Red Bull: What's in it, what it does By Donna Marlor, R.D., M.A. "Red Bull gives you wings!" It took inline racer
Bob Fleming one experience with Red Bull to figure it out: Wings were not for him. "I tried Red Bull as an impulse," Fleming says. "I was on the road and in a hurry and didn't have time to get my regular carb loading ... I was looking for something to help me when there is a surge and I get past my anaerobic threshold. I need to recover from the surges and have a strong sprint at the end."
 Fleming is a CAT 1 pro master inline skater: He's serious about competition. "I drank one can of Red Bull about 15 minutes before a half marathon race in Brainerd, Minnesota. During the race my heart would speed up and lower independent of the race tempo. I
also experienced dizzy spells this type of dizziness was very unusual for me."
Red Bull. This potent energy drink comes in a shiny, slender 8.3 fluid ounce silver and blue can. Two red bulls facing head to head emblazon the front of the can like a tattoo. On the back side, printed in fine red lettering, is a product claim that reads like a horoscope: "Improves
performance, especially during times of increased stress or strain, increases endurance, increases concentration and improves reaction speed, and stimulates the metabolism."
With an endorsement like that, it's not too surprising that Red Bull is consumed by athletes in over 50 countries across Europe, the U.S. and Australia. During 2000, this high performance energy drink enjoyed $1 billion in sales, and according to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, it
held a 65 percent share of the U.S. energy drink market that same year.
It's Definitely Popular But Is It Safe?
Fleming isn't the only one to notice the potentially hazardous effects of Red Bull. In 2001, the Swedish National Food Administration (NFA) issued a public warning not to take Red Bull with alcohol or after heavy exercise. This warning was issued as a result of the deaths of three healthy young people who died shortly after consuming Red Bull. After
an investigation into the deaths, the NFA released a statement that the drink appeared to be safe for adults, but it did require a warning on the label informing people who may be sensitive to caffeine about its caffeine content. France, Denmark and Norway allow Red Bull to be sold only in pharmacies.
Red Bull arrived in the U.S. about seven years ago. Sold as a food product, it is subject to nutrition labeling laws. The nutrition label states
the following information: Calories 110, carbohydrate 28 g, sodium 200 mg, vitamin B12 80 percent of daily value (DV), niacin 100 percent DV, B6 250 percent DV, pantothenic acid 50 percent DV. Taurine, inositol, caffeine, sucrose and glucose are listed as ingredients, but with no specific amounts.
For anyone who bothers to check before purchasing a performance drink, the company's Web site offers more information: 1,000 mg
taurine, 80 mg caffeine, 50 mg inositol, and 600 mg glucuronolactone. Recommended usage: two cans max daily.
So what does all this stuff do?
Taurine: A "Conditionally Essential" Amino Acid
Talk about wishy washy sounding: "Taurine is a conditionally essential amino acid." Sometimes nutritionists sound a lot like politicians. Taurine is widely distributed in meat and fish, so for those consuming burgers or
tuna, taurine is plentiful. On the other hand, vegetarians do not get taurine from legumes or dairy products. Their primary source of taurine is dependent upon amino acids found in cereal proteins. With the assistance of vitamin B6, the amino acids cysteine and methionine can be converted into taurine. Most of the time this is not a problem, but for endurance athletes to meet taurine requirements, a sufficient amount of cereal sources must be eaten daily.
Because it is "a naturally occurring amino acid," the makers of Red Bull claim that the 1,000 mg of taurine added to every can is perfectly safe. You may be wondering what it's supposed to do.
Taurine has a whole host of functions in the body. It serves as a natural antioxidant, and it makes sense that having enough of it around during aerobic exercise, when production of free radicals is cranked up, would
be a benefit. Theoretically the idea is intriguing, and there have been a handful of studies that have shown markers of free radical damage were reduced when taurine was given as a supplement before exercise.
Taurine has other functions as well. It has been used experimentally to treat heart failure because of its ability to increase the contractibility of the heart muscle. In medical lingo, this would be considered an
"inotropic" effect. Like the drug digitalis, the end result is a more forceful contraction of the heart muscle and a slower heartbeat.
Taurine has also been used to treat hypertension, due to its effect of lowering blood pressure. Could this have been the reason for Fleming's feeling of dizziness? One can only wonder.
Obviously, high doses of taurine can have a druglike effect, much of which appears to be beneficial. What is not clear, however, is the effect
of high doses on an athlete who is working at maximum intensity. The other unknown is the overall effect of the combination of taurine, caffeine and sugar on metabolism.
Caffeine, Carbohydrate and Exercise
For most of us, getting out of bed is the first performance test of the day, and caffeine certainly helps. Although the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has banned caffeine as an illegal substance, moderate
coffee consumption does not usually put an athlete over the permitted threshold of 12 ug/ml in a urine test. Moderate would be three to four mugs of regular drip coffee about an hour before competition.
Research on the ergogenic effects of caffeine show that it is a performance enhancer when ingested at high doses, starting at 3 mg/lb of body weight. For a 160 pound person, that is 480 mg of caffeine, or about 3 cups of espresso coffee.
Can drinking a can of Red Bull increase endurance? Apparently not by the caffeine effects alone. With 80 mg of caffeine per can, it packs a punch that is similar to a cup of tea, and it would take six cans to hit the 480 mg mark.
But there is another important difference between Red Bull and coffee or tea. Along with taurine and caffeine, it has 27 grams of carbohydrate. If you were to melt one packet of GU into a mug of java and drink it,
that would be about the same potency of a can of Red Bull. Is that dangerous? It could be, potentially causing an irregular heart rate, which is one of the effects of caffeine for some sensitive individuals.
Just The Facts
The fact is there are a lot of "Pharmafood" products available on the market, with a variety of performance enhancement cocktails. For the majority of athletes, the combination of caffeine, taurine and sugar is
probably harmless. Red Bull may have a performance enhancing effect, but only by a small margin. On the other hand, judicious use of sports drinks and gels is a proven benefit with no risk.
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