Red Bull: Can it give athletes wings?

By Alison Fleck

It's 102 degrees outside. Waves of heat rise from the glistening pavement. The stadium at Baylor University in Waco is filled with more than 2,000 cheering fans. They are watching the Texas Association of Private Schools State Track Championship.

An announcement echoes throughout the stadium: "Last call for the 200 meter dash. All runners report to the start."

Laura Shumake, a student at Ursuline Academy in Dallas, grabs her last cold can of Red Bull and chugs it. Drops of sweat trickle down her face as the condensation drips off the shiny blue can.

She tosses the can aside, reaches for her spikes and jogs over to the starting line.

Energy drinks are the most popular drinks in today's market, surpassing the bottled water and soft drinks in sales. They fill supermarket shelves and can be found in health clubs and gyms. Yet, many people do not really know what the drinks do. The ads say they can increase energy levels, stimulate metabolism, and improve stamina.

But Shumake, just like many other athletes who use artificial supplements to boost their energy levels before a competition, believes these drinks do give her all their promised benefits.

A spurt of energy can propel a runner to excel in a 200-meter dash. Red Bull will give her this spurt, she hopes.

But nutritionists and athletic trainers worry that this quick energy fix may come with negative effects such as dehydration, caffeine and sugar highs, and the addictive craving to have another.

Assistant Director of Nutrition at the Reikes Center in Menlo Park, Darrin Freitas says his main concern about putting this artificial energy into your body is the fact that they contain enormous amounts of caffeine, which causes dehydration.

"Putting anything into your body that is going to dehydrate you is bad when you're working out because it will increase your heart rate," Freitas says. "An athlete doesn't need to do energy drinks. They will feel more energetic, but there are better ways to achieve that as well, such as consuming more carbohydrates. People drink energy drinks because that's what's popular on the market these days. Most people don't even know what is in them. My advice: stay away!"

Water needs to be taken along with energy drinks to avoid dehydration, which, along with fatigue, can lead to more serious problems such as constipation, fainting, dizziness or even death, according to health reports.

Santa Clara women's water polo Coach Keith Wilbur does not recommend energy drinks to his players despite the promised benefits. Even though the women practice in water, they do sweat a lot in the pool, so it is important that they stay well hydrated.

"I would discourage them from drinking Red Bull or Rockstar because it would provide them a short energy burst but then they would have a drop off," he says. "I would also discourage them because the caffeine in those drinks would dehydrate my players."

Other athletes choose not to consume these drinks because of concerns about how it will affect their bodies.

All-American Santa Clara soccer captain Leslie Osborne said she never wants to try an energy drink because she doesn't want her body to hit highs and lows from the sugar and caffeine. Instead, to stay energized shes eat healthy foods and gets rest.

"I just don't want my body to going through the up and down waves," Osborne said. "I know that the nutritionists and coaches that are on the national teams I've played with would never let us drink that stuff, even after a game."

Researchers and nutritionists alike worry that young people are putting these drinks into their bodies without knowing the long-term effects.

Psychoactive food nutritionist Joan Kent from Menlo Park explains how drinking such high levels of sugar makes people moody.

"Consuming high amounts of sugar will give someone high energy swings but when sugar levels are down, someone will feel very crummy and lousy," she explains. "These emotional levels can be traced back to a drop in glucose followed by consuming an exaggerated amount of sugar. When you're tired, you also decrease the amount of beta-endorphin receptors, which can make people crave more sugar to fix this and cause an addiction."

With high amounts of sugar mixed with caffeine, these drinks provide only a short-term fix and do not help with long-term energy. One 8.3-ounce can of Red Bull has two to three times the amount of caffeine as a 12-ounce can of soda.

Despite this short-term fix, neuroscientist Charles Czeisler from Harvard Medical School explains why people are so drawn to it.

"When the nature of work changed from a schedule built around the sun to an indoor job timed by a clock, humans could work longer hours, depriving themselves of even more sleep," he wrote in National Geographic.

"Without adequate sleep -- the conventional eight hours out of each 24 is about right--the body will not function at its best, physically, mentally or emotionally. The principal reason caffeine is used around the world is to promote wakefulness.

"But the principal reason that people need that crutch is inadequate sleep. Think about it: We use caffeine to make up for a sleep deficit that is largely the result of using caffeine."

But perhaps the real question shouldn't be whether or not energy drinks give you energy or even whether or not they are safe. Perhaps the real question should be why do people have so little energy that they are seeking out these drinks in the first place?

Dr. Czeisler says there is no single reason why people have less energy. He says maybe it is today's fast-moving society that is creating unwanted stress and a false need for more energy. He advises that there is no quick-fix solution, such as energy drinks, to help with energy problems. Instead, he advocates changing one's schedule to allow more sleep and maintaining healthy eating habits to provide long-term energy. Then maybe the need for short-term solutions will be eliminated.

As for Shumake's 200-meter dash, she did set a school record and received the gold medal. Whether or not her victory was because she drank a Red Bull, nobody knows for sure.

* Contact Alison Fleck at (408) 551-1918 or afleck@scu.edu.