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The most common stimulant, found in coffee, Coke and Mountain Dew. Found in much higher quantities in energy drinks.
Most energy drinks contain between 70 and 200 mg. An 8 oz cup of coffee contains 110-150mg for drip, 65-125mg for
percolated, and 40-80 mg for instant. Dr. Pepper gives you 41mg, and a can of Coke provides 34mg. A full can of RockStar
has 160mg. Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system giving the body a sense of alertness. It can raise heart rate and
blood pressure while dehydrating the body. A lot of people experience side effects above 200mg, which include
sleeplessness, heart palpitations, headaches, nausea, and most commonly the jitters.
We¶re tracking the caffeine levels of virtually all energy drinks. Go knock yourself out.
For other questions about caffeine visit Caffiene FAQ a great resource for caffeine information.
 
Taurine is an amino acid that your body naturally produces. It helps regulate heartbeat, muscle contractions, and energy
levels. Usually your body makes enough that you don¶t need to supplement. It¶s thought, but not proven, that under ³stress
conditions´ like illness, physical exertion, or injury, the body does not create enough and supplements can help. Taurine
might be a ³mild inhibitory neurotransmitter´, some studies show it helps with excitable brain states. While this isn¶t exactly
what we want, maybe it helps level us out so we function better with elevated levels of other stimulants.
   
Guarana comes from plants in South America. Amazonians have used it for a long time to increase alertness and energy. It¶s
more dense in caffeine than coffee beans (3-4% vs 1-2%). It¶s not just called ³caffeine´ because it contains a couple other
things: theobromine and theophylline. They¶re found in coffees and teas, and are known stimulants. Marketing will
sometimes call this one guaranine, as if it¶s something different. It¶s not.

 
These are essentially the things that help you convert food to energy, like sugar which is found in abundance in energy
drinks. The jury¶s still out on whether or not they increase energy levels via supplementation. Search the interweb for info on
proper dosing of the different vitamins. Common names for B vitamins are insotol, niacin, riboflavin, cyanocobalamin, and
pyridoxine hydrochloride.
 

This vitamin contributes to the production of serotonin, red blood cells and niacin in your body. However, it can cause brain
damage if taken in excess.
 

This vitamin also helps produce red blood cells and is believed to provide energy. It may also help to fight off infections and
to promote appetite.
 

This vitamin helps reduce stress by helping the adrenal glands create the proper hormones during taxing times.Ginseng
Ginseng, an adaptogenic herb, is known to increase energy, has some anti-fatigue components, supposedly relieves stress,
and increase memory. Right now it¶s suspected that ginseng helps stimulate the hypothalamic and pituitary glands, which
then secrete something called adrenal corticotropic hormone. With a name like that, it can¶t possibly be bad. Ginseng is
nothing that¶s naturally created by your body, so having this in your drink certainly won¶t hurt. 200mg/day seems to be the
standard dose, but you can safely take up to 2700mg. Rare side effects such as diarrhea and headache have been reported.

This water-soluble nutrient is commonly associated with B vitamins because it helps to regulate the body¶s central nervous
system. It may also help fight cancer, eczema, hair loss and depression.

 
This ingredient is named after the rare tree it originates from. It is believed to help with memory retention, concentration,
circulation, acts as an anti-depressant, and even shows signs of helping people with Alzheimer¶s. The German government
recognizes it as something that helps with memory loss, concentration, and depression. 60mg is a standard supplementation
dose, and you can easily take 240mg. It is advised, however, that most energy drinks do not contain enough ginkgo to be of
any benefit. People on anti-depressants shouldn¶t take ginkgo and some of the other side effects include blood thinning,
nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, dizziness, heart palpitations, and restlessness.
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An amino acid usually created by your liver and kidneys, this stuff helps up your metabolism and energy levels. Because of
the way it interacts with your body, it may act as a thermogenic and help increase weight loss and endurance during exercise.
The jury¶s still out on whether or not you need to supplement unless you have an unusual diet, but you can take 2-6 grams
without worry. Make sure you get L-Carnitine, which is the type your body creates and can use. D-Carnitine is ³inactive´ and
may actually hurt endurance levels. Rare side effects include include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.
 
