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Does anything boost your energy?

jenpohl

New Blood
J
Joined
Oct 2, 2008
Messages
11
Okay, I guess it's a given that caffeine and other stimulants will wake you up, but the claims that energy drinks actually "boost your energy" always sounded like BS to me. What does "boost your energy" even mean?
I know they've done studies that showed that kids don't get hyper when they eat sugar; is there any evidence that anyone gets more energetic when they eat sugar? How about a sugar crash? I've never experienced anything like that.
What about all those other things that people say give you energy? Taurine? Creatine? Ephedrine (when mixed in a drink)?
 
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Well, it's certainly true that food as such provides the body with energy.

So I think the idea that certain foods work faster/better than others doesn't seem very far fetched.

The "sugar flash" is about more than energy, though. It is about restlessness and hyper activity - so sugar might still provide lots of energy regardless.
 
What bugs me is when, on a children's show, they try to get the kids to eat healthy food by telling them that a healthy snack (like a banana) will give them more energy throughout the day than an unhealthy snack (like a big piece of chocolate cake.) I'm not trying to imply that it's good to eat cake so that you can play all day, but there's a heck of a lot more calories in a piece of cake than a banana...
 
Rasmus said:
Well, it's certainly true that food as such provides the body with energy.

So I think the idea that certain foods work faster/better than others doesn't seem very far fetched.
The "sugar flash" is about more than energy, though. It is about restlessness and hyper activity - so sugar might still provide lots of energy regardless.
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Not far-fetched at all: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_load
 
jasonpatterson said:
What bugs me is when, on a children's show, they try to get the kids to eat healthy food by telling them that a healthy snack (like a banana) will give them more energy throughout the day than an unhealthy snack (like a big piece of chocolate cake.) I'm not trying to imply that it's good to eat cake so that you can play all day, but there's a heck of a lot more calories in a piece of cake than a banana...
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I wouldn't say that caloric intake is the same as resulting energy. Some foods tend to make a person more energetic than others, without any direct correlation to the amount of calories they contain. The effect is due to how well the foods maintain your health, allowing the metabolism to increase and burn calories at a higher rate. That is one reason why a 2000 calorie diet of just cake will make you fatter than a 2000 calorie diet of balanced vitamins, nutrients, and fiber.
 
Yeah, of course food gives you energy, as far as chemical bonds that your body can use to power its functions. But the way I usually hear it, people are saying sugar, or caffeine, or certain foods can make you more energetic. Is there any truth to that?
 
I know what you mean, jenpohl.
I've seen dancers gulp down chocolate while awaiting in the wings for their stage entrance.
I'm told cyclists tend to eat enormous amounts of pasta when they're in competitions.
I know I 'feel' better with a high protein diet.
The truth will be in studies, rather than anecdotes, of course.
What do the studies say?
 
Rather depends on what you're doing. Professional road-racing cyclists, competing in a stage race like the TDF, will burn some 2000 calories per HOUR... Someone commuting to work on his bike at a more leisurely pace hardly a fraction of that.

The term "energy" in this regard is left rather vague...Do they mean actual fuel for muscular activity? A feeling of well-being? Manic behavior?
 
Bikewer said:
Rather depends on what you're doing. Professional road-racing cyclists, competing in a stage race like the TDF, will burn some 2000 calories per HOUR... Someone commuting to work on his bike at a more leisurely pace hardly a fraction of that.

The term "energy" in this regard is left rather vague...Do they mean actual fuel for muscular activity? A feeling of well-being? Manic behavior?
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Not to mention: alertness, reaction time, endurance, basal metabolism, cardio-pulmonary performance, neurotransmitter release/re-uptake etc. "Energy" is way too vague to answer the question unless you're talking strictly about food calories.
 
When it comes to energy drinks, isn't the calorie content typically pretty huge? In the simplest terms of "energy", there's a lot in there. But of just as much importance is glycemic index (as referenced by Prometheus above), rate of absorption, what other nutrients (or other elements) are present, etc.

Energy drinks offer a massive amount of energy that is absorbed very rapidly, and nothing else of much benefit. If you ingest one, you'd better plan on using all that energy fast, otherwise it's only going to be detrimental. I think a lot of people misunderstand the effectiveness of these drinks, and consider them some sort of antidote to "feeling tired".
 
