
Slowly Poisoned by Energy Drinks - burgerguyg
http://yiddish.ninja/the-hidden-cost-of-energy-drinks-they-poisoned-me/
======
rdegges
Ah... Fuck. I feel like this is the signal I've been waiting for all these
years :(

Since 2006 (in uni), when I was first introduced to energy drinks, I've been
more or less addicted to them ever since. I even go so far as to regulate my
consumption of them in cycles to get the most I can out of it:
[https://www.rdegges.com/2011/my-use-and-abuse-of-
caffeine/](https://www.rdegges.com/2011/my-use-and-abuse-of-caffeine/)

I never really liked the taste of coffee much (without loads of cream and
sugar/splenda), so energy drinks were a happy medium because they taste really
good, they come in lots of 0 sugar / calorie varieties (which is great when
you're trying to stay in shape), and give you a LOT of caffeine per serving
which makes me feel super high: happy, productive, focused.

Since 2006, I've probably had roughly 2 energy drinks per day (and over the
last few years: maybe 4).

So... This really sucks.

I always "felt" like they were bad for me, but never really did any research
as I knew it would most likely make me stop drinking them.

It's surprisingly easy to convince yourself not to look into something so you
can continue justifying your actions. But now, I suppose, the fun is up.

It's really time I start being more careful with myself :(

~~~
coldpie
Be careful while you wean yourself off your addiction. Drink plenty of water
and take a few naps when the headaches come. You'll be fine after a day or
two.

If you want to be awake during the day, then get at least seven hours of sleep
a night, preferably eight. If you really need caffeine some days, have one or
two cups of coffee or black tea, no sugar added. But don't have caffeine every
day or you'll regain that addiction. If your work schedule doesn't allow this,
then accept that you are shortening your life and decreasing your quality of
life for the sake of your work.

It's your life, make your decisions accordingly.

~~~
kpil
The evidence against coffee is inconclusive.

~~~
coldpie
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply coffee was harmful. I was warning against a
recurring chemical addiction to caffeine, which, speaking from experience, is
very real.

------
drcross
Did anyone think for a second that those things _aren 't_ bad for you?

Washing down multiple cans of it per day and coupled with an unhealthy
lifestyle is a guarantee to have trouble down the line.

I'm astonished that the author seemed to expect a different outcome.

~~~
mindcrime
I was _really_ bad for this at one time. Back in 2014 I was doing crazy shit
like routinely working 14 hours a day or more, and in the evenings I would
prop myself up by having a triple shot latte, followed by a Red Bull, and
maybe a box or two of chocolate covered espresso beans. And I was doing this 5
or 6 days a week, for weeks on end. Not getting enough sleep, not watching my
diet, not exercising, etc.

You can probably guess where this story leads... yep, onto the back of an
ambulance, having a heart attack. :-(

Now anytime someone has a heart attack, there are probably a lot of factors
involved. I can't sit here and say that energy drinks in particular _caused_
mine. But in retrospect, the overall lifestyle I was living was _not_ healthy
and I paid for it.

So, long story short... don't be like me.

~~~
jacquesm
I'm going to forward your comment to a friend of mine who is very much on the
same track. Thanks for posting this.

~~~
mindcrime
The good news is, I lived, and the doctors tell me I should be fine as long as
I commit to a healthy lifestyle going forward. So I got back into bicycle
riding big time again, both road biking and mountain biking, and a typical
meal for me now is something like I had for lunch today: a big plate of salad
which was nothing but lettuce, salt, pepper, olive oil and a small amount of
honey-ginger dressing.

I eat a lot of lettuce lately.. it's nice because it has few calories and
takes up space in your stomach so it curbs my urge to snack all the time,
which was a problem in the past.

Of course that's not all I eat, before somebody posts worrying that I'm going
too far in the other direction. I still eat a lot of the same stuff I always
did, but in moderation, and a lot more veggies now than in the past. And I
mostly quit eating candy, chips, and other real low-value junk food.

