Made in Australia, Red Eye Energy Drinks are for those who prefer their energy drinks to have a crisp, soda-y finish, with its use of carbonated spring water and various plant-based ingredients.
Of course, its texture and flavour only scratch the surface of Red Eye, so if you’re wondering what exactly goes into a bottle of Red Eye Energy, you’ve come to the right place.
For the basics, a 330ml bottle of Red Eye Energy has 149 calories, 106mg of caffeine, and 36.3g of sugar, along with other nutrients and additives such as B-Vitamins and herb extracts.
If you want a more in-depth look, read on to find out about the caffeine and ingredients of Red Eye Energy Drink through a detailed analysis.
Red Eye Energy Drink Nutrition Facts
First off, let’s take a look at Red Eye Energy’s nutritional value, which you can find on the back of the bottle:
| Typical Values | Red Eye Energy Drink (330ml) |
| Energy | 149 calories |
| Protein | <1g |
| Fat (Of which Saturated) | <1g (<1g) |
| Carbohydrates (Of which Sugars) | 37.3g (36.3g) |
| Sodium | <5mg |
| Caffeine | 106mg |
| Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid) | 5mg |
| Vitamin B3 (Niacin) | 20mg |
| Vitamin B6 | 5mg |
| Vitamin B12 | 5µg |
| Taurine | 60mg |
| Inositol | 50mg |
How Many Calories Are In Red Eye Energy Drink?
Each 330ml bottle of Red Eye Energy Drink has 149 calories.
Considering that a 355ml can of Red Bull has 160 calories, Red Eye Energy has a pretty moderate amount of calories for a sugary energy drink.
Given that the average adult needs around 2000 to 2500 calories per day (depending on lifestyle choices and body metabolism), a bottle of Red Eye shouldn’t affect your diet or appetite too badly.
This may not be the finest energy drink if you’re watching your calorie consumption, but it’s still within reason, particularly if you lead an active lifestyle.
Fair warning, though, that while one bottle may have a reasonable amount of calories, having more than one bottle will definitely make those calories pile up, which may lead to you having excessive calories in your diet.
Keep track of how many Red Eyes you drink daily, and if you’re hungry, go for a real meal rather than an energy drink. Not everything that gives you energy is good for you nutritionally.
Red Eye Energy Drink Ingredients
Every Red Eye Energy Drink ingredient, all in one easy-to-read list:
- Carbonated Spring Water
- Sucrose
- Citric Acid
- Natural and Nature Identical Flavours
- Preservatives (211)
- Caffeine
- Taurine
- Inositol
- Niacin (Vitamin B3)
- Guarana Extract
- Ginkgo Biloba
- Ginseng Extract
- Gotu Kola
- Ginger
- Green Tea Extract
- Pantothenic Acid (Vitamin B5)
- Vitamin B6
- Riboflavin (Vitamin B2)
- Vitamin B12
Red Eye Energy Drinks Ingredient Analysis
Now let’s take a look at the more prominent ingredients of Red Eye Energy Drinks and what each of them does.
Citric Acid
Citric Acid is a weak organic acid that you can find in most citrus fruits, such as lemon and orange.
That said, the citric acid found in Red Eye Energy Drink is man-made, unlike those found naturally in the aforementioned fruits.
Apart from adding a sour taste, the main use of citric acid in Red Eye would be as a preservative, helping to keep the drink fresh for a longer period of time. Other than that, there’s really not much else to it.
Taurine
Taurine is an amino acid that’s often found in energy drinks, which supposedly has a multitude of benefits.
Taurine is a pretty common ingredient in various energy drinks and is present in the more popular ones such as Rockstar Energy and Red Bull.
As for the potential benefits of taurine, the list includes:
- promoting healthy metabolism
- improving exercise performance
- protecting the muscles
Despite this, the science doesn’t really prove that there are any immediate benefits of having taurine in your diet, so take the potential benefits with a grain of salt.
Check here for my top recommendations for energy drinks with taurine.
Inositol
Inositol is a vitamin-like substance that is responsible for maintaining the balance of chemicals within your body as well as assisting insulin-functionings, and lowering blood sugar levels.
Some of inositol’s benefits include: improving symptoms of panic disorders and aiding in blood sugar control in people with type 2 diabetes.
