Author: greeneyedguide

I hate it when people pretend all energy drinks are the same, or that "just get more sleep" is appropriate advice for everyone. I worked two jobs during both college and grad school -- "get more sleep" was not an option. I call myself the GreenEyedGuide because I help people see energy drinks and food science the way I do, through these green eyes. I literally wrote the book on energy drinks: "Are You a Monster or a Rock Star: A Guide to Energy Drinks: How They Work, Why They Work, How to Use Them Safely". I earned my bachelor's degree in biochemistry from the University of California San Diego and a master's degree in food science/food biochemistry from the University of California Davis. I've collected research on energy drinks and supplements since 2003.

Bang Keto Coffee vs Placebo for Exercise Performance

May 24, 2021May 25, 2021greeneyedguide

If you use caffeine for your workouts, this post is for you. If you have wondered whether Bang Keto Coffee would make your workouts even better, this post is for you. Caffeine Scientist GreenEyedGuide is your guide to a double-blind, placebo-controlled study on Bang Keto Coffee versus placebo for exercise performance. What does this study mean to you? GreenEyedGuide has those answers and more.

Short on time? You can listen to this podcast on the go or scan the simplified version of the podcast transcript below. You can find the Caffeine at Midnight podcast on most podcast platforms. Remember to subscribe/follow to be notified of new episodes.

How does Bang Keto Coffee compare to placebo for exercise performance?

A Primer on Types of Studies Involving Humans

This research study I’m referring to is called, “Effects of Bang® Keto Coffee Energy Drink on Metabolism and Exercise Performance in Resistance-Trained Adults: A Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Crossover Study”. This is a research paper that was published in August 2020 in the Journal of the International Society of Sports and Nutrition.

A randomized trial is one in which the people are randomly assigned to a test group which receives the treatment, or a control group which commonly receives a placebo. So it’s randomized in that when you participate in this research study, you’re randomly assigned to either the placebo group or the control group.

In blind trials, participants don’t know if they’re getting the treatment or the placebo. And in double blind trials, neither the neither the experimenters nor the participants know what they’re getting.

Essentially, double-blind, randomized control trials, means that they’re doing a lot of different things to remove bias. If the scientists don’t know who’s getting the placebo or the treatment, they can’t make any type of hints or suggestions that might sway the participants behavior. And since the participants don’t know if they’re getting the placebo, or the treatment, that usually eliminates any type of like psychological bias that might happen.

Bang Keto Coffee vs Placebo Dos and Don'ts

First of all, protein is a popular workout supplement. Caffeine is also a popular workout supplement. However, as this research paper pointed out, there’s not a whole lot of information on how combinations of caffeine and protein affect people’s exercise performance. The goal of the paper was to try to find some answers. Unfortunately, that brings us to topic number two: placebo do’s and don’ts.

In this study, the “treatment” is the Bang Keto Coffee. That’s what they’re testing to see how it improves exercise performance. In Bang Keto Coffee, keto coffee, there’s 130 calories, 300 milligrams of caffeine and 20 grams of protein. In the placebo, there was only 30 Calories, 11 milligrams of caffeine, and only 11 grams of protein.

The whole point of having a placebo is to isolate the cause and the effect of the treatment.

In other words, if the treatment has the same amount of caffeine as the placebo but a different amount of protein, then you can say, “A-HA! It’s the combination that makes the difference, because the people in the placebo group had the same amount of caffeine, and they didn’t do as well ergo, it’s the combination of caffeine and protein.”

And that’s how they failed here.

Bang Keto Coffee vs the ISSN Position on Caffeine

The title of the research paper (much like the words atop a can of Bang) misrepresents what’s inside.

In this research study, the placebo should have had either the same amount of caffeine or the same amount of protein as Bang Keto Coffee. Without matching either of those, there’s not enough there’s not enough evidence to differentiate whether it’s the caffeine, or the protein, or the combination that made the participants perform differently than the placebo group.

In short, this double-blind placebo controlled randomized crossover trial didn’t prove their initial goal that combinations of caffeine and protein make people perform better. They just proved that getting caffeine makes you perform better.

This isn’t news, this is and has been for some time now, the official position of the International Society for Sports Nutrition.

“Supplementation with caffeine has been shown to acutely enhance various aspects of exercise performance. In many but not all studies. small to moderate benefits of caffeine use include but not but are not limited to muscular endurance, movement, velocity and muscle strength, sprinting, jumping and throwing performance, as well as a wide range of aerobic and anaerobic sport specific actions”

–International society of sports nutrition position stand: caffeine and exercise performance

Bottom Line: Do you really need protein and coffee for your workout?

In short, unfortunately, this paper on Bang Keto Coffee doesn’t prove anything about their drink. And it certainly doesn’t prove anything about combinations of caffeine and protein.

So this is a little bit disappointing. When I saw the magic keywords of this paper, “randomized, double blind, placebo controlled study,” I got excited. I thought it was going to be something meaningful; something helpful to caffeine consumers like me that use caffeine for working out.

