All the Energy You Want, Now With Less Feline Retinal Degredation!
The other day I was standing in one of our Subway stations, looking at some of the new posters on the wall across the tracks touting a new energy drink.
Energy drinks always make me laugh because they don’t really work for me. Certainly things like Gatorade and Powerade help restore electrolyte balance, which is great after a strenuous, sweaty workout.
But for the most part, energy drinks just make me want to pee a lot.
I haven’t actually tried the product in these recent ads. I doubt I will, as I have better things to drink (like beer).
If I really want to know how good it is, though, I’ll just ask my cats.
I have a feeling that there are eyebrows being raised at the previous line.
One of the ingredients displayed across the top of the can (proudly, I would assume) is Taurine.
The discovery and isolation of this “amino acid” is documented here, and although the source for energy drinks is not the typical one, it may still make you think about what you’re drinking.
Taurine is an important ingredient in cat food, as it prevents central retinal degredation.
The value of Taurine in energy drinks as an “energy giver” is in question. Studies have shown, though, that it may have a hand in reducing muscle fatigue.
Either way, though, I will probably not bother with it, as my eyes are decidedly not feline.
This Article Has Been Deemed 100% Awesome by Me
Another advertisement-related blurb.
Are people really so gullible as to believe that a product endorsed by it’s own manufacturer is actually better than one that is not?
Certainly all maunfacturers endorse their products. Why wouldn’t they?
But you have to laugh when you see things like Product X proudly bears the Product X seal of approval, or Product Y has been proclaimed excellent by the makers of Product Y.
We should all walk around talking about how awesome we are and see how long it takes for someone to smack us in the mouth for being idiots.
🙂
Filed under: Ponderings, Rants |
Barking Space 
My favourite self-endorsement is PepsiCo’s “smart spot” (that green checkmark thing you see on Quaker Oats products, etc.) — you know it’s healthy because PEPSI told you so.
You go first 🙂
Jorge – If memory serves me from my exercise physiology courses back in the day, they started putting taurine into energy drinks because elite athletes were found to have high levels of taurine in their muscles. Of course, this doesn’t mean that eating more taurine will make you an elite athlete – it could very well be that lots of exercise makes your muscles *produce* more taurine, but that didn’t stop the marketers of Red Bull, et al.
Zac – I’ve noticed that PepsiCo “smart spot” checkmark thing… it sure looks very similar to the Heart & Stroke Foundations (HSF) “Health Check” logo (http://www.healthcheck.org/), where HSF’s dietitians review products (as opposed to PepsiCo saying “hey, we approve our own products!”)
I kind of like the idea of self-promotion—unfortunately, I got hit by a humility gene in my youth and have never been able to overcome it. sigh.
My sister is positively addicted to energy drinks. She can’t get through the day without them anymore. I wonder if I can surreptitiously test her sight somehow to test her.
Oh Yorge. You make me smile!
So many (of us) consummers have no idea what we’re ingesting. Your scrutiny, matched with Bethy’s info, could help you rule the world!
Jorge,
I decided randomly to stop drinking coffee a few weeks ago. Not because of coffee or caffeine, but rather because I cannot drink black coffee and therefore must temper it with large amounts of sugar and cream. Cream is an essential ingredient in my opinion. I settled on Monster Lo-Carb. 10 calories per serving, two servings per can, cheapest if you buy them at Sam’s. I drink one can a day during the morning. It doesn’t tasted great, but is less bad than black coffee. 🙂 The energy boost is better than coffee, but it won’t keep me up if I am tired (exercise will though). However, the problem with these energy drinks is that they don’t need FDA approval to make the claims that they do. There also have not been any substantial studies to first validate the claims. There have also not been any studies as to what any one of these chemicals will do to you long term, let alone the healthy mix of chemicals that come in the drinks. The Monster drinks say on the boxes not to drink more than three cans a day. 🙂 I’m just betting that it could be healthier than coffee….but it is a gamble. 🙂