While this sounds amazing, the majority of research done on inositol is solely on the ingredient itself, with higher dosages, so the effectiveness of inositol in Red Eye Energy Drink is somewhat questionable.
Given that there’s only 50mg of inositol present in Red Eye, it’s hard to say if you’ll derive any potential benefits from it.
On the bright side, 50mg is well within the upper tolerable intake limit for inositol (12g per day), so you don’t have to worry about suffering from any inositol-related side effects.
Guarana Extract
A plant native to Brazil, guarana contains a wide range of stimulants inclusive of caffeine, theophylline, theobromine, and antioxidants.
Research suggests that guarana not only gives you a quick energy boost but also helps with reducing fatigue, which makes it a great ingredient to have in an energy drink.
That being said, the majority of guarana’s purported benefits are due to its caffeine content, which makes it pretty susceptible to caffeine’s shortcomings too.
Regardless, although the guarana in Red Eye might be a deceptive approach to increase the caffeine content, the amount of caffeine is still rather low, so there shouldn’t be any worries.
Ginkgo Biloba
Ginkgo Biloba is a tree native to East Asia that is known to be one of the oldest, living tree species on the planet.
As for its benefits, ginkgo biloba may help in:
- reducing symptoms of anxiety
- contain powerful antioxidants
- improving circulation and heart health
- improving brain function
- supporting vision and eye health
While this sounds pretty good, keep in mind that we don’t quite know how much Ginkgo Biloba is present in Red Eye, so a healthy pinch of salt is probably in order with regard to any potential benefits that it might have in Red Eye Energy.
Ginseng Extract
Ginseng is a natural herb that’s used in food and remedies. It’s also a prominent ingredient in most energy drinks, most notably used by Rockstar and REIZE.
Ginseng has a bunch of potential benefits such as:
- increasing energy
- sharpening cognitive function
- anti-inflammatory effects
- reducing blood sugar
If you would like more information on ginseng and what it does, I’ve written an article detailing everything you need to know about ginseng here.
Gotu Kola
Gotu Kola, or the Centella Asiatica plant, is a herb often used in traditional Chinese medicine that contains certain chemicals that seem to decrease inflammation and reduces blood pressure in veins.
As with most ingredients, we don’t exactly know how much of it is present in Red Eye, but it should be relatively low enough that it won’t cause any serious side effects.
Ginger
Ginger is a notable spice and flavouring ingredient that’s used in various cultures as remedies.
Apart from the flavouring, ginger is most prominently used for treating upset stomachs and nausea, but apart from that, there’s not really much else to ginger.
Green Tea Extract
Green tea is a tea that’s derived from the Camellia sinensis plant, which has a unique taste and green colouration. Its popularity has made it a common flavour in confectionaries, desserts, and beverages.
Green tea’s benefits are mostly derived from the polyphenols, which include, but are not limited to:
- reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease
- reducing the risk of certain forms of cancer
- reducing the risk of developing high blood pressure
- promoting oral health
- reducing cholesterol levels
As with guarana, green tea also contains 2 to 4% caffeine, which makes it a helpful ingredient in preventing fatigue.
Grapeseed
Grape seed extracts are known to be beneficial for several cardiovascular conditions such as improving overall circulation, and issues pertaining to high cholesterol.
They also contain antioxidants, which protect the cells and prevent a multitude of diseases.
That said, we don’t quite know how much grape seed extract is in Red Eye Energy Drink, so while the extract may be helpful, it’s unclear to what extent it may add antioxidants to your system.
B-Vitamins
B-Vitamins are found in just about every energy drink, and Red Eye Energy Drinks are no exception.
Oddly enough, while Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) is stated to be present in Red Eye Energy Drink, the nutritional label doesn’t specify exactly how much of it is present.
In any case, here are the B-Vitamins present in Red Eye Energy Drinks. For a more in-depth look at B vitamins, click on the link here.
| Purpose | Amount per 335ml of Red Eye | Tolerable Upper Intake Level | |
| Vitamin B2 | convert food to energy | N/A | – |
| Vitamin B3 (Niacin) | boosts brain function | 5mg | 35mg |
| Vitamin B5 | breaks down fats and carbohydrates to produce energy | 5mg | |
| Vitamin B6 | heighten mental energy and focus | 5mg | 100mg |
| Vitamin B12 | boosts energy levels | 5µg | – |
How Much Caffeine Is In A Red Eye?