Unfortunately, this paper doesn’t do anything to increase our knowledge of caffeine, and how it helps us or hurts us.

Essentially, we know that caffeine improves exercise performance by itself. So do you really need anything else?

Probably not.

References

[1] Harty, P.S., Stratton, M.T., Escalante, G. et al. Effects of Bang® Keto Coffee Energy Drink on Metabolism and Exercise Performance in Resistance-Trained Adults: A Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Crossover Study. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 17, 45 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-020-00374-5

[2] Guest, N.S., VanDusseldorp, T.A., Nelson, M.T. et al. International society of sports nutrition position stand: caffeine and exercise performance. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 18, 1 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-020-00383-4

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Are energy drinks worse than coffee for stress and sleep?

April 8, 2021April 8, 2021greeneyedguide

Does drinking energy drinks instead of coffee give you worse stress and sleep? One research paper says, “YES”, but this might not be the case for all energy drink users. In this post, we’re going to take a closer look at that study and what it means to YOU. In other words, I’m going to give you three things you should look for to see how energy drinks might be affecting YOUR stress and sleep.

Short on time? This blog post is available in podcast format too! Click the player below, and don’t forget to subscribe to this show on your favorite podcast platform.

Nurses Drinking Energy Drinks Report Worse Sleep and Stress

To begin with, we should briefly discuss this research paper. The paper is called, “Nurses Consuming Energy Drinks Report Poorer Sleep and Higher Stress” [see Reference 1, below]. In this study, they asked nurses about their stress levels, their sleep habits, and their caffeine intakes.

Most of these nurses worked 10-hour shifts back to back to back. So you know these nurses were legitimately tired! Furthermore, in this study, there WAS a statistically significant difference between the coffee drinkers and the energy drink users. In fact, those who drank energy drinks had worse sleep. They had worse stress too, but it wasn’t a statistically significant difference compared to the coffee drinkers.

But let’s talk about what this means to you.

The Trouble with the “Energy Drink Related ER Visits” Stat

March 15, 2021March 11, 2021greeneyedguide

So you want to talk about energy drinks sending people to the ER...

Hi. I’m Caffeine Scientist GreenEyedGuide. In this post, we’ll breakdown the statistic which gets mentioned all the time in energy drink-related news. It usually goes something like this, “energy drinks send thousands to the ER”, or “energy drink-related ER visits doubled in a 5 year period.”

This statistic does carry meaning, but it’s not the full story. Journalists aren’t experts in the science behind caffeine and energy drinks. But I am. And so, in this post, we’ll take a closer look at the source of this statistic.

First, we’ll look at real headlines.
Second, we’ll look at the source of this stat.
Finally, we’ll put it all together and identify what caffeine lovers can do.

Ready? Let’s Go!

You can read the blog post below or listen to it in podcast form. Just click the button to open the podcast on your platform-of-choice (e.g., Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.)

ONE - Where have we seen this stat on energy drink-related ER visits?

This statistic about energy drink-related ER visits is almost always used in articles about energy drinks. Here are a few examples:

You might have noticed some of these headlines are years old. In fact, this energy drink-related ER statistic comes from a report that came out nearly a decade ago! Nonetheless, this statistic is still used to this day in news articles about energy drinks.

For example, it’s mentioned again in this article from February 2021:

"While many of the ingredients found in energy drinks are natural and may sound like a healthful choice, including them in your lifestyle comes with some risk. In fact, over a five-year span, the number of energy drink-related visits to emergency departments doubled, climbing from 10,068 to 20,783 cases."

12 Dangerous Side Effects of Energy Drinks, According to Science Eat This, Not That!

To summarize, this article, and others like it, use this statistic about energy drink-related ER visits to emphasize energy drinks are dangerous. And they’re not wrong. But there’s more to the story, which brings me to the next point.

TWO - What does the report on energy drink-related ER visits actually say?

Before I start listing my concerns with this statistic, let’s look more closely at where it comes from. Here are the 3 most important things you need to know about that report.

The DAWN Report

This statistic comes from the DAWN Report. Drug Abuse Warning Network. It was a federal study. The link has moved around a bit since the report has been published A DECADE AGO but I’ve found a link where you can read the whole report (only 3,0000 words – 10-minute read, max).

REFERENCE : Mattson, M. E. (2013). Update on Emergency Department Visits Involving Energy Drinks: A Continuing Public Health Concern. In The CBHSQ Report. (pp. 1–7). Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27606410/

The numbers come from national estimates of Emergency Department (ED) visits involving energy drinks from 2005 to 2011. Again, that’s between 2005-2011.

What’s special about those years?

Hold that thought.

The Number of ER Visits

This report found, “The estimated number of ED visits involving energy drinks doubled from around 10,000 visits in 2007 to 20,000 visits in 2011.” Again, that’s an increase from 10-20 thousand.

Twenty THOUSAND sounds like a lot, right?

We’ll get to that.

