Welcome to The Knowledge Podcast by Wahoo, where we talk about everything that gives us a buzz. Today, we're diving into the world of energy drinks and energy shots, also known as liquid candy for adults. We'll be discussing how caffeine, guarana, ginseng, and taurine can give you wings, but too much sugar will give you a crash worse than a skydiving disaster. So, buckle up and hold on tight, because we're about to take you on a sugar rush you won't forget!
Welcome to The Knowledge Podcast by Wahoo, where we provide you with the latest research and insights on sports nutrition. In this episode, we’re discussing our position on energy drinks and energy shots. Energy drinks are pre-packaged functional beverages, while energy shots are a more concentrated version. Both are formulated to enhance and support exercise performance when consumed just prior to exercise.
Studies have shown that caffeine is the most effective ergogenic nutrient for enhancing physical and mental performance and are present in all energy drinks and energy shots. Other ergogenic nutrients include ginseng, guarana, and taurine, which can enhance physical performance, mental focus, and alertness, and can help reduce anxiety and nervousness caused by caffeine.
However, it’s essential to note that these products can have adverse effects on certain populations, such as adolescents, pregnant women, and those with pre-existing medical conditions. Additionally, energy drinks and energy shots can contain a long list of additives, including B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin A, and vitamin D. While these vitamins are essential for the energy-producing pathways of the body, their effects on physical performance have yet to be determined.
Join us as we discuss the primary qualities of each additive and delve into the potential benefits and risks of consuming energy drinks and energy shots before exercise. Stay tuned to The Knowledge Podcast by Wahoo for more insights on sports nutrition.
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https://the-knowledge-by-wahoo-sports-science.simplecast.com/episodes/part-1-fueling
https://the-knowledge-by-wahoo-sports-science.simplecast.com/episodes/part-2-fueling-during
https://the-knowledge-by-wahoo-sports-science.simplecast.com/episodes/fueling-part-3-post
Jinger Gottschall 0:00
There is glucose, sucrose, fructose malah, dextrin dextrose. Those are the most common found in energy drinks and energy shots. And there is actually a sweet spot with respect to the percentage
Jeff Hoobler 0:15
of these. Good, guys.
Jinger Gottschall 0:19
I was going to try to get a good laugh out of Eddie on that one. He's on the floor right now. Yes, a sweet spot
Jeff Hoobler 0:33
Welcome back to another episode of The Knowledge Podcast by Wahoo.
Jinger Gottschall 0:44
I'm Jeff Hoobler. And I'm Dr. Ginger.
Jeff Hoobler 0:47
Ginger, what time is it?
Jinger Gottschall 0:48
It is 12 o'clock is the same 12 o'clock or five o'clock? Pretty sure it's five?
Jeff Hoobler 0:53
It depends. If you ask Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett, they'll tell you, it's
Jinger Gottschall 0:57
fine. It's fine. So therefore we're talking about drinks and shots,
Jeff Hoobler 1:01
drinks and shots. Oh,
Jinger Gottschall 1:03
yeah,
Jeff Hoobler 1:04
don't get too carried
Jinger Gottschall 1:05
away, get the party started.
Jeff Hoobler 1:07
But for real, but for real, we are going to dig into some really interesting stuff. Today, we're going to take a look at a position Stan from the International Society of sports nutrition, talking about energy drinks, and Energy Shots. And this
Jinger Gottschall 1:21
was published in the Journal of the International Society of sports nutrition, just this year and 2023. So if anything from this podcast is of interest to you, then grab that article off the world wide web and you can do some of your own in depth research. Jeff, I'm gonna start with asking you some questions. Let's see what you know. Is there a difference between an energy drink and an energy shot?
Jeff Hoobler 1:48
Great question. Energy drinks are pre packed, ready to drink functional beverages that are sold in 12 to 16 fluid ounce sizes, while an energy shot is similar, that more concentrated ready to drink beverage or gel sold in two to five fluid ounces.
