Wow, it has been almost six years since I first began this journey back to health and wellness. If you are familiar with my story (my book) you may know about how I contracted cancer and was dealing with alcoholism and the destruction of pretty much everything in my life as it all came crashing down at once. Or maybe more accurately the final culmination of health and wellness problems I’d been having for some time. But things got better once I finally began to uncover the reasons for my decline in health, and as I got well I began to have more energy and began to socialize again, even to go out dancing which I hadn’t done in several years. Because I didn’t drink at the time, I wanted to feel more energetic when I went out, so began drinking some energy drinks before going out, and it gave me a fun, increased sense of excitement and I felt more youthful and healthy than I had in many years.

But the energy drink market has gone totally bonkers, and there are some ingredients in some products which are very, very dangerous, which are used by manufacturers because they are based on misunderstandings of biological pathways and promote ideological rather than biological conceptions of health. Lately, I have been noticing the health of some young streamers start to tank, whom also chug energy drinks as if it’s water (which is why I’m writing this), and more people need to be aware that some of these products are not only NOT healthy, they can actively destroy our health.

Although there are several potentially toxic ingredients in many of these products, one of the most concerning is the amino acid L-Carnitine, which is used supplementally in many applications to supposedly increase energy and fat burning, since most people believe that burning fat is a good thing no matter how it is accomplished. In my book I discuss the use of many amino acids, such as Taurine (which is also commonly found in energy drinks), to support health and metabolic wellness. But there is a misunderstanding generally about the use of such supplements, such as that all of them are useful, or at least not potentially harmful. But amino acids never occur in isolation in nature, and using them in isolated forms can actually be very dangerous depending on which ones are being used because amino acids always have effects on our physiology, because amino acids are actually the regulators of how our body operates. For instance, the amino acid L-tyrosine is the precursor to dopamine, which means having plenty of L-tyrosine in the diet can help to make us feel great. BUT dopamine is also used to synthesize adrenaline, so if environmental factors are such as what promote an increase in adrenaline then the addition of supplemental L-tyrosine can instead promote excess adrenaline, which can be catastrophic for our health. Unlike other nutrients, amino acids are highly bioactive and always have a profound effect on our body, and only those which are known to be beneficial and safe should be used, and even then in reasonable/low doses or best gotten from whole food sources where their effect is then balanced and diluted by the presence of other amino acids.

When it comes to products like energy drinks, L-carnitine has an outsized effect than what it might have when coming from a food source because of its isolation. This is made even worse if, for instance, it’s taken apart from food which is pretty typical of these products since they are often used as a way to increase the feeling of energy at times when we are not eating. L-carnitine fucntions in part by promoting fatty acid oxidation in mitochondria. This action is considered positive by exercise physiologists, trainers, and even nutritional and medical professionals because generally the entire conception of fat burning and health and wellness misunderstands the nature of fat as something negative, where fat in truth is meant to protect our body from stress. Mitochondria are meant primarily to oxidize carbohydrate, and when they resort to or are forced to metabolize fatty acids this in turn downregulates mitochondrial proliferation, which means we have fewer and fewer mitochondria and thus less able to oxidize carbohydrate which in turn means less and less energy and which can also increase susceptibility to metabolic diseases like diabetes and related health complications. While taking these products in the short term may produce a boost of energy in the long term it means worsening of metabolic wellness and less ability to produce energy as regulatory mechanisms meant to slow the metabolic rate in response to nutritional stress are activated and deranged due to the isolation of such inappropriate and imbalanced nutrient factors. Because energy drinks are also stocked with other metabolism-raising nutrients like caffeine, taurine, and B vitamins without providing a full-spectrum of balanced nutrients, calories, protein, fats, and carbohydrates as would be obtained by natural, whole food this destructive effect on our biology is made much, much worse, and even very young and healthy people can very quickly become ill from their use.

Other negative ingredients in energy drinks can also be things such as citric acid, which sounds innocuous since it is so ubiquitous in natural foods but in excess such as can occur from synthetic products as energy drinks can disrupt the citric acid cycle in the body. Benzoic acid can also be a problem because it must be conjugated to glycine in order for our body to eliminate it which can in turn mean depletion of our stores of glycine which is one of the most important amino acids for protecting our metabolic health. Caffeine itself can be healthful and promote wellness and good feeling, but when used inappropriately, such as with low blood sugar or low protein intake, can cause extreme metabolic dysfunction, and since energy drinks typically contain high caffeine and are used precisely during low food consumption can also be a liability by promoting a catastrophic rise in stress hormones which are a response to low caloric density.

If you want to consume energy drinks, please look at the ingredients to make sure it does not contain these ingredients, and do not consume them in excess. Moderation is not one a day as opposed to several, but more like only on special occasions such as going out. There are far more healthful way to increase energy, which also have more lasting effects and produce better energy anyway. The generous intake of healthy foods accompanied by some coffee or an alcoholic beverage in moderation can be one way. Another which is entirely unknown to people is the effect of stimulation which light has upon the body. Exposure to bright light lowers torporific hormones and raises energy production, and we are often using energy stimulants in the first place to get around the metabolism suppressing effect of light deficiency. If you’ve ever gone outside and feel energized and alive from sunlight exposure, you will have experienced this effect of light on raising our energy production. This can also be achieved with bright artificial light such as from a very bright LED or incandescent bulb. As we age, we can also be less and less able to handle things like coffee or alcohol. This is not an effect of these substances but instead other environmental factors such as chronic light deficiency or pathogens like Candida or oral infectious bacteria which deplete our stores of taurine, glycine, lysine, vitamin C, zinc, acetic acid, B vitamins, etc., as discussed in my book, Fuck Portion Control, and restoring those nutrients and addressing these environmental factors can restore our normal ability to enjoy them.

Energy drinks are often used by gamers and streamers to increase their mood and energy, because the environment of being a gamer/streamer can cause its own stress which should be read about in my article Health For Gamers.