Short Answer: Emerge Energy is not bad for you if it’s consumed in moderation.
Emerge is a big hit among energy drink lovers in the UK, ranking as the sixth most popular brand.
Produced by Cott Corporation, it’s usually sold for around 50p per can and features everything from sugarless options to fruit-flavoured varieties to suit almost all taste buds.
Have you ever wondered whether Emerge is actually good or bad for your health?
Well, it’s time we got to the bottom of things…
What Is Emerge Stimulation Drink?
Emerge is a carbonated, mixed-fruit-flavoured energy drink that contains taurine, B Vitamins, caffeine, sugar, and sweeteners.
Emerge stimulation drink first made its debut back in 2004. Since then, quite a few product lines have been introduced, namely Original, Zero, Flavoured and Dual.
What Ingredients Are In Emerge Energy Drink?
Information found on the back of an Emerge 250ml tells us that it contains the following ingredients:
- 53 calories
- 75mg caffeine (Pretty ideal, in my opinion)
- 0g protein
- 0g total fat
- 0g saturated fatty acids
- 11.2g total carbohydrate
- 11.2g total sugar
- 0g protein
- 0.09g salt
In addition, you’ll also find these items in small amounts in Emerge:
- Carbonated water
- Sugar
- Citric acid
- Taurine (0.3%)
- Sodium citrate
- Flavourings
- Ammonia caramel (colouring)
- Riboflavins (colouring)
- Sodium benzoate (preservative)
- Sucralose (sweetener)
- Acesulfame K (sweetener)
- Niacin
- Pantothenic acid
- Vitamin B6
- Vitamin B12
- Inositol
Check here for my analysis of Emerge Energy ingredients.
Emerge Product Range
Emerge Original
Emerge Original was launched as the first product under the Emerge brand. You can purchase it in two sizes: A 250 ml can or a 1L bottle.
Both sugar and artificial sweeteners have been added to the blend and you’ll find 21 calories in every 100ml.
That’s 52.5 calories per 250ml can.
Other ingredients that are included as part of the Emerge Original are taurine, B Vitamins, and 75mg of caffeine.
Emerge Reduced Sugar
Emerge Sugar-Free
Personally, I’m not too excited about the massive amount of sugar and artificial sweeteners you have in a serving of Emerge Original. So it’s great to have Emerge Sugar Free as an alternative option.
This variant has only 10 calories per 250ml serving.
These calories come from the naturally occurring sugar in its ingredients. However, you’ll still find low-calorie sweeteners, aspartame, and acesulfame potassium (also known as Ace-K) making an appearance here to enhance the drink’s overall taste.
Emerge Zero Sugar
As its name suggests, Emerge Zero Sugar has no added sugar.
It’s got only 3 calories in every 100ml (7.5 calories per 250ml can), which is a much better deal than what you saw in the other Emerge variants I mentioned above.
Again, you still have aspartame and Ace-K in Emerge Zero, but being the low-calorie sweeteners that they are, they certainly aren’t going to have an impact on your waist size.
You’ll find Emerge Zero Sugar available in two serving sizes: A 250 ml can or a 1L bottle, so take your pick.
Emerge Flavoured
Emerge Flavoured was released to put more smack into the existing Emerge lineup.
Products in this collection are sold in 250ml cans only.
There’s 12g of sugar in one serving of Emerge Flavoured. Meanwhile, you’ll be getting 53 calories in total.
As you might have expected, aspartame and Ace-K are also part of the mix in Emerge Flavoured too.
Tangy Tropical
Unlike other Emerge drinks, Tangy Tropical has some unfamiliar ingredients on the list. I’m guessing that’s what’s responsible for creating the unique flavour.
The ingredients I’m referring to are acacia gum, glycerol esters of wood and rosins (which also function as product stabilisers), and ascorbic acid (that acts as an anti-oxidant too).
Juicy Berry
Love berries? This one definitely tastes just like it. You’ll find fruit and vegetable concentrates like black carrot and safflower being added to the blend here as well.
