When ever the potential dangers of energy drinks are arise in conversation, caffeine content is usually the first and most heated topic of discussion. It is true that caffeine is the main active ingredient in most popular energy drinks. But what's so bad about caffeine; what is it about caffeine that has encouraged so many that the general public should be warned about the dangers of energy drinks or at least seek healthier alternatives to energy drinks? Is the content of caffeine in most energy drinks dangerous for the average adult individual to consume in the first place? These questions certainly should not be overlooked. But neither should we allow the hype of caffeine content to obscure the real question at hand, which of course is whether or not energy drinks are bad for you. Caffeine is not the only consideration to be taken into account when analyzing the costs and benefits of energy drink consumption. To even begin answering the question of if energy drinks are bad for your health, not only must one look into the constituents of the typical "proprietary energy blends" similar to most energy supplements, but also examine the other ingrediants commonly found in energy drinks, those beyond the the advertised energy and mood enhancing agents.

Identifying and discussing the ingredients found in most of the popular energy drinks should provide a solid foothold for our discussion of whether energy drinks are bad for you. Energy drinks contain "energy blends" consisting of energy enhancing ingredients, such as caffeine, B vitamins, ginseng, guarana, and taurine.

Caffeine: Caffeine is the most widely consumed drug on the face of the planet. But how does it affect one's health? In 1958, the Food and Drug Administration classified caffeine as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS). However more recent studies have shown that there is no evidence that demonstrates that the use of caffeine in carbonated beverages yields these products harmful to the health of adults. There's a general consensus among experts that common-sense and moderation are the keys to consuming caffeinated foods and beverages. Moderate caffeine consumption is around 300 mg a day for adults. However this amount varies greatly depending on the individual, his size, tolerance, sex, etc. While it is recommended that adults consume no more than 300 mg per day, this amount of caffeine would be far from enough to cause any (serious) health problems to an otherwise heathy adult.

Guarana: Native to the Amazon Basin and especially prevalent in Brazil, as a dietary supplement, guarana is an effective energy booster. Guarana is often thought of as a healthier yet more potent form of caffeine than that derived from coffee beans. And Indeed, guarana and caffeine are similar in many respects. In fact, guarana contains guaranine, which is identical to the caffeine derived from other sources, such as tea or coffee. Only the guarana seed contains roughly twice the amount of caffeine than the similar sized coffee bean. In addition to caffeine, guarana seeds contain other energy and metabolism enhancing ingrediants. Like most naturally occuring sources of caffeine, for instance, guarana seeds contain a mixture of xanthine alkaloids other than caffeine, such as the cardiac stimulants theophylline and theobromine and other substances such as polyphenols.

Ginseng: Ginseng is a popular herbal supplement that has long been used in traditional Chinese medicine.In numerous studies Ginseng has been shown to: (1) increase energy, (2) increase the body's ability to maintain its antioxidant status, (3) decrease lipid levels such as LDL cholesterol, (4) improve sexual performance and increase desire, (5) benefit attention, mental arithmetic, logical deduction, and more.

Besides the highly promoted energy blends, energy drinks contain other ingredients of interest to our discussion. For the most part, these are the ingredients that make some energy drinks bad for your health. Such ingredients include sugar, carbonated water, and certain artificial sweeteners. Here, I shall keep it brief and focus on the pitfalls and adverse affects of carbonation and high sugar content in energy drinks.

Sugar: The, often immensely, high level of sugar found in most energy drinks cannot be overlooked. Many energy drinks contain significantly more sugar than a bottle of Coke or Pepsi. Though sugar is known to provide a quick pick-me-up, the energy boost is short lived and often followed by an unpleasant crash as the energy enhancing affects of the sugar quickly ware off. In addition to the nasty crash brought on by the high levels of sugar in many leading energy drinks, such high sugar contents often correspond to high calories. Moreover, the sugar levels found in many energy drinks can contribute to insulin problems.

A major concern has recently surfaced surrounding the role of sugar-packed energy drinks in the increase of child obesity, since teens and young adults are the primary targets of most energy drink marketing campaigns.

Carbonation is often overlooked with regards to its affects on your health. However, many believe that this is a major mistake and that carbonated beverages can have serious adverse effects on your health. Carbonation reduces the amount of calcium in your bones, which could lead to an earlier onset of osteoporosis.

At this point it is unclear whether certain ingredients, when in energy drinks, are healthy, harmful or insignificant. Taurine, for instance, is a highly controversial ingredient in energy drinks. In fact, energy supplements that contain both caffeine and taurine have a long history of being banned in certain countries due to the potential danger and lack of knowledge concerning the mixture of the two ingredients.

Naturally occurring in meats and fish, significantly excess amounts of taurine are found in most energy products featuring the chemical. Because no intensive studies have found conclusive evidence on the combined effect of taurine and caffeine on humans, certain energy drinks such as Red Bull have been banned in Norway, Denmark, Uruguay and France. Mixed with caffeine in energy drinks, taurine has been claimed to cause neurophysiological problems and has been linked to several deaths. The uncertainty of possible health risks surrounding the mixture of caffeine and taurine is why many countries have banned energy drinks containing taurine and why energy drinks in the U.S. and Canada require warning labels.

B vitamins also fall somewhere between good and bad in terms of the health affects of energy drink ingredients.  Various B vitamins are now commonly found in many energy drinks. However, addition of B vitamins as an energy enhancing ingredient is more of a marketing tactic than an added benefit to the consumer.  The addition of B vitamins to energy drinks is nether good nor bad for your health. Excess B vitamins are simply filtered out of the body through urination.  The high content of B vitamins in energy drinks does not correspond to high energy, the excess is simply discarded.

In many ways pioneering this stage of the "energy evolution," for instance, long before nearly any other, RyLo Products, a food and beverage company specializing in cutting edge products, made it their mission to bring innovative healthy energy supplements to the shelves. Far ahead of the trend, after nearly 3 years of research and development, RyLo Products, LLC did so with the release of the Revive Energy Mint brand.

By packing roughly the same amount of naturally derived guarana-caffeine into a dime-sized mint as an average sixteen ounce energy drink contains of ordinary caffeine, removing all traces of sugar, adding a proprietary blend of energy boosting and mood enhancing ingredients such as green-tea and ginseng, and introducing a unique formula of immune boosting antioxidants from the powerful and increasingly popular superfoods acai berry, mangosteen, and goji berry, with Revive Energy Mints, RyLo Products did away with unhealthy carbonation, and excess calories and sugars, while with the very same "super mint" bringing exotic immune enhancing superfruits to the market for energy supplements for the very first time.