------
mbrd
The cached version is here:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:iVkhl9b...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:iVkhl9bp0QgJ:yiddish.ninja/the-
hidden-cost-of-energy-drinks-they-poisoned-me/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us)

------
deelowe
The issue appears to be the 2000% DV of B6. This isn't the first I've heard of
this (e.g. with supplements). Most energy drinks don't have this in them. Be
careful with vitamins and minerals. More isn't always better.

~~~
xhrpost
I used to occasionally drink Spike Shooter which contains 25,000% of B12.
Supposedly you can't OD on B12 without a predisposed genetic condition. Still,
I have no regrets moving away from energy drinks, I found my desire for them
was simply a symptom of a bigger problem like not getting enough sleep.

~~~
jey
While it's generally true that water-soluble vitamins are hard to overdose on,
it's still true that you at the very least have an abnormally high (and
possibly toxic) level of the compound in your bloodstream until your kidneys
can excrete it. In the case of B6, it apparently takes years of overdose
before the sensorimotor neuropathy becomes apparent:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B6#Toxicity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B6#Toxicity)

------
jimrandomh
tl;dr: "5 hour energy", as well as Costco's generic version thereof, contain a
megadose of vitamin B6 which is not safe for daily consumption.

The lesson you should take from this is that, when taking a combination drug
like an energy drink, you have to go through ingredient by ingredient checking
the dosages and reading the corresponding wikipedia pages. I do consume energy
drinks, but I used that procedure to reject the brand that's reported causing
a problem here.

------
striking
It's almost like making a habit of consuming something with addictive
properties is a bad idea.

Yeah, they're good for helping finish a late-night essay or helping sustain
your programming train of thought... but they're not designed to be used
often. Too much of anything will more often than not kill you.

------
pcbpcb
Over 12 years old: drink only water, tea, coffee, beer, and single malt
whiskey. Period.

~~~
jey
Honestly, Ethanol is straight up toxic and we probably shouldn't drink it. We
just grandfathered it in because our ancestors were getting drunk off
fermenting fruit way before the genus Homo even existed.

~~~
ArkyBeagle
I dunno. I don't think there would have been civilization had there not been
beer.

------
Moshe_Silnorin
I was involved in the nootropics community for years, doing Gwen.net style
double blinded assessments on various compounds. The biggest thing I've
learned (aside from the fact that almost all nootropics are ineffective or
only marginally effective, the marginally effective being the most popular:
nicotine, caffeine, modafinil and amphetamines) is, if you're using
performance enhancing drugs, you have to be honest with yourself about this
and be really nerdy about it. Proprietary blends and energy drinks are just
bad news. I would recommend taking caffeine pills instead of energy drinks.
You can easily optimize your dose and you know what your taking. You can also
get a years supply of caffeine for like 20 bucks in pill form. Being honest
with yourself about the fact that you don't so much like the taste of coffee
as the highly-addictive drug in it can save you a decent amount of money.

There's no evidence that any of the other compounds in energy drinks beside
caffeine do anything for alertness, and caffeine is a very safe drug.

~~~
burgerguyg
I actually did a MindCamp session on making your own energy drinks 6+ years
ago. The live demo/taster was a double-shot mocha with 150 mg of powdered
caffeine (in solution), a bottle of shelf-stable chocolate milk (because I was
at a conf), and a tablespoon of Torani Kahlua-flavored syrup.

~~~
wiredfool
Dude! I remember that! You had more than the LD50 of caffeine for the entire
conference in the canister.

------
narrator
I used to be an energy drink addict. I drank two Rockstar a day for several
years. I stopped cold turkey and my skin and health in general improved. I
also swore off drinking anything in an aluminum can because of the BPA lining.
Larger energy drinks have the largest detectable amounts of BPA in them.[1]

These days I drink bulletproof coffee that I make at home and keep in a
stainless steel mug. It takes a bit of getting used to, but drinking butter +
mct oil+ coffee without sweeteeners is a pretty good way to start the day,
IMHO. I feel much healthier because of it and love that it's compatible with
the ketogenic diet, which I have lost about 20 lbs doing.