Jinger Gottschall 2:08
Okay, so there's a difference with respect to the actual volume, which then will relate later to the concentration. There is one ingredient that we can find in every single energy drink and energy shot. What is it? Let
Jeff Hoobler 2:25
me guess caffeine
Jinger Gottschall 2:27
caffeine. Yes. So for those of you who have any caffeine sensitivity, just be aware that types of beverages all contain caffeine. Now there are some specific recommendations with respect to caffeine and aerobic exercise, and plusses. If you consume caffeine, that's about 200 milligrams, or three milligrams per kilogram. So that could be actually greater for some of you out there than you want to consume it anywhere from about 10 to 60 minutes before that exercise bout or race if you want to improve lower body power production, mental focus, alertness, anaerobic performance, and or your endurance capacity, which is pretty impressive. And there are hundreds of study on caffeine, and a previous podcast if you want to know some other special tips.
Jeff Hoobler 3:23
Most of us are familiar with caffeine, but we don't often pay attention to all these other corollary benefits. So foods and beverages containing naturally occurring caffeine do not need to be labeled, that the product has caffeine. That's something to keep in mind. There's a couple of other things here, full ingredient disclosure, both the type and the amount is not required on the label, if it's a supplement.
Jinger Gottschall 3:48
Ooh, good to know. So check that out. We also want to have this public service warning that if you are racing and being tested for specific ingredients that are performance enhancing, you really have to do your own due diligence and testing on these beverages because they can have things that aren't on the label. If it's labeled as a supplement.
Jeff Hoobler 4:14
Yeah, unfortunately, there's a lot of case scenarios where that's gone sideways, and with no one tend to do so it's just you got to do your homework.
Jinger Gottschall 4:25
Right. Jeff, I know you have had experience with varying age groups of athletes, as well as let's just say their intensity with respect to how elite they are, as well as men versus women. So anything that you would be telling these different age groups or different genders
Jeff Hoobler 4:45
to absolutely adolescents for sure. Age 1218 Should Use caution but seek guidance when considering consumption of excessive amounts that be over 400 milligrams
Jinger Gottschall 4:58
right of caffeine. All right. Also, individuals that have diabetes or pre existing cardiovascular, metabolic kidney issues, neurologic diseases, if you're on various medications, then you also want to be very aware of what's in the beverage, both with caffeine, as well as this glycemic index or high sugars as well as other stimulants. Bottom line. Before we get into some of the other additions to these beverages, check out the caffeine content, make sure you know what's in the beverage. And also think about what will help your performance and what won't. So in addition to caffeine, there's one other ingredient in these beverages that can actually help your performance that's been shown time and time again, caffeine and sugar, those are the two things that have been shown time and time again, they can actually help improve your physical performance and your cognitive alertness during endurance events. So those of you to really want to care about this
Jeff Hoobler 6:05
list of additives can be quite long, some of these products. So ginger, let's talk about what this list is. And you know, we're gonna, we're not gonna go through the whole thing. But we're going to take the, you know, kind of three tiers here. But let's start with the big four. And the big four are caffeine, Jin sang Khurana and touring, these have all been shown to enhance performance. But let's talk about why and what what the difference is. Okay,
Jinger Gottschall 6:36
we have just gone over some of the benefits of caffeine. So let's then move on to gharana. This actually is a seed that has naturally occurring caffeine in it. So that's definitely one of the ones that you want to be aware, that does contain caffeine. And the estimated range is 2.5 to 6%. So it's actually higher caffeine percent than coffee or tea, it has been shown to improve your fat oxidation. So it's going to help you draw from your fat stores for energy and potentially augment in shorter bursts of exercise. So these are all positive, it also improves cognitive performance. So therefore, the benefits are very similar to caffeine, but just be aware that it's naturally occurring.
Jeff Hoobler 7:27
One of the next ones is ginseng, and ginseng is known to alleviate fatigue in fatigued individuals at doses of 80 to 2000 milligrams. Now, that's quite a range. So acute doses of 200 to 400 milligrams for mood related outcome. Ginseng has also been noted to have improvement in stamina and vitality. It enhances psychomotor performance, physical performance, circulatory function, glucose metabolism, erectile dysfunction, and I might need help with this one immuno modulation,
Jinger Gottschall 8:06
you've got it. So it can also help your immune system with respect to the availability of specific vitamins and minerals that will help you stay free of sickness and respiratory disorders or write symptoms and ginseng
Jeff Hoobler 8:22
is a stimulant, but it does not have naturally occurring caffeine,
Jinger Gottschall 8:26
right. So it could be a plus for those of you that are more sensitive to caffeine. The fourth one that Jeff mentioned is taurine, and the ingestion of this is recommended to be about one to six grams per day, in order to influence or enhance endurance performance. It can improve your VO to max the time to exhaustion before you hit that wall Time Trial performance and aerobic capacity, it can actually help reduce muscle damage. And it can improve your alertness, basically your cognition when you're active. So those are pretty cool.