Notable Details

Roughly 42% of the hospital visits had to do with combinations of energy drinks and alcohol or other drugs.

In other words, almost half of these energy drink-related ER visits had to do with energy drinks and bad decisions.

So let’s dive into what this all means.

THREE - We've got the news and the science. Now let's break that all down.

What's special about 2005-2011?

First of all, let’s talk about those years. From 2007-20011.

Do you know the big event that happened in 2009-2010? Does anyone remember Four Loko? Also known as Black Out In a Can?

That whole fiasco where Four Loko was sending people to the ER with potentially lethal alcohol poisoning all went down in 2009 and Four Loko reformulated in 2010.

Full disclosure, I’m married to a former frat brother, and he told me how his buddies stocked up on Four Loko when they knew it was going to be reformulated. This is the sh*t that gives me nightmares.

For those of you who weren’t there and don’t know, Four Loko was 12% alcohol and 500 mg caffeine, all in one 23 oz can. This is 7 shots of Vodka and 5 Red Bulls! That’s too much alcohol and too much caffeine. Don’t mix your uppers and downers. It is not a good idea.

Four Loko Played a Big Role in Those Energy Drink-Related Hospitalizations

This Four Loko saga all happened right during this critical data collection period of this report! This is a HUGE asterisk that gets completely glanced over when articles casually mention how energy drinks are sending more people to the ER. Furthermore, we’re not done talking about energy drinks and alcohol. But we’ll come back to that…

Is 20,000 energy drink-related ER visits a lot?

Second of all, we need to talk about the number of hospital visits. From 10,000 to 20,000. For context, there are more than 1 million drug-related hospital visits every year. That means, even at the peak, these energy drink-related visits accounted for only 2% of these drug-related hospital visits.

The Role of Alcohol-Energy Drink Combinations

Finally, roughly 42% of those hospital visits had to do with people combining energy drinks and alcohol or other drugs. We’ve already talked about the fiasco that was Four Loko, but that’s just a portion of those visits.

The data suggests that 58% of those energy drink-related visits involved energy drinks only. But which energy drinks? And how much caffeine? And what other ingredients were in these drinks? We will never know because this level of detail is not collected.

Before 2020 and COVID, I approached a few hospitals here in Milwaukee with a pilot study I wanted to do on energy drink-related hospitalizations. And all the nurses I talked to said, “When you come into the ER, we don’t care which energy drink you had. We’re just trying to save your life.”

The Bottom Line

In other words, no one is collecting the details about caffeine content, the energy drink brand, or the other ingredients during these energy drink-related ER visits. As a result, when articles say, “energy drinks double the rate of hospitalizations”, this line doesn’t help anyone make better choices.

If you’re a journalist, stop dropping this statistic. It’s irrelevant, outdated, and out of context.

Instead, here’s what all energy drink articles SHOULD say:

Don’t mix alcohol and energy drinks. This combination played a significant role in the number of energy drink-related hospitalizations.
Know how much caffeine is too much. We can assume that a majority of these energy drink-related hospitalizations had to do with people who had too much caffeine.
Stop assuming all energy drinks are the same. Doing that ignores the role of the other ingredients in energy drinks.

So what can you do, if you love energy drinks? Check out my Energy Drink Report Card. Whether you love the stereotypical energy drinks like Red Bull or the clean energy drinks like Marquis, I’ve got recommendations in there for you. Knowing how much caffeine is too much and knowing the difference between these energy drinks is key to avoiding a trip to the ER.

In conclusion, if you’re someone like a shift-worker, teacher, or first-responder, you probably rely on caffeine to get you through the day. So understanding the science behind claims like the ones in this news article can help you make better decisions. In other words, I want to make sure your caffeine choices are based on facts, not fear.

When Does Coffee Become an Energy Drink?

Science Behind Starbucks Doubleshot

3 Ways to Make Energy Drinks Safer – Live Chat with Food Safety Foundation

March 5, 2021March 4, 2021greeneyedguide

How Can We Make Energy Drinks Safer?

March is Caffeine Awareness Month, meaning it’s the perfect time to talk about energy drinks and safety. In this live chat with the Food Safety Foundation, Caffeine Scientist GreenEyedGuide shares 3 ways to make energy drinks safer. This live chat is full of tips every caffeine drinker needs to know.

Ready? Let’s go!

Science Behind Vibal Energy Tea

March 3, 2021March 3, 2021greeneyedguide

Vibal Energy Tea is not your stereotypical energy drink.

Hi. I’m Caffeine Scientist GreenEyedGuide. In this episode of the Caffeine at Midnight podcast, I want to talk about an energy drink with no artificial sweeteners nor flavors. This drink has as much caffeine as two cups of coffee, yet the caffeine comes from green tea extract. Do you know what it is? It’s Vibal Energy Tea, and today we’ll talk about the ingredients, whether this drink is safe and healthy enough to drink every day, and how this compares to a stereotypical energy drink like Monster Energy Rehab.