Energy drinks

[phantom]

They may have been trying to use you in their survey. I saw a commercial awhile ago (I think it's since been pulled) where they surveyed doctors and "73% who reviewed 5 Hour Energy would recommend a low calorie, energy supplement to their healthy patients who use energy supplements". Of course, being the skeptical person that I am, I read the fine print and it doesn't sound quite as convincing when you do.

Evidentally your reaction was pretty much the same as other doctors since the "2500 participants" of their in-person survey were only 50% of those approached. Meaning the other 2500 just told them to get the hell out from the start. The other 503 were from an online survey.

You'll have to pause the video to catch it all...

5 Hour Energy Commercial

Forbes didn't seem to find it very convincing either...

Forbes

That commercial made me laugh the first time I heard it. Doctors recommend a low calories energy supplement to people who already plan on taking an energy supplement, and even then, only if they're healthy? I don't even need to read the fine print to figure out that doctor's really aren't suggesting people take energy supplements in general, let alone 5 Hour Energy specifically.

[Harlem]

You may try Monster . It has a good taste and you will work well. It's only $2. I think you will love it.

[thesimplemoneyblog]

I agree that it's not good to drink most of this stuff. While 5 hr energy is packed with vitamins, it can't possibly be good for you to have such a large dose of some of the ingredients (B12 and others). I don't think it tastes that bad, but I wouldn't drink it regularly.

I don't drink energy drinks regularly, but I enjoy a Rockstar energy drink every once in a while (usually "instead of" coffee in the morning and not "in addition to").

[swapnil]

Actually it turns to you to be as you think it to be, if you believe that you get refreshed with such drinks and get back a good amount of energy for your body you may continue to take it, and on the contrary if you feel that its intake will not benefit you any thing than you may not drink it, though Appy is not a energy drink, but I feel energized and refreshed after the intake of the drink so I believe it is a energy booster for me.

[theduc]

I use to drink Monster energy drinks like they were water and would buy them by the case... at the time I was working a lot and sleeping a little. I would have one a day and usually around 2PM... they would definitely work for me. one big problem is that the big cans were actually considered two servings... i.e., you only need half a can per day. Now I've switched to the 5 hour shots and have tried various flavors... some are horrid and some not so bad. They recommend not having more than two a day... I try to limit myself to half of one a day (and only on days I need it). if I'm feeling tired I just take a small sip and it helps. I can't imagine that too much of any of these energy drinks are good for anyone. More sleep and exercise helps with the energy level as well!

[neatdesign]

Given that the FDA is currently investigating the role of energy drinks in recent deaths, I'm not sure why anyone would want to drink those, regardless of how they taste:

FDA investigates deaths preliminarily linked to energy shots

No thanks!

[SeanH]

These are overpriced junk. They are a very profitable offshoot for the soda companies to diversify their holdings into something new. Somehow along the way, with a little bit of marketing, they put a top dollar price on a product that is nothing new. Asking physicians to put their name behind an obscurely worded statement is just an appeal to authority. At my first fulltime job I thought I needed caffeine to stay awake. I drank dark tea all day long. I didn't need it - I needed to go to bed sooner and focus.

[Jon Spiels]

Don't Rely

I don't rely on drinking energy drink to boost my energy, these drinks would just let you boost some energy for some couple of hours but would actually do nothing at all after then, and you'd even felt very tired at the end of the day. For me it's always best to do the natural way. Eating meals on time is one, add fruits and veggies too, water is a powerful drink more than energy drink does (keep hydrated) and always have your breakfast, it's the most important meal of the day that will help you have the full energy all throughout the day.

[Autoin Chance]

I drank it once but forgot its brand. the taste is so so but not too bad, i guess.

advertisement presented that it can give the energy but after I drank, no energy to me. (or that time, I had max energy already?)

[elfen lied]

I think energy drinks in the classical sense should be restricted to adults. Kids are obviously not responsible enough to decide when is and when isn't a good time to drink one.

However, there are some that are herbal-based rather than chemical; those are fine for anyone. (More of a health drink than an energy drink. Ginseng and what-not.)

Then there's the fact that I find them disgusting to taste, and they just burn me out rather than giving me energy. I'd rather have a big meal than an energy drink if I need more gusto.

[Baby_nurse]

5 hour energy drinks are basically B vitamins, plus caffeine? You can get the same vitamins for a lot cheaper by taking a good b-complex vitamin and skipping the caffeine rush.

[bennkar]

I've had 5 hr. energy drinks maybe 10-15 times because there was a time where I would do long night time drives about once a month. I would get maybe 5 hours sleep before leaving in the evening, and then take one about half way through an 8 hour drive. I never had any bad side effects and it worked great for me. The taste was so-so at best, but I wanted to stay awake more than I was concerned about the taste. That said, I wouldn't promote using the stuff on a regular basis.

[theduc]

my mind has changed...

Well my thoughts on 5-hour energy have changed... I've ordered it by the case (12) through amazon for a few months and have lately noticed that on days when I drink it that my eye sight would get blurry by the end of the day (not right away) and I'm a programmer so I need to be able to read the code on my screen. I went to an eye doctor and they told me I have dry eyes and prescribed eye drops that cost $300/month!!!

I passed on the eye drops and laid off the energy drinks to see if that had anything to do with it (as this problem only started after I was drinking them) and I haven't been having blurred vision any more. I was not drinking this stuff like it was water... a case of 12 would last me a month and when I did drink it I would only have half a bottle/day or less.

I have no medical proof that my vision problems have anything do to with the energy drinks but I know what my own experience was... this was all within the last 6 months that I started drinking it and has been about a month that I stopped. At times my vision was so blurred that I could not read text messages on my phone and it would last at least the rest of the day/night.

Personally, I wonder how safe this stuff is now...