Jeff Hoobler 9:02
Those are pretty cool. And it's it's really interesting, because even though taurine is the second most common ingredient of these energy drinks, it's actually not a stimulant.
Jinger Gottschall 9:14
Ooh. So why is it in there? Right.
Jeff Hoobler 9:16
So taurine actually works by calming the nervous system and counteracting some of the unwanted effects of caffeine and other stimulants like anxiety or nervousness on lowering heart rate and blood pressure so it has a bit of a calming effect.
Jinger Gottschall 9:34
That's so cool. Again, if you are sensitive to caffeine, then possibly look for taurine in your ingredients list and it could help you sweet. I like that little fun fact.
Jeff Hoobler 9:45
That's pretty cool. Okay, what else is in there?
Jinger Gottschall 9:48
We are now going to move into four of the most commonly added vitamins. And two of these are water soluble B and C two Have these are fat soluble D and A. So why should we care if they're water soluble or fat soluble?
Jeff Hoobler 10:06
Bingo? Obviously, water soluble vitamins are soluble in water. And most of these drinks or shots are water based, right, they tend to not have fat in them. fat soluble vitamins need fat as a delivery, so you need to take in fat with it, or have fat in the drink, which isn't very common. So be mindful of that if you want to deliver fat soluble vitamins, you need to have a source of fat while you're taking them in gosh,
Jinger Gottschall 10:40
that is another really helpful tip and trick with respect to understanding what additives are in these drinks and shots and what you need to be eating with them. Starting with the B vitamins, these are particularly important because they are required for the synthesis of new cells. And what cells do we really care about here in endurance exercise, blood cells, red blood cells, the B vitamins also assist in the repair of damaged cells. Now I'd like to say one thing, you can look at a label in these energy shots, and they will have 1,000% of the recommended daily value or allowance of a B vitamin, what's that about? It's totally BS, you don't need that much. And in fact, a lot of the data shows that you don't even need additional B vitamin, you mostly can get that through a diet that's with a lot of raw foods and eating from the rainbow. So it's really only if you're deficient in it, that it's going to help provide these regular cellular processes and benefits. Yeah. And
Jeff Hoobler 11:51
I think that you just hit the nail on the head here about choosing your drinks or shot or whatever. What do you need? Right, right. If you're not deficient, it's not really going to help you at least these, you know, this long list of alphabet soup.
Jinger Gottschall 12:06
Right, exactly. All right, vitamin C, our second water soluble vitamin, what's that do for us,
Jeff Hoobler 12:12
Vitamin C is a very important antioxidant. And it's also required for the synthesis of collagen. There's also evidence that vitamin C supports a reduction in the incidence of upper respiratory tract infections following exercise. Uh huh. It does show that people who have you know, been training really hard, done a hard event over multiple days, there's, there's less likely to get sick.
Jinger Gottschall 12:38
These antioxidants basically combat these free radicals which are released when you do something really hard. So having fruits and vegetables that are high in antioxidants can really benefit. And if you're in need of something quick, then perhaps these drinks or shots would also be beneficial for recovery.
Jeff Hoobler 12:59
Absolutely. So it's kind of a convenience thing,
Jinger Gottschall 13:02
right, moving into the fat soluble vitamins. Vitamin D is an important one, because it will help promote calcium absorption. And we want to have both Calcium and Vitamin T ingested together. And that's then going to help with our bone mineralization and help us maintain bone density. We have actually talked about in the past how cyclists have an issue with bone density because it's a non weight bearing activity. So this is something that can be very critical for cyclists.
Jeff Hoobler 13:35
Absolutely. And as a kind of an aside here and we talked about deficiencies. Vitamin D is one that a lot of people are deficient in.
