In 2019, a viral Internet meme raised awareness of the debate around energy drinks and drug tests. The validity of the meme itself has now been refuted by Snopes. What they haven’t done, though, is been open about the actual science.
Energy drinks do not make you fail a drug test; they only include caffeine and do not contain any illicit ingredients that could hurt you the way addictive drugs can. Thus, caffeine is not tested for in drug tests.
Read on to learn a little bit more about it!
What Are Drug Tests?
Drug tests are administered for a variety of reasons, including pre-employment, work-related incident testing, collegiate or professional athletics, substance abuse treatment, and a number of other medical reasons.
Because different drugs are metabolized (broken down) by your body at varying rates, it can be difficult to predict when you will be able to test positive for a particular drug. The most frequent test for identifying drugs is urine drug testing (UDT).
The diagnosis, management, and monitoring of alcohol use disorder and substance use disorder are other frequent uses of drug testing.
Drug testing as a monitoring tool can assist in determining treatment adherence, tracking abstinence, and spotting early relapse.
Other uses are:
- Legal testing
- Athletic testing
- Medical testing
Ingredients In An Energy Drink
Caffeine, taurine, glucuronolactone, B vitamins, guarana, ginseng, ginkgo Biloba, l-carnitine, carbohydrates, antioxidants, and trace minerals are the key components of energy/power drinks.
Let’s examine how they work in our bodies and whether they can make you fail a drug test or not.
Taurine
A naturally occurring amino acid with sulfur is taurine. Your heart, muscles, eyes, brain, and eyes are particularly concentrated with it.
Taurine is not utilized by your body to create proteins, despite the fact that amino acids are frequently referred to as the building blocks of proteins. Instead, it is regarded as a conditionally essential amino acid, meaning that only under conditions of stress and sickness does it become essential.
Taurine increases CYP3A4 enzymes, which is undesirable if your blood contains drug metabolites. The good news is that while enzyme induction takes several days, it won’t have an impact on the same day.
Sugar
Although the absence of sugar is excellent for your health, you generally won’t experience the same sugary “rush” that you do from other energy drinks.
Always strive to limit the amount of sugar you consume overall. For reference, the AHA advises against consuming more than 25g of sugar per day for women and 36g per day for men.
Sugars like sucrose and glucose increase insulin levels and prevent the breakdown of body fat. Therefore, it will be beneficial if you smoke marijuana because less THC will be released into the blood from the fat cells.
Possible side effects of excessive sugar consumption are:
- Obesity
- Diabetes
- Cancer
- Heart Problem
- Skin Issues
- Weight Gain
B-Vitamins
The B vitamin family is made up of eight necessary components. In the human body, they frequently cooperate. Despite this, they have distinctive functions and take on various parts in various biological systems and organs.
B vitamins will help you pass a drug test instead of making you fail it. Two of the eight B vitamins can aid in this procedure. The letters are B2 and B12.
The approach of diluting these vitamins is one surefire way to use them. The technique mostly entails drinking a lot of water prior to the pee test.
Water is excreted as a result, and the amount of drug metabolites in the urine is also decreased.
The color of typical urine is yellow. It becomes pale due to the dilution, but taking B vitamins before the test will make it look normal again. It will work if 200mg of either B2 or B12 is taken an hour before the test.
This, however, is insufficient because laboratories examine urine samples for more than just the right color, including pH, creatinine, specific gravity, and other factors.
As was previously mentioned, dilution also affects these characteristics, so taking B vitamins alone is insufficient to pass a sample adulteration test.
Is Caffeine Considered A Drug?
Although it’s not the kind of drug you’re picturing, caffeine is nevertheless regarded as a drug.
It is not an illicit substance; rather, it is a legal stimulant. Because it may have the ability to change how your brain functions, it is a central nervous system stimulant and may have specific effects on your brain.
Caffeine affects your brain in the same way that it alters your mood and increases your mental activity because it is a psychoactive medication.
The FDA has stated that for healthy persons, 400mg per day—roughly four or five cups of coffee—is a level that is not typically linked to harmful, adverse effects.
