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Risks and Dangers of Drinking Energy Drinks

Anxiety

People with 2 genetic variations of adenosine receptors are more likely to feel increased levels of anxiety when consuming caffeinated beverages like Redbull (”Top 14 Energy Drink Dangers” 2016). This is because the body is unable to handle the amounts of caffeine you are consuming which triggers anxiety or even a panic attack.  

Insomnia 

With the increased levels of ATP, you have more energy which will prevent you from being able to sleep this also can cause other symptoms like migraines and even impaired function because you’ve been awake for too long (”Top 14 Energy Drink Dangers” 2016).  

Risk of Metabolic Syndrome 

With the extremely high levels of sugar, 27g to be exact in one can of Redbull alone, energy drinks contribute to increased risk of obesity or type 2 diabetes (Alsunni 2015). As well as metabolic syndrome which is diabetes coupled with high blood sugar and blood pressure (Alsunni 2015). 

Liver Toxicity and Sensory Nerve Problems 

Consuming high amounts of inositol (3000 mg or more) an ingredient found in Redbull can result in liver toxicity (Kallmyer & Foster 2016). In lesser amounts, consuming 100 mg or more can result in sensory nerve problems (Kallmyer & Foster 2016). Which can lead to serious health problems like acute and chronic liver disease. 

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Figure 5 (”Giphy” 2017)

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Is It Really An “Energy” Drink?

Yes, it is true that Redbull provides energy but, it is also true that if you eat a high carb food you will feel a rise in energy or even a cup of coffee would have a similar effect. The main reason Redbull provides you with energy is that it provides the body with more potential molecules of glucose for glycolysis, more potential molecules of acetyl CoA, pyruvate and even more potential molecules for one of the 4/5 carbon intermediates found in TCA. These are all molecules that we’ve learnt lead to the production of ATP either directly in their processes or through the electron transport chain by using oxidative phosphorylation.

So yes if you like the taste of Redbull and you need to cram for you bio test the next day it will keep you awake, however, so would many other foods not marketed as an “energy” drink.

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How Does It Affect ATP Production?

Like I mentioned earlier Redbull won’t change the amount of ATP produced per NADH molecules or how many pyruvates will be formed after undergoing glycolysis. However, it can change the number of times glycolysis itself would happen, or pyruvate oxidation as well as Krebs cycle and in turn the electron transport chain. Redbull isn’t a magic drink it can’t change science it won’t change the amounts of ATP produced for each stage of cellular respiration what it does do is change the amount of times cellular respiration occurs. In terms of ATP production, yes after consuming Redbull you will have more ATP in your body than if you didn’t consume it but this also happens after consuming any food source!

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Figure 4 (”Giphy” 2017)

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How Does It Affect Those Stages?

Glycolysis:

The majority of ingredients in Redbull can be categorized into one group and that group would be carbohydrates. Whether it be direct or not sucrose, glucose, caffeine and glucuronolactone are either a form of carbohydrates or can be “produce” them. So why is this relevant? The bodies preferred source of energy is carbohydrates so these ingredients are going to be used to provide energy. Now how it does that is the real question, the body undergoes a process known as cellular respiration to turn food like the carbohydrates (and their derivatives) found in this drink into energy in the form of ATP.

The first step of cellular respiration is called glycolysis it is known as the catabolism or, breaking down of a glucose molecule. Now we know that not each ingredient listed above is specifically called “glucose” however, each of them can be converted into that molecule. Sucrose and glucuronolactone are the easiest to explain - these are already carbohydrates and more specifically already sugars so they can easily be converted by the body into glucose. Vitamin B12 aids in the digestion of food, meaning it will help in the conversion of Redbull to energy. It does this by acting as a coenzyme either helping to put molecules together or breaking them apart and it will do this for those ingredients eventually resulting in the glucose molecule we need.

Next up is caffeine, many know that caffeine provides energy but not many know how. Caffeine blocks a chemical in the brain that is involved in sleep known as adenosine yes, the same type of adenosine as in adenosine triphosphate or, ATP(Watson N.D)! It will cause the body to take action to stay awake, causing it to release a hormone known as adrenaline(Watson N.D). Among other purposes, this will cause the liver to release extra blood sugar - keyword sugar! Blood sugar is basically sugar carried by the bloodstream it eventually will be transported to glycolysis and fun fact the sugar released is in the form of glucuronolactone so it will have to be converted into glucose first (S 2017). When all these molecules undergo glycolysis it will continue down the process of cellular respiration creating more energy because there were more sources of energy (carbs) provided in the first place.

