WRA-130 Ellie Jensen

Ellie Jensen

WRA: 130-001 Professor Limbu

April 19th, 2014

Red Bull is a Monster to the Health of Americans, Especially Growing Adolescents

Influencing Notoriety For Monster and Red Bull

The seventh of February marked the start of the twenty-second winter Olympics. Time where Americans find a sense of pride in our athletic achievement. Families gather to watch and cheer our brightest athletes in hope their achievement marks another gold for the United States. Children turning to idolize certain individuals, and setting their standards for a role model. So when silver medalist, professional snowboarder Danny Kass is standing on the podium with three neon green animal tares splayed on his jacket and snow board, what message does it send to the younger demographic, that energy drinks are a viable choice of beverage (monster 2014)? Unfortunately, although represented as a proper choice for young Americans, energy drinks such as monster and red bull cause substantial health issues especially for developing adolescence. Throughout this piece we’ll find out the origins of two of the largest energy drink brands Red Bull and Monster. We will address afterward the marketing strategies that keeps these giants thriving. Then the health risks these products place upon developing bodies. Finally suggested solutions for preventing long lasting effects these notorious beverages can cause for one’s health and what you can do individually to not be affected by these health risk companies. Firstly lets address my personal interest in the topic

Background Information

It is almost ironic how the presence of monster energy drinks became present in my life. My older sister, with a double masters in nutrition and public health, introduced me to the notorious beverage. I, personally, hate the taste of coffee but between practice and my infamous sense of procrastination I found myself needing to stay up late in order to complete school work. Katie gave me a monster. It was sugary and tangy but I stayed up for hours no problem, I found myself consuming two to three a week in the middle of the school year thinking nothing of this “dietary supplement” (which will be explained in more detail further on). It wasn’t until I found myself waking up to headaches that I associated my chronic pain to the energy drink. When i confronted my sister with the issue she adimately explained that because I wasn’t used to consuming such large amounts of caffeine, the sudden excess dosage was the probable cause. When looking further into the issue I quickly became concerned about the health risks consumers like myself are unaware of when consuming energy drinks.

History of Red Bull and Monster

Red Bull, an Austrian Company, was created in 1976 and co-founded by Dietrich Mateschitz working with a toothpaste company called Blendax to develop a flavor specifically for the Asian market (Red Bull 2014). Red Bull’s main ingredients are caffeine, taurine, glucuronolactone, b-group vitamins, sucrose, and glucose (Exis 2014). Its rising competitor, Monster has a different lineage.  The younger company was formed in April of 2002, placing its brand securely in BMX, motocross, skateboarding and snowboarding along with E-sports events (Monster 2014). Also sponsoring musical artist such as the band Asking Alexandria (Monster 2014). Containing the same main ingredients as red bull and about twenty others. Monster does contain a warning label for the excess amount of caffeine however, because it states 2500mg of  “energy blend” being sold as a dietary supplement you do not have to specify what is the exact makeup of this category, and this is the loophole in FDA regulations (Harvard 2014).

Marketing Strategies for the two utmost powerful energy drink brands  

The growing consumption for these products have increased 6.7% since the year 2013, profiting these two beverage giants; Red Bull 3.4 billion and Monster 3.1 Billion US dollars 52 weeks prior to July 2013 (Exis 2014). Massive sales are allowing these corporations to produce a greater outreach in marketing, targeting endorsements from influential figures. These beverage companies target athletes as a way to glorify their product. Red Bull hosting annual games to attract the best x game competitors proving they’re the stunting elite (Red Bull 2014). The modern youth is notorious for reckless behavior and what better way to unify daredevils then creating competitions to draw in the masses. What is to be plastered on all items involved? Red Bull, after all Red Bull gives you wings. One event alone in the New York Red Bull arena houses 26,000 people (Red Bull 2014). During the 2012 X-games 108,000 people were attendance on sight in Aspen Colorado, also, the games were represented on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC channels in 903,000 households across America (Aspen 2012). Which also implies the same coverage for Red bull, and Monster companies.

Health Risks with consumption   

Perhaps Red Bull giving you “wings” is the sense of a brief yet mass enhancement of unnatural energy, from consuming five times the caffeine in comparison from a can of soda (SCAI 2013). Is that worth the long-standing risks these unnatural supplements cause against your cardiovascular system? Substance abuse and mental health services administration have noted emergency room visits involving energy drinks doubled from 2007 to 2011 now, with over 20,000 patients emitted (SCAI 2013). Larger more terminal risks of consumption are heart palpitations, which in 2011, 19% of college students have experienced solely through energy drinks (SCAI 2013). Also increased heart rate and blood pressure and people already with a medical condition such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, having these beverages could lead to sudden death from cardiac arrest (SCAI 2013).  Personally I have had both Monster and Red bull for late night studying boost to keep me awake till my work is done. The effects are inevitable, it kept me awake for hours but at what cost? I was never really aware of what I was consuming until now. Because of health studies pertaining to specifically energy drinks, parents, doctors, and health advisors are looking to secure Monster and Red Bull FDA regulatory loopholes. How are these hazardous beverages allowed to contain such unnecessary amounts of caffeine and sugars? Because they’re sold as dietary supplements. Allowing a beverage to be sold under the title of a dietary supplement allows company’s looser regulations (Harvard 2014). Which is why experts push for these drinks to relocate under the beverage market and a new set of FDA regulations. Several doctors in coordination with researchers wrote to the commissioner of U.S. Food and Drug Administration urging that, “Robust correlation between the caffeine levels in energy drinks and adverse health and safety consequences especially where children, adolescents and young adults are concerned (Ittleman 2013)”.