[1][http://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2009/03/health-canada-finds-
bp...](http://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2009/03/health-canada-finds-bpa-most-
soft-drinks-energy-drinks-top-list)

~~~
ferrari8608
Same here, but Monster was my poison of choice. I lost 50 lbs with keto and
haven't looked back. Everything just got better.

I think bulletproof coffee is a bit overrated though. I tried it and couldn't
get into it, and that's with very good quality coffee. A bit of heavy cream is
nice sometimes though.

------
merraksh
tl;dr

Continued consumption of energy drinks like 5 Hour Energy / Costco Energy Shot
/ RockStar Pure Zero gave him the 2000% of the US recommended daily B6 of 2mg.
Main effect: numbness in half of the body, a known side effect of B6
overdosing.

~~~
mikepavone
Just the Costco Energy Shot was 2000% of the US RDA. His total consumption was
2600% if I'm reading his post right.

Interestingly, 46mg per day is still well below the value that's generally
considered the safe upper limit: 100mg [1]. Presumably he also got some B6
from food, but probably not more than 1-2 mg.

[1]
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16320662](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16320662)

------
SFJulie
I live by my grandpa motto, everything is poison, vary them and your diet to
avoid be poisoned to fast by one single source.

------
hipsterrific
Thank goodness that coffee is something I actually like. I stick to no more
than 4 cups a day, 5 cups if I'm feeling lucky. And by a cup, I mean an 8 oz
cup (a 20oz to me is 2.5 cups of coffee).

When I was in college I was admitted to the ER for arrythmia. The condition
was exacerbated by excess caffeine. I went from a pot of coffee a day to 3
cups a day for years, this included exercise and meditation. I refuse to touch
energy drinks; while it gives me a shot of energy, prolonged use has
consequences like my visit to the ER due to excessive coffee intake. I'd
rather focus on getting the correct amount of sleep and taking regular breaks
to recoup my energy rather than relying on coffee to feel awake.

------
6t6t6t6
I will never understand people who take drugs for working. Drugs are supposed
to be for fun!

------
anf
For B6, 46mg by 10am isn't very much. Most B6 supplements come in 100mg
capsules.

 _The FNB noted that although several reports show sensory neuropathy
occurring at doses lower than 500 mg /day, studies in patients treated with
vitamin B6 (average dose of 200 mg/day) for up to 5 years found no evidence of
this effect. Based on limitations in the data on potential harms from long-
term use, the FNB halved the dose used in these studies to establish a UL of
100 mg/day for adults._

[https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminB6-HealthProfession...](https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminB6-HealthProfessional/)

------
zizzles
If anybody needed an article or a news report to realize that an energy drink
is far from "healthy" then I pity them.

Just take a quick glance at the ingredient list: Sugar. Caffeine. High-
fructose corn syrup.

