Red Bull Unmasked: The Side-Effects You Should Know

Summary: Overconsumption of Red Bull causes headaches, nausea, and diarrhea. Also, it can potentially cause diabetes and cardiovascular disease when consumed in large amounts.

It’s no surprise if Red Bull is your go-to energy drink with its claims to give you energy and improve cognitive and physical abilities.

Red Bull has minimal caffeine, so it won’t cause a crash or negative side effects if you drink it moderately. It has energy-boosting properties from its caffeine and calories, and it’s safe to drink up to 1 can of Red Bull per day.

Allow me to discuss the side effects of Red Bull below. Keep reading!

Do Energy Drinks Cause Health Problems?

Excessive energy drink consumption can lead to short-term and long-term complications due to caffeine and sugar.

These health effects include but are not limited to, caffeine overdose, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, dehydration, and heart palpitations.

Unfortunately, there haven’t been enough studies to provide any conclusive evidence on whether the ingredients of energy drinks cause any minor or major health issues.

Still, it’s worth noting that due to the high levels of sugar in energy drinks, they may also have an adverse effect on the body’s metabolism and cause issues with cholesterol, blood sugar, and weight over time.

How Does Caffeine Affect You?

According to the FDA, the caffeine limit of an adult is 400mg, so as long as you stay below the limit you should be fine.

Excessive caffeine intake can lead to negative side effects, such as:

• Jitteriness
• Insomnia
• Anxiety
• Fatigue
• High blood pressure

That said, how you react to caffeine largely depends on your metabolism, which determines your caffeine tolerance. With a high tolerance for caffeine, you’d have no trouble drinking it in high amounts.

However, if you have a low tolerance, you’ll most likely feel the full effects of caffeine even without drinking the full dosage.

What Are The Side Effects of Energy Drinks?

There have been numerous studies on the effects of the ingredients of energy drinks, and I’ve listed some of the more prominent side effects below:

If you’re wondering if Red Bull is Bad for you, you can check this article I’ve written previously.

Caffeine Overdose

Caffeine is incredibly prevalent in daily beverages; coffee, tea, and energy drinks.

Here are some symptoms of a caffeine overdose:

• Hypertension
• Hypotension
• Agitation
• Abnormal Pulse Rate
• Abdominal Pain
• Vomiting

Type-2 Diabetes

Energy drinks usually have high sugar content. This may be detrimental to your health if you drink energy drinks in excess.

There is an increase of 14% whenever an adult consumes at least 1 or 2 sweetened beverages every day, and this is the case for Red Bull as well as it contains quite a fair bit of sugar.

Cavities

Sugar can affect the tooth enamel, the outer coating of the tooth that’s usually hard and sturdy, which makes the teeth vulnerable to decay, causing cavities.

Energy drinks, including Red Bull, are acidic beverages, and these acids coupled with the sugar can cause significant and irreversible damage to the tooth enamel.

Frequent and excessive intake of energy drinks may cause tooth damage. So always drink in moderation and don’t forget to brush your teeth.

Affects Kidney Health

A study showed that there’s a correlation between high sugar consumption and an increased likelihood of chronic kidney disease (CKD) as sugar can increase your blood pressure and heart rate.

Looking at the amount of sugar in Red Bull, the risk of it affecting your kidney health is prevalent if you don’t moderate your consumption.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOpfFBE94Mk

What Are The Benefits Of Red Bull?

Red Bull contains Taurine, B-Vitamins, and Inositol. These have various effects and benefits to the body when ingested or consumed.

Taurine

Taurine is an amino acid that’s naturally produced in your body. It is also an antioxidant that aids the body in moving minerals around.

While there are infamous rumors regarding the source of taurine, the taurine in Red Bull is not source from bull’s semen.

Vitamin B-Complex

There are four B-Vitamins inside Red Bull:

• Niacin (B3)
• D-Pantothenol (B5)
• Pyridoxine HCL (B6)
• Cobalamin (B12)

The four B-Vitamins found in Red Bull are water-soluble, which is a type of vitamin that’s not stored for long, where whatever that’s not used by the body would get disposed of.

These vitamins are beneficial for you as they can contribute to your overall metabolism, improve your mood, and help form red blood cells that carry oxygen throughout the body.

If you’re interested in finding out more about vitamins, you can check out this article written by Harvard.

Inositol

It is a sugar, more precisely known as Myo-inositol. This sugar is commonly found inside the body and in certain types of foods.

Inositol is a definite mood-booster to the brain. It aids the brain in utilizing the serotonin within the body. Moreover, it helps provide structure to the cells and helps the chemical messengers inside the brain.

Is Red Bull Safe To Drink Everyday?

As long as you drink one can of Red Bull, you are pretty much safe. However, I wouldn’t advise you to drink any more than that due to the caffeine and sugar content of Red Bull.

Remember, always assess your caffeine tolerance, as a small can of Red Bull contains 77.4mg, which may be just the right amount for you, but not for others.

To be safe, a can a day, is a safe volume of consumption for an average adult.

What Happens If You Drink Red Bull Everyday?

While there are no known short-term complications linked to drinking Red Bull every day, there are, however, a few linked long-term issues that may arise in continuous consumption of Red Bull.

Here’s a list of potential complications of daily consumption:

• Addiction
• Insomnia
• Nervousness
• Anxiety
• Headaches
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Heart palpitations
• Hormonal Imbalances
• Obesity
• Cavities

Does Red Bull Affect Your Brain?

Drinking an energy drink does not entail any form of brain damage whatsoever.

However, continuous consumption of a high amount of caffeine may alter your brain function, such as modifying how your brain detects adenosine levels, the chemical that makes you calm or drowsy.

What Does Red Bull Do To Your Stomach?

Drinking too much Red Bull can lead to acid reflux, which can cause heartburn, cramps, and in some cases, nausea.

Whenever you drink a beverage that has caffeine in it, your body produces excess acid to compensate. This can lead to high acidity levels in your stomach.

Inflammation of the gut may happen, which can lead to discomfort and pain. In more severe cases, gastroenteritis, the swelling of the intestinal lining.

Is Red Bull Bad For Your Liver?

There are no known direct causes of liver damage due to Red Bull consumption.

The only known ingredient that may cause any complications with the liver is niacin (B3). Overdosing in niacin may be responsible for developing hepatitis.

Excessive drinking of energy drinks may also cause acute liver toxicity due to the different ingredients: caffeine, B vitamins, and taurine.

Alternatives To Red Bull

There are a lot of options in the market right now. So if Red Bull may not be your thing, you can definitely check out these other brands.

• Monster
• Rockstar
• Bang
• Venom
• C4 Energy Drink

REIZE Energy Drink

Another favorite energy drink of mine is REIZE Energy Drink.

It comes in a small packet, that is pretty dandy, allowing you to take it anywhere.

Besides that, it’s sugar-free and only has 50mg of caffeine, which I find to be just the right amount of caffeine to give me the boost.

Plus, you can get REIZE shipped to your door for only about $1 per drink. That’s a good value for money!

Give REIZE a try, and you might find that it’s the best energy drink for keeping you energized and alert for the day.

Other Articles:

• Does Red Bull Really Give You Energy?
• Red Bull Energy Drink Nutrition Facts
• Red Bull Energy Drink Review
• Healthiest energy drinks (list)

Have other questions about Red Bull?

I’ve put together this epic Red Bull resource directory where you’ll find everything you could ever want to know about Red Bull.