Solutions to protect yourself from health risks

There are simpler steps to protect your personal health then writing extensive letters to the FDA. Stop purchasing these so-called “dietary supplements.”  If perhaps you attend Red Bull games or x games where Monster is a main sponsor, by no means do you have to purchase these beverages instead you should be conscious of the risks you take when consuming unnatural substances. Let the information you read from this text provide as an informative base to compare what you consume in the future. Even a healthier choice is a simple can of soda, because brands such as Coca-Cola are under FDA regulation (Evans 2013). There are other true dietary supplements such as green juices, smoothies or green tea containing natural grown extracts of caffeine (Evans 2013). Protein shakes provide perhaps not as focused mental stimulation such as green tea but a natural source of energy your muscles can process and burn (Evans 2013), similar proteins athletes will consume far over the choice of an energy drink during training and competing. Athletes will always be in a position to influence children across America. Children inclusive of my generation and younger are numb to the overwhelming presence of food corporation’s mass advertisement. But parents, however, are not. Sally Kuzemchak is concerned about her children watching these sanctioned events, even the olympics considering 79% of the endorsements are high-calories, low-nutrient foods (Kuzemchak 2014). What message does that send the youth of America? That in order to be athletically successful these unnecessary food corporations should be included in your life? When in fact an olympic athlete’s main diet does not consist of extensive consumption of caffeine and processed sugars.

Conclusion to the energy drink crisis

Parents with young children should strive to impress upon them the faultiness that these advertisements bring. That it takes hard work along with dedication to natural foods that have always been a healthy choice to our development. Nutritional information is scattered across the internet and magazines. The obesity epidemic is rocketing in our nation, and a climbing fad in society is to get fit. People don’t note the caloric intake based just on a liquid. That women should consume only six teaspoons of sugar a day and men only nine (Center for Science 2013). In reality though, the average American consumes 23 teaspoons of added sugars (Center For Science 2013). Now place that in comparison to just your energy drink like a Red Bull can containing 13 teaspoons, its alarming (Webb 2012).  Finding the information to properly educate yourself on health benefits is all too easy. Just take the first step and initiate the research. Because when our youth strives to form a portion of their own identity from their idol, it should not be their sponsored energy drinks.

Works Cited

"ESPN Official Event Logo." ESPN : Winter X Games 2012. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.   

http://espneventwrapups.com/winter-xgames-2012/history

"Explore by Topic." Energy Drinks & The Heart: Know the Risks. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

http://www.scai.org/SecondsCount/Disease/detail.aspx?cid=135410fb-a293-43e0-82c6-ec0

bcc47125f

"FDA Energy Drink Regulation in the News: Health Experts Push for Regulatory Changes and Monster Moves to Market as a Beverage Instead of as a Dietary Supplement." JD Supra. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.   

http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/fda-energy-drink-regulation-in-the-news-01910/

“Giving You Wings: Should the Food and Drug Administration Investigate the Safety of Red Bull

and So-Called Energy Drinks?” Harvard University’s DASH. (2003 Third Year Paper)

http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8889447/Grus.pdf?sequence=1

"Google." Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2014.

www.google.com

"Homepage | Red Bull Arena." Homepage | Red Bull Arena. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.

http://www.redbullarena.us

"Monster Energy Drink® | Home." Monster Energy Drink® | Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb.

2014.

http://www.monsterenergy.com/us/en/home/

"Red Bull Founder." Who Makes Red Bull? Red Bull Company. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.

http://energydrink-us.redbull.com/company?medium=tsa&gclid=CMy-xd2W07wCFUhgMgodAV8AKA

"Red Bull Gives You (bingo) Wings? Super-sized Can of Energy Drink Contains a Staggering 13

Teaspoons of Sugar." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 04 Oct. 2012. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sally-kuzemchak-ms-rd/what-are-the-olympics-tea_b_4777688.html

“Sugar Too Much of a Sweet Thing.” Center for Science. In the public Interest, 2013

http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/combined_infographic.pdf

"The Top 15 Energy Drink Brands." The Top 15 Energy Drink Brands. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb.

2014.

http://www.caffeineinformer.com/the-15-top-energy-drink-brands

"4 Healthy Alternatives to Energy Drinks." Entrepreneur. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.