Emerge Dual
Take a few calories off from Emerge Original, and you’ll get Emerge Dual.
Manufacturer, Cott Corporation launched three variants for the Dual collection: Emerge Dual, Emerge Mixed Berry Dual, and Emerge Dual Sugar-Free.
Emerge Dual
This drink has 15 calories in every 100ml, that’s six calories less than what you’ll get in Emerge Original per 100ml.
Emerge Dual contains 37.5 calories per 250ml can.
Here, you have just 7.5g of sugar in a 250ml can so you can give this variant a try if you find the calorie count and sugar content in Emerge Original too overwhelming.
Besides your standard 250ml drinking can size, you also have 1L bottles for sale for Emerge Dual.
Emerge Mixed Berry Dual
To keep flavour fatigue at bay, you can opt for this Mixed Berry version of Emerge Dual.
Just as before, you’ll find a much lower sugar and calorie content here: Just 3g of sugar and 15 calories for every 100ml of the beverage that you drink.
With a can being 250ml, that’s 7.5g of sugar and 37.5 calories per can respectively.
Emerge Dual Sugar-Free
The sugar-free version of Emerge Dual gets all its sweetness from non-nutritive sweeteners, aspartame, and Ace-K. That’s what gives it such a low-calorie count of only 10 calories per 250ml can.
How Much Caffeine Is There Inside A Can Of Emerge?
All Emerge energy drinks contain 75mg of caffeine per 250ml can.
Notice that it’s quoted in a percentage format on the can as 0.03% of the total ingredients list, which I think is a little confusing. It’s also listed as “30mg/100ml”.
Why don’t they just print the “75mg per 250ml” can on the label to make it easy for us?
There’s also a warning that the drink has “high caffeine content”.
How Much Caffeine Is Too Much?
According to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the recommended maximum daily caffeine intake for an average healthy adult is 400mg.
Furthermore, you should aim to limit yourself to only 200mg of caffeine at a time.
Exceed that and you may end up in the hot soup.
Okay, maybe not literally, but there are a lot of health risks you may be at risk of, such as:
- Nervousness and restlessness
- Insomnia
- Heart conditions
- Muscle tremors
- Extreme fatigue
- Poor appetite
- Intestinal complications
- High blood pressure
- Dizziness
- Increased thirst and frequent urination
- Death (only in very rare cases)
With regards to the caffeine in Emerge, assuming it was your only caffeine source for the day, you could actually have up to five cans. But it’s likely that you’re already getting caffeine from other foods in your diet.
So it’s better to play it safe and drink much less than that.
Even so, there’s still a chance that you might experience some minor side effects from the caffeine in Emerge. For example, you might have trouble getting to sleep, experience heart palpitations, and so on.
Frankly speaking, you’re actually getting a rather low dose of caffeine from Emerge. In fact, the average espresso shot has more caffeine than what you’ll get from a can of Emerge.
So, I’d say there really isn’t anything to worry about when you drink Emerge as long as you consume it in moderation.
You can quite safely enjoy at least one to two cans of Emerge Energy Drink a day.
| Age | Recommended Daily Amount |
| Kids | 60-80 mg |
| Teenagers | 100 mg |
| 18 and above | 400 mg |
How Much Sugar Is In A Can Of Emerge Energy Drink?
There’s between 8g to 12g of sugar in every 250 ml of Emerge energy drink (it varies depending on which version of Emerge you choose).
Meanwhile, the calorie count per can ranges between 38 to 53 calories.
It irks me to see that there’s not much information given by the manufacturer with regard to the types of sugar used in Emerge. I decided to assume that it was all more or less complex sugars, but it would be better if the nutrition information on the product label could tell us more.
Overall, the sugar content that you’ll find in Emerge is quite alright as far as energy drinks go. Other brands like Red Bull contain double the amount of what you’ll get in a can of Emerge.
In any case, just keep in mind that you might have a sugar crash sometime in your day if you’re drinking any of the sugar-laden versions of Emerge.
According to the National Health Service (NHS), we should only consume up to 30g of free sugars in a day.