There’s 106mg of caffeine per 355ml of Red Eye Energy Drink, which is a fairly low amount for an energy drink that size.
If you’re drinking an energy drink, the caffeine content is probably the most important thing, as it’s the main ingredient that helps keep you awake, as well as improve cognitive function and exercise performance.
Considering that the caffeine content in energy drinks can range between 50 to 300mg per serving, Red Eye seems to slide into the sweet spot of just having a caffeine content below the 160mg average.
Personally, I prefer my energy drinks to have between 50 to 100mg of caffeine per serving, which is just the right amount to give me a boost, but not too much that I might get a headache afterwards.
As such, a bottle of Red Eye is not that much higher than what I would usually go for, but depending on your caffeine sensitivity and caffeine metabolism, you might need a little bit more to feel the effects.
As a reminder, the most important thing when it comes to caffeine and energy drinks is not how much caffeine is present, but more about how much caffeine you can tolerate.
As a general warning, the American FDA approves a caffeine intake limit of no more than 400mg per day. Any more than that might lead to side effects such as:
- insomnia
- restlessness
- headaches
- stomachaches
- dizziness
- dehydration
- anxiety
In any case, so long as you’re not having 4 bottles of Red Eye a day, you should be pretty safe from experiencing any caffeine-related side effects.
How Much Sugar Is In A Red Eye?
There’s 36.3g of sugar in each 330ml bottle of Red Eye Energy.
For reference, 36.3g of sugar is roughly equivalent to 2.5 tablespoons, which is quite a lot of sugar.
When considering how much sugar you should have a day, you should know that the American Heart Association (AHA) recommends a maximum daily added sugar intake of 25g for women and 36g for men.
Knowing this, a bottle of Red Eye, while mostly within the limit, is still a bit more than what you should be having in a single day.
Now that’s not to say you can’t have sugar every now as a treat in small servings, but having too much sugar consistently is a definite problem.
Some of the issues of having a high-sugar diet include:
- Weight Gain
- Type II Diabetes
- Increased risk of heart disease
- Acne
- Increased risk of depression
You also run the risk of suffering from a sugar crash with sugary energy drinks due to the spike and fall in blood sugar after you’ve had one.
As with most things in life, it’s best to moderate your energy drink consumption within reasonable levels, so try to cut down on the sugar, especially if you have a fondness for sugary energy drinks.
If you would like some energy drinks where you don’t have to worry about the sugar content, check out the article I’ve written on the best zero-calorie energy drinks for some great alternatives.
Is Red Eye Energy Drink Bad For You?
As long as you’re healthy and know how to moderate your consumption, having a Red Eye Energy Drink every now and then should be perfectly fine.
A majority of the potential side effects you might have from Red Eye boils down to whether or not you’re able to tolerate its caffeine content.
Considering that there’s only 106mg of caffeine present in a 335ml bottle of Red Eye, it’s less likely that Red Eye might cause side effects from too much caffeine unless you’re sensitive to caffeine.
That being said, Red Eye does have a significant amount of sugar in it, so be sure you’re not having too many per day if you would like to stay on the healthier side of life.
Red Eye Energy Drink Flavours
Red Eye only has a small selection of flavours, and here are some of them below:
- Classic
- Extreme
- Gold
- Platinum
- Passion
- Power
Red Eye Energy Drink Alternatives
Looking for energy drinks with a similar sugar and caffeine amount as Red Eye Energy? Here are some other great options that might pique your interest:
There’s also energy drink powders, which give you everything you need in an energy drink, but in a more portable, affordable and convenient package:
- Advocare Spark
- Zipfizz
- GFuel
- REIZE (my fav)
REIZE (10 out of 10)
While Red Eye may be a pretty good energy drink, how about a sugar-free, low calorie powdered energy drink that might be even better?
REIZE is a great powdered energy drink that comes in lightweight 4g sachets. With a sensible 50mg of caffeine, REIZE is completely sugar-free and has only 11 calories per serve.
REIZE also contains a smart blend of taurine, ginseng, and B-group vitamins. It’s the perfect energy drink mix, giving you the right amount of focus and energy without the sugar crash afterward.
The best part?
You can get REIZE delivered straight to your door for only about $1 per drink.
That’s incredible value for money.
Try REIZE today and I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s a smarter option than Red Eye.