Negative effects include:
- Anxiety
- Insomnia
- Nausea
- Rapid Heart Rate
- Liver Problems
- Kidney Stones
- Dehydration
- Skin Issues
Can Caffeine Make You Fail A Drug Test?
Not at all. Due to caffeine’s diuretic properties, you will be able to urinate more frequently and clear your bladder of any leftover drug metabolites.
Caffeine is not an illegal drug that could hurt you like some opioids, cannabis, or antidepressants, thus it is unlikely that it would fail a drug test.
Some products include a negligible quantity of ethanol, which won’t make you intoxicated but may nonetheless raise questions.
For instance, the glycerol ester of wood rosin found in Rockstar Juiced Energy Drink could cause a false positive in some tests.
There aren’t nearly as many false positives today as there were in the 1970s because of advancements in modern testing.
These tests also simultaneously search for a variety of substances, which was not conceivable 40 or 50 years ago. Therefore, it is unlikely that caffeine will trigger a false positive on most standardized tests.
How To Prevent Failing A Drug Test?
Increase your fluid intake and urine output to dilute the drug concentration in the sample below the threshold of detection, which is the usual technique for passing urine tests.
You should fill your bladder with as much liquid as you can an hour or two prior to the test.
Obtaining a sample of urine from a third party is another way to lie. Some people utilize liquid urine, synthetic urine, or pee that belongs to someone else, according to OHS Health and Safety Services Inc. Some individuals utilize animal urine to just pass the test.
Chemically contaminated urine samples are referred to as “adulterated specimens“.
To conceal the presence of narcotics in their urine, some persons try to provide a sample that has other substances. Salt, soap, bleach, peroxide, and eye drops are a few examples of well-known chemicals.
Some people try to cheat by using techniques that might help their bodies detoxify from drug use.
The most popular treatments include eating meals high in fiber, and consuming herbs like:
- Red Clover
- Burdock
- Herbal Tea
Do Energy Drinks Make You Fail A Drug Test?
Energy drinks cannot possibly result in a false-positive drug test. Actually, if you still have traces of drugs in your system, energy drinks can help you pass the test.
Energy drinks with components like taurine, caffeine, and sugar assist excrete the substance in the urine, including Red Bull, Monster, Rockstar, Eastroc Super Drink, Hi-Tiger, Lucozade, NOS, and Burn.
Although it is to note that having drug traces in your body will not save you from failing a drug test, no matter how many energy drinks you consume but make you more prone to fail.
In general, drinking energy drinks in moderation—two or three times per week, or one can per day—is recommended. Although caffeine may not cause you to fail a drug test, it may subject you to higher health risks.
Famous Energy Drinks For Hangovers
3D
A balanced amount of multivitamins, including inositol, B vitamins, and guarana seed extract, a natural source of caffeine, are included in a 3D Energy drink.
Furthermore, there are only 15 calories in each 16 fl. oz. So 3D Energy is a great choice if you want to rehydrate without adding more sugar.
5 Hour Energy
Although the 5-Hour Energy shot contains a high amount of caffeine (200mg), it will surely boost your mood and refill you, especially if you’re feeling tired from a hangover. Additionally, it contains taurine and B vitamins, which boost the revitalization potency.
Red Bull
Another great option for easing hangover symptoms is Red Bull. Like any other energy drink, it has taurine and B vitamins.
Additionally, it has a modest amount of caffeine. Even though Red Bull only has 80mg of caffeine, it performs wonders.
REIZE
REIZE is a powdered energy drink that contains only 11 calories per serving and contains a reasonable 50mg of caffeine per 4g sachet.
It also contains a variety of other beneficial ingredients, including taurine, ginseng, and B-group vitamins, which work together to provide an energy boost without a crash.
Conclusion
- A drug test is a procedure used to find out if a person is using substances that are prohibited or could be dangerous to them.
- Any energy beverage that contains caffeine or other stimulants won’t make you fail a drug test, but help you in passing it.
- People mistakenly assume that consuming energy drinks like Red Bull and Bang can make you test positive for drugs.
- Energy drinks contain taurine, citric acid, caffeine, and sugar which help in maintaining the body’s fluid level and increasing urine output, which can be beneficial for passing a drug test.
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