Good Diet Trumps Energy Hot Shots

Ask Joan Endyke what she thinks about the new two-ounce caffeine-dense energy drinks and she’ll give you a short lesson in nutrition. A registered dietitian with a master’s degree in food and nutrition, Joan knows her stuff. In an article for wickedlocal.com, she runs down the list of super-hyped nutrients that hype you up and shows the downside of each one. Referring to the commercials for these “hot shots”, Joan says they imply they are superior to coffee. She then goes on to defend coffee by stating that the drink producers do not give any proof whatsoever that their product - with caffeinated equivalent to one cup of coffee - is worth three times the price of that coffee. She also states “caffeine alone does not provide the beneficial phytonutrients found in whole coffee beans.” One by one she tackles the ingredients in the “hot shots”. Though these particular products don’t contain sugar like the bigger-sized energy drinks, they substitute the less healthy sucralose. Some of the other ingredients are above recommended levels and can be harmful in such large doses, such as “8,333% of the recommended daily amount of B12”. We pointed out exactly just these considerations in our article http://www.roaste.com/CafeRoaste/News/2011/01/31/Gloves-Are-Against-Ener.... For more nutrition tips from a common sense point of view, read the entire article by clicking on Joan’s picture. Whether you read it or not, her parting advice is worth repeating here, as she concludes, “Although 5-hour Energy has not been directly linked to heart problems, it would be wise to eat bananas and broccoli, enjoy your java and stay clear of 5-hour Energy shots.”