Jinger Gottschall 13:45
And for those of you who do not drink or eat dairy products, to then the combination of vitamin D and calcium, you want to think about what other sources you can get it from the other
Jeff Hoobler 13:56
fat soluble vitamin that is in here is vitamin A. And this is important for obviously, we tie vitamin A to eyesight. Yes, we're talking about retina health, as well as immune function and cellular communication. So vitamin a and beta carotene supplementation have not been shown to enhance exercise performance. But again, this is one of those things. If you have a deficiency, it might bring you up to par.
Jinger Gottschall 14:25
Exactly. So there we have just a quick summary of four vitamins that you will regularly see and these drinks and shots and now we move on to electrolytes, which, again, you probably hear a lot about with respect to why you absolutely must have these as additions into your drinks into your post res or post training sessions. But a lot of this you can get in your regular diet so it's good to understand what you need and what You don't, but let's just start with probably the most common,
Jeff Hoobler 15:04
I'd say the most common electrolytes you're gonna find are sodium, potassium, okay, magnesium, and calcium.
Jinger Gottschall 15:11
I would agree.
Jeff Hoobler 15:12
So let's talk a little bit about what each one of these does and what the, you know, the real key mechanisms are there. Tell us a little about sodium.
Jinger Gottschall 15:23
Okay, we hear a lot about sodium with respect to how much salt does your beverage have. And it is critical to maintain electro cellular volume osmolarity membrane potentials and transport of numerous molecules across the cell membrane. So basically, say that in English, yeah, you must have it in order for your cells to perform correctly, sodium and potassium are going to work together, sodium is fast acting. And it's recommended that sports drinks contain 460 to 690 milligrams per liter. Now, it doesn't enhance performance. But if you are starting a training program in the heat, or you are new to ultra distance races, then you may need some sodium in those really long efforts. But do the work beforehand, and understanding what concentration you've got in your sweat. And there's many patches and ways to do this. Now, on your own. That's super easy. But you've got to maintain that fluid balance and maybe have a little added
Jeff Hoobler 16:33
if you think you're you know, a really heavy sweater and getting a sweat test a good idea. But one of those, you know, we've referred to it before is if you are starting a new program, or and all of a sudden, you're bibs turned white, and they used to be black, you probably a heavy sweater, and with a lot of sodium content. So that's an indication that you may want to update electrolyte intake.
Jinger Gottschall 16:57
Yes, very simple. Just be aware, if that Jersey has all those rings of white on it, then perhaps a little extra. What about potassium,
Jeff Hoobler 17:07
potassium is an essential electrolyte present in all body tissues. Its major role in maintaining intracellular fluid volume and membrane potential. Basically, it helps with contract ability and making sure that muscles are firing the way they should be. And they're not, like spazzing out, right? It's recommended that sports drinks contain 78 to 195 milligrams per liter of potassium. And evidence does not support potassium for anti cramping,
Jinger Gottschall 17:41
right, no matter what you hear about eating bananas because of potassium.
Jeff Hoobler 17:46
That's bogus. And the cramping thing is a really interesting one, we're not going to go into it now. But after all these years, we really still don't know what causes the cramp.
Jinger Gottschall 17:56
Unfortunately, no clue, no clue moving into minerals, magnesium, another one that contributes a lot to these basic physiological processes with respect to nerve and muscle function. Magnesium is also critical for energy production, protein synthesis, and the maintenance of your blood glucose. So this is really important. So you don't have those such highs and lows, supplementation doesn't really have any specific improvement in exercise performance. But again, if you're deficient, then making sure that you're at a homeostasis or recommended level could be helpful.
Jeff Hoobler 18:40
Yeah, and the magnesium one is a really interesting, it's an interesting one to have in the drink. Because what I've found is that if you're magnesium deficient, that supplementing outside of that is, is generally what's done to help you, for instance, sleep better. So a lot of times people will get the you know, the twitchy Leg Syndrome, right. And magnesium can can alleviate that. But nonetheless, it's it's quite common in the drinks.
Jinger Gottschall 19:09
And the last mineral, we actually mentioned it with vitamin D is calcium, go for it.
Jeff Hoobler 19:17
So calcium is quite abundant mineral in the body, major structural component of bone, and essential for contributions for function of the neuromuscular junction, muscular contraction, and hormone secretion, calcium may benefit populations susceptible to osteoporosis, and when combined with vitamin D supplementation, it's quite helpful. potential benefits for fat metabolism. But calcium doesn't really have any ergogenic effects on exercise performance that have been established.