Bikewer said:
Rather depends on what you're doing. Professional road-racing cyclists, competing in a stage race like the TDF, will burn some 2000 calories per HOUR... Someone commuting to work on his bike at a more leisurely pace hardly a fraction of that.

The term "energy" in this regard is left rather vague...Do they mean actual fuel for muscular activity? A feeling of well-being? Manic behavior?
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2,000 calories per hour.
It's hard for me to even imagine what that woud be like.
 
Careyp74 said:
I wouldn't say that caloric intake is the same as resulting energy.
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As far as perception goes, I agree, but then what is energy if not the usable energy in the food you take in?

Careyp74 said:
That is one reason why a 2000 calorie diet of just cake will make you fatter than a 2000 calorie diet of balanced vitamins, nutrients, and fiber.
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Are you suggesting that if a person ate 2000 calories of a balanced diet and burned those 2000 calories he would be thinner than a person who ate 2000 calories of crap and burned those 2000 calories? That's against the law.
 
jenpohl said:
Okay, I guess it's a given that caffeine and other stimulants will wake you up, but the claims that energy drinks actually "boost your energy" always sounded like BS to me. What does "boost your energy" even mean?
I know they've done studies that showed that kids don't get hyper when they eat sugar; is there any evidence that anyone gets more energetic when they eat sugar? How about a sugar crash? I've never experienced anything like that.
What about all those other things that people say give you energy? Taurine? Creatine? Ephedrine (when mixed in a drink)?
Click to expand...
Energy drinks want to be stimulants, to raise heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, ect. Caffiene works to some extent, but is nowhere near as good as ephidrine, which was of course outlawed a few years ago. The best thing on the market right now is a drink called Red Line, not found in most stores, I think you are supposed to be 18 to buy it. The effects are a lot different then a large dose of caffiene, which has a lot of side effects. Not sure what is in it exactly, a mixture of stuff . You have to be careful with it though, if you drink a whole one before a workout and are not used to it, you can end up puking.
 
Snixtor said:
When it comes to energy drinks, isn't the calorie content typically pretty huge?
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That "5-Hour" energy drink says it only contains 4 calories, and appears to be mostly vitamins and caffeine. I can't see how that's going to "boost" anyone's energy, but lots of people seem to drink it.
 
bokonon said:
That "5-Hour" energy drink says it only contains 4 calories, and appears to be mostly vitamins and caffeine. I can't see how that's going to "boost" anyone's energy, but lots of people seem to drink it.
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You can't see how drinking something with caffeine is going to boost someone's "energy"?
 
SkeptiChick said:
You can't see how drinking something with caffeine is going to boost someone's "energy"?
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It's not the Caffeine in the drink that's the main incredient. Phenylalanine, Taurine, Glucuronolactone, Malic Acid, Tyrosine, and Citicoline are also present to supposedly boost alertness. The Caffeine is the quickest-acting of the list, and I'm suspect of the Taurine and Phenylalanine as being huge contributors to "energy" per se, but it seems the drink relies on a huge B-vitamin mix and the aforementioned ingredients to promote alertness and awake-ness.

Does it work? Well, it does on me (with qualifications). I grabbed one a couple months ago, skeptical of the stuff but beginning an all-nighter on some stuff at work, so I picked one up as a test. There's no real "energy" boost if what you're looking for is the caffeine burst or jitters, but it certainly helped keep off the 3AM sag from tired-ness being up all night. In fact, if I had to gauge its effects for a time frame of effectiveness, I'd say I was pretty good to go for about six or seven hours into the all-nighter before I started feeling the normal fatigue from being up way too long without sleep. The 5-Hour shot isn't going to give someone any boost above their normal operating condition, but if taken prior to or during a period where fatigue is setting in, the drink helps keep the fuzzy edges from closing in and hampering your alertness-- to a degree. It's not some kind of magical potion, and I'd strongly urge someone to follow the company's suggestion of taking a half-bottle first and saving the rest for later if needed, but I can speak to its efficacy with my own experience. Definitely worth the $3 for the night.