Now it’s not that simple! Before we mentioned vitamin B3 and it’s derivative NAD+ yet, we never got into what exactly it does for glycolysis. The initial glucose molecule will react with a number of different molecules, for example, NAD+, Pi, ADP and ATP. While it is true that it will react with all those molecules the energy drink being investigating only provides a source of NAD+. That molecule will act as a carrier in glycolysis bringing in Pi and “stealing” electrons from the G3P molecules (originated from glucose) resulting in the reduction of NAD+ to NADH. After undergoing those reactions and more it will be left with 2 pyruvate molecules, 2(net) ATP molecules, 2 NADH molecules and water. Those ATP molecules are energy so, already in the first stage of cellular respiration with just the carbohydrates from our drink, we have energy however 2 molecules enough. Those pyruvates will continue through cellular respiration and lead to the generation of more energy as for those NADH molecules they will become relevant again during the electron transport chain.    

To summarize, the carbohydrates in Redbull are being sent to the first step of cellular respiration, glycolysis and allowing for those molecules produced to continue down cellular respiration to create even more energy than in this first step.

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Pyruvate Oxidation:

Taurine, however, unlike the other main energy sources is not a carbohydrate it is an amino acid and will need to undergo a separate process known as protein catabolism to be converted into a new molecule used in cellular respiration. Another ingredient involved in the catabolism of protein is vitamin B6  listed as pyridoxine HCL on cans and vitamin B12 both will help convert taurine into a pyruvate molecule or a 4 or 5 carbon intermediate found in Krebs cycle (3rd step of cellular respiration) or acetyl CoA which is also used in Krebs. The relevance of this is that if it is converted into a pyruvate molecule obviously it would have some effect on pyruvate oxidation and that would have an effect on your energy levels.

The first step of pyruvate oxidation is that a CO2 molecule will be expelled from the cell and eventually you will breathe that molecule out. After expelling CO2 NAD+ just like in glycolysis will be reduced into NADH which again will become more relevant in the electron transport chain. Finally a coenzyme A molecule will be added which is most likely why D-Pantothenol was added to Redbull. Coenzyme a comes from D-pantothenol an important part of pyruvate oxidation as without it the process wouldn’t be complete. It is worth noticing that pyruvate oxidation doesn’t result in the direct formation of ATP otherwise known as substrate-level phosphorylation but that NADH molecule produced will come into play later.

Keep in mind this process happens twice and two pyruvate molecules  are formed in glycolysis  

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Krebs Cycle:

As I mentioned before, when amino acids like taurine are consumed in abundance or not enough carbs are consumed the body will resort to protein catabolism for energy. We already discussed what would happen if the taurine molecule was converted into a pyruvate molecule but what about an acetyl CoA or one of the 4/5 carbon intermediates for this cycle?

Well, acetyl CoA would enter through the citric acid cycle, first reacting with an oxaloacetate and resulting in the formation of the 6 carbon citrate molecule. That citrate molecule will then continue onwards through the cycle reacting with 3 NAD+ again, FAD+, ADP and Pi. After reacting with those molecules the initial 6 carbon citrate will lose carbons as it has undergone reactions which result in the reduction of FAD+ to FADH2 and NAD+ to NADH as well as the formation of  ATP through substrate-level phosphorylation(formation of ATP on an enzyme/ ADP +Pi =ATP). Once the cycle is complete you will have 6 NADH, 2 FADH2 and two ATP molecules. What we learn from this is that in the Krebs cycle ATP will be directly produced and NAD+ the derivative of niacin will be used again. We also know that through protein catabolism one of the 4/5 carbon intermediates in Krebs can be formed. What that means is as the cycle goes on the initial citrate molecule goes through reactions that change the amounts of carbons in it. In the beginning, it will have 6 carbons but as it moves along the cycle it will lose some and taurine can be converted into one of those molecules hence 4/5 carbon intermediate and continue through the cycle yielding the same results.

Again this happens twice because there are two acetyl CoA molecules formed in pyruvate oxidation.

Similar to the carbohydrates being sent to glycolysis, Redbull doesn’t necessarily change how these processes work for the conversion of taurine to energy, it changes how frequently it happens. What that does is allow for the body to produce more energy or ATP because these processes will initiate once you consume those ingredients.

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ETC:

Remember how I was saying to remember the amount of FADH2 and NADH produced? This is because the electron transport chain uses the electrons in those coenzymes to create ATP but this time through oxidative phosphorylation(oxygen is present). All the carbohydrate molecules and the amino acid that were metabolized and then sent through cellular respiration create the most amount of ATP here. This is because all of the NADH molecules and FADH2 molecules produced during those stages will undergo this final step that will result in 3 ATP per NADH molecule and 2 ATP per FADH2!  