The term “free sugars” here includes any sugar that you add to the food you eat as well as those hidden sugars that you get in processed food and drinks. Stuff like honey and syrups are also taken into account here.
Here are some of the health risks that you might encounter if you consume too much sugar over an extended period of time:
- Weight gain
- Heart disease
- Severe acne
- Type 2 diabetes
- Cancer
- Depression
- Skin aging
- Extreme fatigue
- Liver and kidney disease
- Dental cavities
- Gout
- Dementia
Can You Drink More Than One Can Of Emerge In A Day?
You can have more than one can of Emerge Energy Drink in a day if you choose one of the sugar-free versions.
However, I wouldn’t recommend having any more than two cans on any given day.
All Emerge products contain the same 75g of caffeine per can.
So there really isn’t a difference between one Emerge product and another in terms of caffeine. What it comes down to then is whether you’re choosing a regular, sugar-filled version of Emerge or one of the sugar-free versions instead.
You’ll want to cap your consumption at two cans of Emerge if you’re having the regular versions of Emerge that have sugar in them. Otherwise, you might end up exceeding the daily limits for sugar consumption as advised by the NHS.
On the other hand, if you were to go for a sugar-free variant like Emerge’s “Sugar-Free Dual”, you’ll have a smaller chance of running into health issues (though it’s not realistic to completely rule them out either).
What Sweeteners Are Used In Emerge Energy Drink?
Two low-calorie sweeteners, aspartame and acesulfame potassium (also known as Ace-K) are used for all Emerge products.
I say “all” because you’ll find them used in both the regular sugar-filled Emerge drinks as well as in the sugar-free variants.
The trouble is that Cott Corporation doesn’t disclose the actual quantities of these non-nutritive sweeteners that are used so we can’t really accurately gauge the impact it might have on our health.
If you’re well versed in aspartame, you may already know that it’s 200 times sweeter than normal sugar. But at the same time, since it’s not metabolised by our bodies, you won’t end up gaining calories from consuming it.
Many foods and beverage regulatory agencies across the globe including the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have approved Aspartame for use as an artificial sweetener, with over 100 studies supporting its safety.
Ace-K is no stranger when it comes to processed food and drinks nowadays as you’ll find it used widely in many of the products on your supermarket shelves. Similar to aspartame, Ace-K tastes 200 times sweeter than sugar.
There are more than 90 studies that claim it’s safe to use in food. Nevertheless, Ace-K isn’t without its critics. For example, it’s been said that Ace-K may cause cancer or affect the early development of a baby during pregnancy.
There isn’t exactly enough concrete evidence at the moment for us to draw any conclusions on whether these artificial sweeteners are harmful in the long run.
So, in my opinion, the best way around this is to proceed with caution and to only consume drinks like Emerge moderately in order to avoid any health consequences that may result from having too much of these artificial sweeteners.
What’s The Impact Of Having B Vitamins In Emerge?
In general, B Vitamins are good for you, hence they are great ingredients to have as part of your energy drink.
In particular, Emerge has included four types of B vitamins in its blend:
That’s basically half of the vitamin B complex spectrum.
B Vitamins, in general, aid some key functions in your body such as:
- Cell health
- Growth of red blood cells
- Energy levels
- Good eyesight
- Healthy brain function
- Smooth digestion
- Healthy appetite
- Proper nerve function
- Cardiovascular health
- Muscle toning
Do remember, however, that less is more. You shouldn’t have too much vitamin B in one go.
Overdosing on B Vitamins can lead to nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, skin conditions, blurry vision, excessive thirst, and increased urination.
Is It Safe To Drink Emerge Every Day?
Emerge Energy Drink is safe to drink every day if you’re having it in moderation.
This is assuming you’re not pregnant, breastfeeding, and don’t have any pre-existing health issues, of course.
If you’re planning to make Emerge a regular feature in your long term diet, my suggestion is for you to only drink a maximum of two cans a day.
Ideally, you might even want to have some days where you lay off drinking Emerge entirely.
It’s probably not a bad idea to have a day off from drinking energy drinks every now and again to reduce your chances of suffering any health problems from excessive consumption over an extended time period.