Jinger Gottschall 19:54
So once again, if you have calcium in combination with vitamin D He can help maintain your bone mineral density, which is great for cyclists. But on its own, it's not really going to affect your exercise performance. That
Jeff Hoobler 20:10
brings us to the other major ingredient, the one that we know makes a difference.
Jinger Gottschall 20:17
Sugar. Sugar is the other ingredient in addition to caffeine that is the most common in these energy drinks and energy shots. And we do want to mention these days, it's becoming pretty popular to either have low calorie or no calorie. Yeah, that's bizarre
Jeff Hoobler 20:34
is my last adventures out of the country. I was stopping at places and asking for a coke in there. So you want the zero sugar? I'm like, No, give me no. Sugar.
Jinger Gottschall 20:51
Right. So maybe, if you're watching your weight, and you want a beverage, six hours after you're done with your activity when you're sitting there, yeah, you could have water, but then you could maybe go for the cokes here, but not helpful in terms of utilizing it for exercise performance.
Jeff Hoobler 21:12
But we have we have sugar, and there's different types of sugar. Tell us a little bit about the different types of sugar,
Jinger Gottschall 21:18
there is glucose, sucrose, fructose, malah, dextrin, dextrose. Those are the most common found in energy drinks and energy shots. And there is actually a sweet spot with respect to the percentage
Jeff Hoobler 21:34
of these. Oh,
Jinger Gottschall 21:36
gosh, I was going to try to get a good laugh out of Eddie on that one. He's on the floor right now. Yes, a sweet spot. And that six to 8% of the drink or the shot has in terms of carbohydrates.
Jeff Hoobler 21:51
Yeah, that's really, really key. Okay. And and many of the commercially Well, actually, most of the commercially produced beverages that we're talking about are between six and 8%. But if you happen to be mixing your own, be careful, right. And, you know, this has to do with how fast you can empty your gut. Okay, as well as how well, this has to do with how fast you can get sugar into your gut and how fast you can get it out. Right, and and if the concentration is too high, you're going to have problems because it's going to pull extra fluid in to help dilute. And that often causes an upset stomach
Jinger Gottschall 22:41
got it. So, therefore, check the percentage, it's actually listed right after the grams. And so it's just a quick double honesty check on you, you can also really get the amount of carbohydrate that you need for exercise simply by eating eight to 12 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram per day. But if you are doing a high volume or a very high intensity exercise, then some sort of supplementation through this beverages could be helpful.
Jeff Hoobler 23:16
Yeah, because it's it takes a little time to digest real food, etc. There's
Jinger Gottschall 23:21
another thing that could be helpful with these drinks and shots is if you're doing two a days
Jeff Hoobler 23:27
in the in the point being is it's a lot easier to get your calories quick, recover and not have to overeat so that when you go back to do your next one, you're in a good state.
Jinger Gottschall 23:38
Oh, that's a great point. Because if you've got less than four hours between bouts, then having some of these quick to digest and quick to ingest beverages could be helpful. A couple other things with respect to two a days and being very efficient with this eating after is that if you include caffeine, like three to eight milligrams per kilogram, with that carbohydrate, you can actually metabolize it faster. And if you add some protein in there, that can also help with the metabolizing. And as you said, you can be ready for your second bout.
Jeff Hoobler 24:18
Right? It's really interesting how these small additions can increase your uptake and make those calories more efficiently. But also, you know, if you're making choices, don't go drinking, you know, three cups of coffee just you don't need that much caffeine, right, just need a little bit.
Jinger Gottschall 24:39
That takes us then through the top tips for sugar, which is 160 8% of carbohydrate in your drink or shot tried to consume eight to 12 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram per day. And if you are doing two a days that have less than four hours between them Have a little bit of caffeine and a little bit of protein with that carb, and that'll help you be ready for number two.
Jeff Hoobler 25:05
That is a great tip.
Jinger Gottschall 25:06
Fab. Well, I guess that's it for another episode of the knowledge podcast by Wahoo. We hope you were able to take away some useful info on this topic, and that it will help you become a better endurance athlete. Thanks for listening