Just bear in mind that while their "energy" name and advertising is all well and good, what you get from it isn't "energy" as much as it is "sustained alertness" and possibly (for some) a bit of flushed skin due to a high dose of Niacin in the drink. It's not a substitute for real energy-producing fuel for the body-- meaning food, particularly the healthy kind. For those who might be experiencing a case of the "blahs" some morning or who feel like they didn't quite get enough sleep the previous evening, it'll help you out (some) in that you'll feel less "blah" and able to operate at your normal level of alertness. It doesn't give you anything that your body isn't already capable of or doesn't already have, so expecting a rush of energy is going to lead to disappointment with this stuff. It works, but not like you'd expect from its advertisements, though I'm sure they have a marketing department who'd love to correct me for my saying so. Use at your own risk, and be sure to read the print on the bottle (even the small stuff) before giving it a glug.

Note: this stuff has a huge shot of B-vitamins, including more than %8,000 higher than the daily recommended value of B-12 in just one shot. It's not something I'd recommend as a regular supplement for a normal, healthy adult (and not at all for children), because it's not meant for that purpose. People who are older or who have B-12 or B-6 deficiencies (not typical or likely if your reaction is "I don't know") might benefit from it, but there are far more reasonable medical avenues to address such things.
 
jasonpatterson said:
Are you suggesting that if a person ate 2000 calories of a balanced diet and burned those 2000 calories he would be thinner than a person who ate 2000 calories of crap and burned those 2000 calories? That's against the law.
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No. You're assuming that all calories are equally accessible (which we know isn't true, hence the development of the glycemic index).

If I eat 2000 calories of low GI foods, I'll end up burning off a non-trivial fraction of the calories in processing the food to extract the calories from it, even if I'm doing identical work to the person who ate 2000 calories of high GI foods. So even though we do the exact same things and therefore expend the exact same amount of external work, I actually burn more calories and stay thinner.
 
drkitten said:
No. You're assuming that all calories are equally accessible (which we know isn't true, hence the development of the glycemic index).

If I eat 2000 calories of low GI foods, I'll end up burning off a non-trivial fraction of the calories in processing the food to extract the calories from it, even if I'm doing identical work to the person who ate 2000 calories of high GI foods. So even though we do the exact same things and therefore expend the exact same amount of external work, I actually burn more calories and stay thinner.
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Also, over an extended time a diet of just cake is likely to result in some muscle loss and a reduced basal metabolism, I think, compared to a healthy diet.
 
GreNME said:
Does it work? Well, it does on me (with qualifications). I grabbed one a couple months ago, skeptical of the stuff but beginning an all-nighter on some stuff at work, so I picked one up as a test. There's no real "energy" boost if what you're looking for is the caffeine burst or jitters, but it certainly helped keep off the 3AM sag from tired-ness being up all night. In fact, if I had to gauge its effects for a time frame of effectiveness, I'd say I was pretty good to go for about six or seven hours into the all-nighter before I started feeling the normal fatigue from being up way too long without sleep.
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I think we need a double-blinded, controlled trial.
 
bokonon said:
That "5-Hour" energy drink says it only contains 4 calories, and appears to be mostly vitamins and caffeine. I can't see how that's going to "boost" anyone's energy, but lots of people seem to drink it.
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I'd not heard of these. I was always just under the impression that they were all calorie-loaded drinks with excessive levels of caffeine (or similar). Indeed, if there's only 4 calories it's going to do almost nothing to your actual "energy" level, just affect the way your body functions and uses its existing energy.

SkeptiChick said:
You can't see how drinking something with caffeine is going to boost someone's "energy"?
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Does caffeine have any caloric content? ie. does it have any "energy"?

bokonon said:
Caffeine doesn't really boost energy, it just keeps you awake so you can burn more of the energy you already have.
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This was equal to my understanding. Not an increase of energy at all, but a modification of your bodily function, changing the way you use that energy.
 
jenpohl said:
I think we need a double-blinded, controlled trial.
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I'm not opposed to it. Do we also control for different states, say fatigued versus well-rested? I qualified my statements because 1) they're anecdotal and 2) "energy" isn't exactly what you're getting with the drink.
 
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