This is the case with most off the shelf beverages and processed foods.
Remember: The majority of manufacturers do not care about your well-being or
health. Toxic ingredients are so abundant, that eating "healthy" in the 21st
century is a massive under-taking. Green tea might be a better and somewhat
healthier substitute to any energy drink addicts that are reading this.

~~~
icebraining
_Just take a quick glance at the ingredient list: Sugar. Caffeine. High-
fructose corn syrup._

If they are not in the US and they took a sugarfree version, they'd only see
caffeine, and that wasn't what caused the problem here, so that's not great
advice.

------
VLM
TLDR OP overdosed on B6.

Sometimes I drink the Runa energy drinks and I can verify they have no
supplemental B6. I can also verify they taste really bizarre and many people
cannot stomach them. Ironically the only thing making the taste of "regular
energy drinks" drinkable is weird artificial flavorings and tons of syrupy
carbs. Its not as weird tasting as some liquors, someone who can stomach a
shot of scotch will probably be fine with a Runa. They taste like strong green
tea mixed with a paint store, if that makes any sense.

I was mystified by the claims of poisoning because the dose where people start
getting sick according to the medical data I found is about 5000% of the RDA.
Only two documented cases in the whole world have resulted in problems at or
below 5000% of the RDA. OP is something of a medical miracle to have been the
third person on the planet to get symptoms below 5000%. I suppose somebody has
to be the unlucky one. More than 50000% of RDA, about 10 times higher, is
generally medically recognized as being unsafe for people in general. The
ED/LD ratio for B6 is pretty safe compared to aspirin or tylenol or alcohol
for that matter.

From wikipedia "For vitamin B6 labeling purposes 100% of the Daily Value is
2.0 mg."

The guy blames his rockstar drink, his 5 hour energy shot, and his supplements
equally, but I checked online and the rockstar he's blaming is only 100% of
the RDA (which is none the less a bit high) but the "Kirkland energy shot" is
marked as 40 mg of B6 which is about 2000% of his RDA! That is a WTF product
right there.

[http://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/kirkland-
en...](http://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/kirkland-energy-shot)

Doing some math his unnamed OTC vitamin supplement is providing 4 mg or 200%
of the RDA. Which is also unreasonably high, although not dangerously so.

I would say the title is very misleading as many (most?) energy drinks don't
have near toxic levels of B6. One very specific generic copy of a brand does
have a level that sickens people at a rate of 0.5 parts per billion but its
still only about a tenth of what most medical professionals think would sicken
most people.

------
Theodores
What is funny is that energy drinks can be zero calories - no energy!

------
joshmanders
I still consume energy drinks, right now I am drinking a rip it sugar free
zero carb/calorie energy drink with 120% vitamin C, 100% vitamin B6 and 170%
vitamin B12. Sure I can probably skip this and slug through the day, but I
find it's a good balance for me, other than this all I drink is water and I
only have a single serving a day.

~~~
betenoire
Check your can. You sure you are only having one serving?

~~~
joshmanders
Yes. 8 fl oz.

------
jinushaun
Yup. Guessed it was B vitamins before reading through the entire article. As
always, too much of a good thing. Most energy drinks contain a ton of B12 and
B6—and I've suspected for a long time is actually more responsible for the
feeling of energy from these drinks than caffeine or taurine.

~~~
XzetaU8
I doubt the B12 you see in most energy drinks are the more
expensive/absorbable form (Methylcobalamin) and not the cheap and less
absorbable (adenosylcobalamin), I could be wrong though.

------
semisight
Well this strikes close to home. During grad school, I'd drink a red bull (or
two) a day. Now, I've quit caffeine completely (save a tiny cup of coffee in
the morning occasionally).

I hope the author has a quick and easy recovery.

------
RogtamBar
My solution to getting enough caffeine: a 50 cent 100 gramm bag of roasted
robusta beans.

They also taste pretty nice, if you eat them singly. Much better than any
coffee that can be brewed from such..

------
Kluny
Really?? It takes a trip to the hospital with paralysis before you notice that
shit is poison? The heart palpitations and industrial aftertaste didn't give
you any hints?

------
JustSomeNobody
Actually, you poisoned yourself. You payed _little to no_ attention to what
you were consuming.

------
rosser
Wait, are we supposed to be _surprised_ by this?

------
arcticfox
Is there a mirror or tl;dr? Looks like it got taken down by traffic.

------
oscarteg
Database error.... really

~~~
hundchenkatze
Really, that's what it said. Op seems to have resolved the problem. Here's the
cached version if not.
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:iVkhl9b...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:iVkhl9bp0QgJ:yiddish.ninja/the-
hidden-cost-of-energy-drinks-they-poisoned-me/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us)

------
draw_down
I find that those energy shots really help if you need to stay up for a party,
etc. But taking them every day, that's nuts.

~~~
kafkaesq
_But taking them every day, that 's nuts._

And yet, that's precisely what their manufacturers want you to do.

~~~
draw_down
I'm sure they'd like us to do all sorts of crazy things. Doesn't mean we
should.

