Taurine and Coffee – Strange Bedfellows
Artificial taurine and caffeine: a deadly mix. Why? Probably because of a coincidence 20 years ago. Someone at Red Bull, for whatever reason, added Taurine to their drink and over time, this became the Bull Standard. Close to 10 billion cans of energy drinks are produced every year (more than one for everyone of the planet!). Surprising when one considers the toxic mix of chemicals contained in this product. We definatley enjoy following the crowd!
Several studies indicate that taurine and caffeine together are a highly toxic mix (see Taurine and Caffeine). So taurine in energy drinks apparently is not only useless, several studies seem to indicate that it is actually damaging for your health, especially when it is synthetic (see Heart Problems with Synthetic Taurine).
Because of these and other studies, taurine is banned in energy drinks in many European countries. Other contries are examining this issue very cafefully.
Energy drinks are great stay alert longer and to get a mental boost. I like to drink them in the morning before my coffee. They help me start my day on a good foot.
What I find offensive is that most of these drinks come with so many other toxic ingredients (Taurine, HFCS, aspartame) that the overall risk of consumption outweighs the potential benefits. The same could be said of several drugs currently in the clinical trial phase. This is why the FDA is involved in reviewing and ultimately rejecting those drugs where the negative side effects outweigh the postive atttributes. There is no such review of these potentially toxic cocktails.
So is there another choice? Coffee on its own is not a bad alternative as it doesn’t come with all the artificial ingredients found in the Red Bulls and other products. Then there are some natural energy drinks which basically contain a stimulant (coffee, guarana or tea) plus a minimum of other ingredients. I recommend Guyaki Yerba Matte), GURU Energy Drink), and Sambason Energy. In the case of GURU and Sambason, they also have gone the extra step of making them with entirely organic ingredients.