
If you must drink Red Bull do not drink a full can or bottle - cwan
http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/007716.html
======
sp4rki
People drink Redbull to avoid feeling tired, not because it will cause them
this awesome skill to press a keyboard key when a green thing flashes on their
monitor. Also, Squirt doesn't have the color nor the taste of Redbull. What's
the use of this if the test subjects probably could identify which was Redbull
and which wasn't?

~~~
mxavier
You beat me to it. There are a ton of different energy drinks that taste the
same to me as Red Bull but it in no way has a lemon flavor. I don't even think
Sprite has that much of a lemon flavor. It has always tasted more like
grapefruit. Most people who have had Red Bull would know that they weren't
drinking it.

~~~
sp4rki
Exactly. Lots of energy drinks taste similar. Redbull and Ciclon taste pretty
equal (you have to really be looking to actually notice the difference). I
find it retarded that they're using Squirt as a replacement when they should
be looking for a way to imitate Redbull's flavor to perform such experiment.
Also, I think the candidates should be within a 10 year range, people in their
20's react very different from people in their forties to big amounts of
sugar. In any case, my past employer used to pay for one or two sixpacks of
Redbull for when I had to do 3 or 4 day marathons to achieve a deadline (I
loved those because once I hit the bed I slept for 24 hours straight and the
company gave me a few days to a week off and bonus for my efforts. The good
times.

------
hugh3
For what it's worth, a can of Red Bull has 80mg of caffeine, while a double
shot of espresso has 150 mg and a 12 oz drip coffee has more like 260mg.

~~~
Flankk
Agreed. Red Bull is not "high caffeine." The active ingredient in Red Bull is
taurine. The study was on caffeine but yet they didn't isolate the drug in
question. The margin of error for this experiment is at least 1/√(80) or 11%.

This is science?

~~~
hugh3
I'm sure there's lots of research out there on the effects of caffeine. A
review of the literature on its short-term effects on tiredness, concentration
and ability on various tasks would be pretty interesting, but a single result
in isolation on some artificial test really isn't.

------
matwood
It doesn't say if they controlled for existing caffeine tolerances. Take
someone who never drinks energy drinks and give them a full can of Red Bull
and they'll be so hyped up they'll likely miss on tests like the one in the
study.

~~~
nikster
I can attest to that. Before my final high school exams (oral - this is quite
serious in our country) I drank a can of red bull - the first of my life. I
was so hyped that despite knowing everything I had trouble concentrating - I
passed but without the red bull I'd undoubtedly have passed with better
grades.

Coffee still affects me strongly even though I now drink a cup a day. I also
get a strong come-down effect so the net result is about even. Others I know
drink coffee all day long and don't have a come down effect either.

~~~
matwood
You actually touched on another issue with memory and information retention
with respect to the current chemical state of your mind. If you study with
caffeine then you need to also take the test with caffeine. Basically you want
to come as close as possible to recreating your study environment for the
test.

------
k33n
Red Bull tastes nothing like Squirt.

------
rimantas
I drink Red Bull just for the taste. It has zero effect on me, so does coffee.
I can drink a cup of coffee and a can of Red Bull and go to sleep. This is the
problem if for some reason I must stay up when I am getting sleepy—I just
don't know any means to stay alert.

~~~
Psyonic
You're drinking for taste and Red Bull is really your choice? At $2.79 a can?
Let me introduce you to Dr. Pepper.

~~~
khafra
Cranberry juice, soda water, and simple syrup is even closer.

------
malbiniak
Link to the actual release:
[http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-12/apa-
im120210....](http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-12/apa-im120210.php)

------
arithmetic
I still don't get it. Why can't I drink a full can of Red Bull? The article
doesn't say anything about drinking a full can versus a part of the contents.

~~~
ronnoch
True - important since there are other ingredients in Red Bull that could have
factored into the result.

------
alexbosworth
Often times just the feeling of being less tired and more stimulated is what
is necessary, not actually being so

------
lubos
completely misleading since it can take up to 45 minutes for body to absorb
caffeine. so what's the point making tests merely after 30 minutes.

and by the way, it's proven that caffeine decreases reaction time, improves
memory and focused thought.

~~~
hugh3
"up to 45 minutes" presumably means that at least some of the caffeine is
absorbed within 30 minutes?

It's actually weird; I have heard that 45 minute thing before, and yet the
effect of drinking a cup of coffee _feels_ almost immediate.

~~~
samatman
It is immediate.

Your body is immediately flooded with a warm, familiar, acrid liquid, with a
particular aroma. All of this is associated with the upcoming caffeine hit.
There is also a certain amount of caffeine absorption from the mucous
membranes of the mouth and throat, which goes straight to the bloodstream;
it's not the full dose, but again, your body knows what's coming and can shift
blood flow, glucose levels, and neurotransmitter balances to compensate.

~~~
billswift
That's why a year ago, when I was experimenting with the effects of caffeine
on myself, I switched between regular coffee, decaff, and coffee with caffeine
pills. And the acclimatization effects is why I used each for a full week
before switching. It turns out that caffeine has no detectable effects on me
at all; I already knew it didn't have much effect, that's why I used such an
elaborate trial.

------
ChadHydro
As far as I'm concerned, any amount of processed sugar should be avoided...

~~~
burgerbrain
Sucrose is sucrose is sucrose.

No need to be a sugar racist man.

~~~
eru
There's more to unprocessed food than sucrose. Unprocessed food is really
quite dirty from a chemical point of view.

~~~
fraserharris
Dirty? That's a fairly loaded wording. How about varied or heterogeneous?

~~~
eru
Does sound too guarded. But I did cave in and specified `from a chemical point
of view' already.

------
ohyes
I would be interested in seeing a comparison between a reasonable amount of
caffeine and a 15 minute nap.

For years now (High School, College, now work + grad school) a power nap
followed by continued work has been a mainstay in my fight against the need to
sleep regularly. (Although lately I've been trying for better time
management... because I like sleeping regularly, and I suspect all-nighters
are bad for the health).

I don't think caffeine has any benefit in terms of getting work done. It will
make me 'feel' more alert, but it doesn't seem to improve my brain function at
all. If I'm tired, my output is still just as bad as it was before the cup of
coffee; I just will not fall asleep at the keyboard... (Akin to being a wide-
awake drunk from mixing alcohol and caffeine). After the nap I might be able
to pull off intelligent thought for a few more hours.

~~~
corysama
Be thankful. I've never been able to nap -power or otherwise. After an hour or
so of lying there, I'm a bit more rested. If I try to sleep briefly at night,
I wake up more tired than before. Alternatively, some well timed caffeine and
some driving music makes a short stretch in the zone a lot more effective.

------
Groxx
_"Must"_?

I'd rather go entirely without. It'll probably net-dehydrate you too, so even
if you're given the choice in a desert between Red Bull and nothing, it'd be
better to choose nothing.

~~~
ugh
Soda and caffeinated beverages won’t dehydrate you. That’s a misconception.

~~~
icegreentea
They just make you want to drink more because of the sugar.

The report (linked above) doesn't mention anything about the existing caffeine
consumption habits of those in the experiment. I think that unless they
controlled for that, it could possibly skew the experiment one way or another.

Also, one possibility regarding the lower reaction time in the high caffeine
group is that they feel jumpier and attempt to compensate for the increased
jitteriness by slowing down a bit. I know that this was suppose to be a blind
test, but if they gave me this test... I could probably tell the difference.

