a cautionary tale. (Red Bull)

Member Name: pania22

Product:	Red Bull
Date:	31/05/09 (197 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: in moderation, does what it says on the tin

Disadvantages: needs to make the public much much more of the health effects it can create

Redbull, hmmm how to put this? This drink has been the devil on my shoulder for many a long year. And yet still, for some reason i drink it. I don't expect many people to like this review because it is my experience with the unadvertised, unhealthy side of this drink that I am going to reveal. In all its sordid anti-glory. in fact i have an empty can here sat on the table beside me for reference purposes. I am visiting my mother and she has seen it and said " oh god angela, not again." That is the effect that such an innocent article as a canned drink can have on a person and those around.

Redbull is the widely publicised "energy drink" that "Gives you wings" and helps you to sail through your day. The jargon on the can hails the following beneficial efffects.
Improves performance
Increases concentration and reaction time
Improves vigilance
Stimulates metabolism.

Here is what i would like to be advertised on the can but at the moment, despite these drinks having the ability to directly influence peoples health, the postive advertising is more beneficial.

This drink is an artificial Stimulant. In much the same way that amphetamines or poppers are to.

The caffeine content of this drink increases your heart rate massively, hence therefore providing the heightened sense of awareness that this drink claims to provide.

This can be very detrimental to your health if you suffer heart problems, tachicardia (racing heart) or nervous/mental disorders

Can promote feelings of anxiety

And is HIGHLY ADDICTIVE

When i first started to drink redbull I was a shift worker and had it once in a while to keep me awake while out on the streets. The drink gave me a real buzz and sent me what you may call "hyper". So much so that a 250ml can made me fidgety, unbelievably chatty and unable to concentrate. Ok this may be an extreme reaction but if it can happen to a level headed completely sane individual like myself it could happen to anyone. in fact it my reaction to it was so nuts that I was, for a while banned from drinking it on nights by my colleagues. But of course i still did.

As my body got used to the amount of caffeine contained in a can the effects dulled on me, very much in the same way that a quantity of speed would need to be increased to maintain the same effect. As a result i would drink two cans, a few hours apart to keep the same level of alertness that one can would previously provide.

A change of career and partner later and I was up to drinking 5 maybe 6 cans a day. Thats a caffeine quantity of 480 mg/1500ml of fluid.

The recommended maximum consumption for an adult is 400 mg. Add to that amount the cups of tea and cans of coke I also consumed per day and my consumption would have been approximately half the maximum amount again. In anyones book that is a massive amount of caffeine to consume. and of course it wasnt having any effect on me whatsoever. Or so I thought.

Below is an excerpt from a website showing the side effects that can be caused by continual caffeine consumption.

* general toxicity (e.g., muscle tremors, nausea, irritability);
* cardiovascular effects (e.g., heart rate, cholesterol, blood pressure);
* effects on calcium balance and bone health (e.g., bone density, risk of fractures);
* behavioural effects in both adults and children (e.g., anxiety, mood changes, attentiveness);
* potential links to cancer; and
* effects on reproduction (e.g., male and female fertility, birth weight)

looking back now the behavioural effects and irritability were there after even one can. Hence wishing to raise awareness of the power of this so called "drink"

Redbull is also readily sold to children. The maximum recommended content of caffeine for children per day is 85 mg for a child aged 10-14. therefore Just one can of redbull can provide a child with this amount. add to that again any cups of tea, coke, coffee etc that these children may also consume, they are vulnerable, due to the level of caffeine consumption to the risks mentioned above.

On my rest days of course i wouldn't consume any caffeine other than cups of tea, but would find myself jittery, anxious and unduly aggressive. I also found that on days where I didn't have a can of redbull I would get a massive headache instead. This also drove a wedge between myself and my partner because i was so damned aggresive and argumentative to him all the time. On many occasions the withdrawal effects would be such that I would drive to the garage and get a 4 pack of redbull and drink the lot.

I'm pleased to say that I saw the error of my ways after a lot of battering from friends and family and managed to pull back from what could have been a nasty addiction, no not as bad as drugs, or as bad as alcohol, but the long term health effects were already revealing themselves.
let alone the damage i was doing to my bank balance, the damage I was doing to my health, the side effects, how i felt without the caffeine made me realise that this drink was banned in several countries for a reason.

I now drink a can of redbull every few days and can take it or leave it Occasionally when stressed standards slip a little but i no longer need it. I no longer have a day indoors or stuck at work and feel ill until my body has had its cafffeine boost.

This review may sound far fetched, it may sound extreme, but it happened to me. I am telling this tale as I strongly believe that the manufacturers should make the detrimental unhealthy side of redbull as publicised as the stimulative effects it can provide. This is effectively a drug that they are selling and they need to make people, especially youngsters more aware of what it can potentially do.

Yes I admit that my lifestyle, shiftwork etc would probably have contributed to this issue. but at the end of the day i depended on a caffeine hit to get me through a normal day.

I agree that people who drink it in moderation will probably enjoy its taste and the boost it provides. But just please please be careful with it. everything in moderation and dont let yourself use it as a crutch as I did to keep you awake, to get you through work, to provide that boost you think you need.

A cautionary tale that has been hard to write. Gazza was laughed at for his redbull addiction when it became public. I know of other people that have fallen prey to the same thing. All due to a tiny little can of drink

Summary: just be aware.,