Argumentative

The Dangers of Energy Drinks

Did you know that energy drinks don’t help with athletics at all? They actually cause dehydration, dizziness and disorientation. The average teenager would only need to drink 50 cans of Monster to end their life. Caffeine is not something to play with; it can cause serious problems in high dosages. Energy drinks have high dosages of caffeine, so put two and two together and you’ll see that energy drinks can cause serious problems!

According to the Mayo Clinic adolescents (9-18) should not consume any more than 1,500 mg of sodium per day. An energy drink has an average of 123 mg per serving and there could be 3 servings in one can, making a can more like 300 mg of sodium. Just the serving size of an energy drink is 8.2% of the recommended daily value for adolescents. Also it has three times as much sodium than that in a bag of chips. I have proof to believe that energy drinks bring no positives.

According to the Department of Nutrition at the University of California, ingredients in energy drinks like Glucuronlactone, Carnitine, Inositol, Panax Ginseng, Super Citramax, and Taurine all have insuffienct data to prove that they are safe. Would you knowingly drink something that is unknown what the effect is to your body? These substances could be the reasons why there is a positive correlation with consumption of energy drinks and rise in high blood pressure, tooth decay, liver damage, accelerated heart rate and the list goes on. The combination of high sodium and caffeine plus unknown substances is enough for me to never want to touch an energy drink.

On the other side energy drinks could have a few benefits but the negatives outweigh them greatly. According to Helium.com studies have been show that energy drinks with caffeine and red pepper have actually significantly increased energy expenditure in test subjects, but not many products contain both. Energy drinks in general do give a quick initial energy boost but it does not last very long.

Basically what I am trying to say is that energy drinks are an unknown poison that people are too oblivious to see anything wrong because they are blinded by the bold names and flashing colors and the fact that they think they’re going to gain an advantages over other people. Energy Drinks are a gimmick that hurt you way more than they help they should never be consumed unless it’s a last resort.

Work Cited

. "Energy Drinks and their benefits." Helium. Copyright, 2002-2012. Web. 21 May 2012. <http://www.helium.com/items/563781-energy-drinks-and-their-benefits>.

. "Nutrition and healthy eating." Mayo Clinic. N.p., March 9, 2011. Web. 21 May 2012. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/caffeine/NU00600

. "Energy Drinks." yaleruddcenter. The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, Yale University, n.d. Web. 21 May 2012.

Heneman, Karrie. "http://nutrition.ucdavis.edu/content/infosheets/EnergyDrinks.pdf." Nutrition and Health Info-Sheet. University of California Davis, CA 9, 2007. Web. 21 May 2012. <http://nutrition.ucdavis.edu/content/infosheets/EnergyDrinks.pdf>.