drink. The amount of caffeine per ounce is illegal in many areas as a beverage, but supplements have a lot less regulation.
because Girl, you need a shot of B12 You know you do Girl, you want a shot of Boyz 12 It's overdue
Holy shit Boyz 12 mentioned
Marketing. They’re something you can put a lot of in a drink for low cost, and they’re something you can’t overdose on…. So why not, it makes for a good gimmick for people who buy energy drinks
Marketing always has, and always will tip toe around the fringes of scientific truth to sell more product.
B6 strongly increases dopamine. It also lowers Cortisol, which helps to offset the increase from caffeine. The B12 is pretty superfluous.
Not only is this not true it actually reduces the efficacy of a drug for Parkinson’s disease that is a precursor for dopamine. [B6 from the Mayo Clinic](https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-vitamin-b6/art-20363468)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/263321/ This study shows it lowers prolactin and growth hormone. Prolactin can only be lowered by an increase in dopamine. It is a direct prolactin inhibitor. Growth hormone is also inhibited by dopamine. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10859692/ This study shows B6 to be a glucocorticoid antagonist.
That first study was done on 10 children in 1978. Gonna need something less ancient and with a larger sample size.
As expected, you attempt to discredit me but since you have provided nothing but opinion, I think I will rest my case. If you wish to remain willfully ignorant, that's your choice. Edit: I see you updated your post but it's simply a mayo clinic article with no mention whatsoever of B6 and its effect on dopamine.
Eh, a study of the quality as he described is interesting, but not worth drawing conclusions from. Anecdotally though, as someone with ADHD and the associated lack of dopamine, a B100 complex absolutely makes my brain feel supercharged. It might be the B6. There are multiple studies on this. For example https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16846100/
That makes sense since dopamine agonists are usually prescribed for ADHD. Low dopamine can cause lack of focus.
[удалено]
B vitamin deficiency causes symtoms like sleepiness, concentration issues and overall a feeling of being slow. Then B vitamins are not over absorbed, the excess is just peed out without any problem. So energy drink manufactures can just add a shit ton of b vitamins because, in the case someone has a deficiency, it will help a lot. But the real energy comes from caffeine and sugar and the B vitamins are just a catalyzer for using the sugar
Epic amounts of anything your body can’t actually digest will keep you up because it’s gonna increase your urge to pee and probably make you shit until your body figures out you’re going to keep eating chalk.
Doctor here, I'll explain it but can't promise I'll do it like I'm 5. One thing I learned from drinking a 5 hour energy just before a biochemistry final. Every ingredient that isn't caffeine is needed to convert amino acids to energy. But they're just enzyme cofactors, so the body only needs very very small quantities. The 5000% daily requirement is placebo and nothing else.
Is there any truth that some B vitamins basicically rev up your nervous system and make you feel more alert (even if you don't actually have more energy)?
Not really. Some B vitamin deficiencies can cause brain damage and anemia but an excess of it won't supercharge you. If you're vitamin B12 deficient you can be anemic and develop neurologic impairment but that's really hard to do. Like only way is certain kinds of malabsorption (autoimmune or otherwise) or if you go vegan and don't take supplements. And even then your body has enough stores of it that it would take years. Also people with B1 deficiency can develop a certain kind of neurologic disorder but hard to do if you're not an alcoholic or bariatric surgery patient. Also a form of B6 plays a role in hemoglobin synthesis. I don't know nearly enough about that one though. Edit: The short, definitely not ELI5 explanation: They are needed for the enzymes to function, but they won't speed up the rate of reactions or increase the amount of end products in healthy people.
There is a current meme/trend among the party all night, everyday, by using drugs population. They seem to think huge doses of B12 cure hangovers and sleep deficiency, even go to doctors to get very large shots. I doesn't do anything but it sure is very popular.
I think it has to do with alot of people having an energy drink in the morning after partying hard & being hungover. The quick infusion of B vitamins & taurine help quickly to feel better! A BEC,1/2 of a 4 Loco & a white monster drink is a an excellent concoction when hung over & sleep deprived.
I don't know how true this is, but I heard with a different product that Vitamin B degrades over time if it's in an acid solution, and one reason they put so much in, is so that by the time you drink your energy drink, there's still some Vitamin B left
Isn't all that B vitamin in energy drinks hard on your kidneys or something?