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- - Energy Drinks (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/pilot-health/90660-energy-drinks.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by cardiomd (Post 1973392)

For the vast majority of people they are safe to use occasionally, meaning no immediate harm would come of the use, but I would say they are far from "good for you." They are extremely low pH (very bad for teeth), high in sugar, and the huge doses of taurine and niacin, although your body can process them, are not good for your overall health. Ironically most are relatively low in caffeine compared to a large coffee, but some of them do have significant amounts.

If daily Rockstars could cause heart attacks in normal people there would be a LOT more heart attacks - I have patients that consume quite amazing amounts of these drinks. Likely those vulnerable to the effect, or were going to have a heart attack anyway, the drug could accelerate this or bring out bad effects such as arrhythmias, particularly in high doses. If you have a family history of heart disease or are sensitive to the effects I'd just avoid it.

In fact I advise my patients to avoid the whole craze, which IMO is mostly marketing hype toward a macho demographic.

One of my best friends is a pathologist. He says he'd rather drink gasoline than Red Bull....something about Red Bull basicaly turning into formaldyhide in the body. He also says he once read a journal article in which it was stated that Starbucks decaf has more caffeine than an equal cup of a regular caffeinated brand, such as Folgers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leslie Chow (Post 1974437)

Maybe he should have fact checked the journal article...
Do any of you check anything? Or just blindly believe what people tell you?
Decaf Pike Place® Roast | Starbucks Coffee Company
Caffeine in Folgers Coffee | LIVESTRONG.COM

As for drinking gasoline...
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/...cle/002806.htm

Good lord.....it's just not worth it.

Nevermind.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leslie Chow (Post 1974457)

I believe a board certified, nationally-renowned pathologist (with an undergrad degree from Vanderbilt, a pharmacy degree from Mercer University, and a medical degree from Harvard) whom I have known for forty years before I belive anything off the Starbucks or Livestrong websites.

Besides, do you really think he was serious about the gasoline?

End of discussion for me.

Sure.

And besides, you're a doctor, too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by knobcrk (Post 1975175)

Sorry you're wrong. The energy drink as you know it was invented in Japan. Do a simple google search. And yea ok, maybe not 8 cups but 3 or 4. You get the point. What gets you is the sugar, it's the equivalent of about 6 crispy cream donuts. Plus the multitude of Vitamins that your body does not need.

Here is your "simple google search":
https://www.preceden.com/timelines/6...-energy-drinks
As I stated, Japan invented an energy drink with taurine... But NOT combined with caffeine. That, was Red Bull. Simple google search complete.
I understand what you are saying, but those drinks are NOTHING like Monster, Rock Star, Red Bull etc. Yes, they are shot based... But like alcoholic shots, they are much more concentrated.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carl Spackler (Post 1974406)

Thanks as always for this. My GP is a cardiologist and a dear friend whom I trust. She lets me eat pretty much what I want (which is about half pizza, burgers and pasta, and the other half salads and other green veggies. I'm on half a Crestor once a week and modestly exercise which has kept my HDL at 60 and my LDL at 60. She insists on good dental hygiene and keeping my sugar intake low which has my C reactive protein (CRP) at around 0.5 because she thinks dental hygiene and low sugar helps to reduce the body's inflammation. What do you think about targeting those three items for heart health?

Carl

Hi Captain Carl - well, that is an excellent lipid profile and doubtlessly the exercise is helping with the HDL.

There is some good evidence that low level inflammation is bad for health, in fact many people believe that the advances in hygeine in the 20th century is responsible for a lot of the lifespan increase we associate with "modern medicine". Simply not having dental abscesses or going around barefoot with sores etc is a very good thing.

So yes, I'd say your cardiologist sounds most reasonable and correct, but would add that less lipid intake might still be a good thing - 50% burgers and pizza is high, should probably be 25% of calories - they are extremely filled with lipids / fats even if your serum cholesterol is low it is not great for health. But again, your cholesterol profile is great, and if it stays that way you should be in good shape. ;)

And stay away from regular use of the energy drinks.

Regarding the great PotatoChip debate of 2015, yes Potatochip you are right, and energy drinks are not typically extremely high in caffeine, only about 2 cups of coffee typically. AFAIK the taurine drinks were popular in Thailand prior to the mass commercialization.