The most important part of the ingredients job was to undergo the first 3 stages of cellular respiration as this allowed for the majority of ATP or energy to be produced in this final step. It is true that in some cases ATP was produced in some individual stages but those were in very small amounts this final stage allows for 32 ATP to be produced and that is from under normal conditions (1st to the 4th stage). This affects the electron transport chain in a sense similar to the other stages, it allows for it to happen more frequently because more major molecules like glucose, pyruvate, acetyl CoA or 4/5 carbon intermediates are being produced and in turn allows more ATP to be produced as a whole. Meaning you get more energy!

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Figure 3 (”Giphy” 2017)

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So What Stages Of Cellular Respiration Does it Affect?

At First Glance

         The majority of the ingredients will go onto glycolysis and continue down the rest of the pathways for cellular respiration to create energy. Redbull is a drink that can most definitely affect glycolysis as it is providing the glucose molecules for it to start glycolysis with. Those carbohydrates found in the drink are sucrose, glucose, caffeine and glucuronolactone. However, first they will need to be converted into a glucose molecule in preparation for glycolysis and there is a helper in that conversion! Vitamin B12 which is found in Redbull helps to metabolize carbohydrates along with the other macromolecules thus, allowing the molecules mentioned earlier to eventually undergo glycolysis (“Vitamin B12: All Cobalamins Are Not Equal” 2014). They will need to be converted into a glucose molecule first with the exception of glucose as it is the molecule used to start glycolysis with already. After their conversion, they will start at glycolysis and then go through pyruvate oxidation, Krebs cycle then finally go through the electron transport chain. 

         Another ingredient that will be involved in glycolysis is NAD+ as it is a derivative of vitamin B3 or, niacin as labelled on the can (Jacobson 2013). NAD+ will help produce reactions within glycolysis and will reduce to NADH to eventually go onto the electron transport chain to then be transferred into energy!

Another Look

         When you look deeper into the possible pathways that could be affected, taurine actually would cause multiple stages to commence depending on what type of molecule it is converted into. 

         For taurine, it is not confirmed what type of molecule it will be changed into, it’s dependant on what your body needs! It’s possible for taurine to enter as a molecule for Krebs cycle, or pyruvate oxidation depending on the type of molecule produced during the catabolism of taurine. Depending on the type of molecule produced it would affect a different stage.

         If it was turned into acetyl CoA then it would enter into Krebs cycle as that molecule will react with another molecule known as oxaloacetate to form a citrate molecule the “first” molecule used in TCA(the citric acid cycle) which is the 3rd stage of cellular respiration. Similarly, it could also become one of the 4/5 carbon intermediates found in the citric acid cycle. 

         It could also become a pyruvate molecule which is the end product of glycolysis so that molecule would move onto pyruvate oxidation the second step of cellular respiration and then will be continuing on through Krebs cycle and finally the electron transport chain. Pyruvate oxidation results in the formation of an acetyl CoA after going through multiple reactions of course. An ingredient that is involved in one of those reactions is vitamin B5(D-Panthenol) it is the parent molecule to coenzyme A a vital part of acetyl CoA - as in acetyl coenzyme A. 

        As it was mentioned before NAD+ is a coenzyme used in glycolysis, funnily enough, it is also in Krebs cycle(TCA) and pyruvate oxidation. We also know that it derives from vitamin B3 or niacin like it is labelled on the can(Jacobson 2013). Similar to the effects explained earlier for glycolysis this coenzyme will help create reactions that will result in the reduction of NAD+ to NADH among other molecules and that NADH molecule will go onto the electron transport chain where it will be formed into energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate(ATP).

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Figure 2 (”Giphy” 2017)

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What Ingredients Will Give You Energy?

Sucrose and Glucose

Carbohydrates are the bodies preferred source of energy and is the easiest macromolecule for the body to digest -  these sugars, with the exception of glucose they will need to be turned into a 6 carbon molecule (glucose) before entering cellular respiration. After that, they will continue through cellular respiration to provide your body with energy.

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Glucuronolactone  

Not only is it naturally produced in the body when sugar is metabolized but can also be found in plants. This molecule is a metabolite of glucose which is why it is believed to provide energy as it will similar to the ingredients above, be converted into glucose and enter cellular respiration(Sahelien 2015).

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Taurine

Taurine is an amino acid that can provide energy to your body (when in abundance) because protein catabolism will occur. Since taurine is already an amino acid if your body has too many it will be converted into a molecule used in cellular respiration which will, in turn, provide your body with energy in the form of ATP as it will undergo those processes.

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Caffeine

This is a drug that makes your heart beat faster when it does so it sends blood to your muscles which will signal your liver to release more sugar into your bloodstream, in turn, providing you with energy.

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What do Redbull’s ingredients actually do?

Images Via: Figure 1 (”Piktochart” 2017)