What Are The Effects Of Drinking Emerge?
Just like other energy drinks out there, Emerge is only effective when you consume the right amount: Not too much yet not too little.
And what amount is that you might ask?
Well, that really depends on how your body reacts to the ingredients in Emerge. For example, how well you tolerate the caffeine and sugar content. And of course, whether you stayed within the daily recommended limits for both of these ingredients.
Here are some possible side effects that you might experience if you drink too much Emerge:
- Insomnia
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Caffeine addiction
- Weight gain
How Long Will Emerge Energy Drink Stay In Your System?
It really depends, since not everyone has the same caffeine metabolism.
In other words, the rate at which caffeine exits your body isn’t fixed. It depends on the caffeine dosage and other factors like your age, weight, and sensitivity to caffeine.
In general, the effects of the caffeine in Emerge will peak within 30 to 60 minutes after consuming a can.
That’s also about the average time when you’ll start to experience the jitters, which is where you experience anxiety, shortness of breath and even feel a bit shaky as part of the after-effects of consuming caffeine.
If you’re someone with caffeine sensitivity, these side effects may be more severe for you or last for a longer time.
In order to derive a more concrete figure, you will probably need to test things out for yourself. In other words, get your hands on a can of Emerge and note the changes in your body once you drink it.
However, I think other energy drink brands like Monster and Red Bull have caffeine and sugar content that is even more potent than Emerge, so in comparison, Emerge may be the lesser of two evils at times when you really need an energy drink fix badly.
Are Emerge Energy Drinks Bad For Your Health?
Emerge energy drinks aren’t bad for your health in my opinion.
But the key is to make sure you’re always drinking Emerge in moderation.
If you’re drinking any of the versions of Emerge that contain sugar, a single can be enough for a day.
But if you’re going for the sugar-free variants like Emerge Sugar-Free Dual, you might be able to have up to two cans without any issues.
However, as with all other things that may have an impact on your health, please reach out to your doctor for professional advice on any areas of concern regarding your energy drink consumption if you have any doubts.
Where Can I Buy Emerge Energy Drink?
Since Emerge is such a big hit in the UK, most physical stores in your area probably have it in stock where you reside. This includes major supermarkets like Tesco, Poundland, B&M Stores, Sainsbury’s, Home Bargains, and the like.
If you prefer a more convenient way, then you can head online to make your purchase instead.
Good places to start your hunt for Emerge include the virtual stores for all your favourite supermarkets (like the ones I just listed). You can also take a look at Amazon, eBay, or Star Bargain to see if they have any better deals.
Don’t fret though if you don’t live in the UK. There are plenty of other sites on the web where you can order your stash of Emerge without too much hassle such as The British Corner Shop.
On average, you’re going to be paying around 50p per can of Emerge, but prices do vary depending on where you find it.
Alternatives To Emerge Energy Drink
Looking for some alternatives to Emerge? Check out these great brands:
Another great alternative that I’ve grown to love is powdered energy drinks. They’re so convenient and affordable, usually more friendly to your wallet than the ready-to-drink beverages listed above.
If you’re keen to give them a go, here are a few worthy names you might want to try:
REIZE Energy Drink (10 out of 10)
With 50mg of caffeine in each sachet alongside a smart blend of ingredients that includes 1000mg of taurine, ginseng, and B Vitamins, REIZE is a great energy drink choice.
It makes a great complement to your weight-watching regimen too as it only has 11 calories per 4g sachet. And it’s sugar-free too.
Unlike Emerge, you have greater flexibility in the way you enjoy your energy drink as you can mix REIZE powder with any beverage you like.
And that’s not all. You can also adjust the strength of the drink to your liking too. You might even want to mix in an extra sachet on the days you need a stronger energy boost.
Last but not least, you can get REIZE delivered directly to your doorstep for only around 80p per drink. That’s with all delivery costs already accounted for.
Incredible value for money!
Try REIZE today and I think you’ll agree that it’s better than Emerge Energy Drink.