Glucose is the body¶s preferred fuel. That¶s why you get hyper with a lot of sugar. Energy drinks contain a ton of sugar.
Therefore, energy. It¶s a carbohydrate, and a lot of exercise regiments suggest a good dose of carbs for workouts lasting more
than an hour. However, to much sugar intake has been linked to diabetes. See the sugar in energy drinks database for a
sortable table of beverage sugar content.
 
Anti-oxidants are things that help your body gracefully recover from the damage of free radicals. Vitamin C is an anti-
oxidant, so claiming that your energydrink has a lot of anti-oxidants is like saying you¶re buying really expensive orange
juice. But they¶re good, they help fend off illness and prevent cellular damage. Vitamins C and E, Vitamin A (aka retinol,
beta-carotene), and selenium are all anti-oxidants.
 
Glucuronolactone (DGL) occurs naturally in the human body as glucose is broken down by the liver. All connective tissue
contains this compound. DGL is believed to aid in detoxification, freeing hormones and other chemicals, and the
biosynthesis of vitamin C. It is placed in energy drinks because it is believed to help with glycogen depletion by preventing
other substances from depleting glycogen supplies in the muscles.
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This substance is derived from leaves of a shrub in the Holly family. It is a natural source of caffeine, but some believe that
the form of caffeine in Yerba Mate¶ doesn¶t produce the negative side affects like the caffeine in coffee and guarana.
c 
Creatine is naturally obtained by eating meat. Creatine helps with supplying energy to the muscles and is usually found in
energy drinks and products that are marketed to body builders.
 
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This ingredient (pronounced ‘
‘
) is finding its way into more and more energy drinks. Acai berry comes from the Acai
Palm tree which is found in South America. The berries are rich in anti-oxidants, but not as much as a concord grape or
blueberry. Most of the acai berry benefits have no scientific basis and are attributed to marketing hype.
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This ingredient mainly found in Rockstar and a few other drinks is used as a liver detoxifying agent. It is placed in energy
drinks not really for any energy enhancing properties but as a counter agent to mixing energy drinks with alcohol as milk
thistle is supposed to help with hangovers and detoxing the liver from alcohol. However, studies show that the amount put in
energy drinks would be of hardly any benefit to consumers.
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Vinpocetine is a cognitive enhancer derived from the lesser periwinkle plant (Vinca minor L.). It has been shown to improve
performance on short-term memory tests (1) and to increase memory functioning in simple word recall
tests(2).AAVinpocetine works by acting as a cerebral vasodilator. This means that it preferentially increases blood flow to the
brain. This is important when you are involved in a mentally strenuous task such as taking a test or focusing on a
presentation and your brain is working overtime.
Vinpocetine also acts as a cerebral-specific calcium-dependent phospodiesterase inhibitor. This means it slows down the
action of an enzyme called phospodiesterase that normally breaks down ATP. ATP, adenosine triphosphate, is the
compound bodies use to provide cellular energy. AAEssentially what Vinpocetine does is increase the energy available to our
brain cells, allowing us to think harder and better.
(1) Donna M. Coleston and Ian Hindmarch.Possible Memory-Enhancing Properties of Vinpocetine. Human
Psychopharmacology Research Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds, EnglandA(2) Z. Subhan and I.
Hindmarch Psychopharmacological Effects of Vinpocetine in Normal Healthy Volunteers Human Psychopharmacology
Research Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
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Huperzine-A is derived from a Chinese herb huperzia. Its action has been attributed to its ability to prevent the breakdown of
Acetylcholine. Acetylcholine is involved in memory and learning. There have been clinical studies that say huperzine A
enhances a person¶s memory. In a study of teenagers, Huperzine A appeared to enhance general mental functioning
(Xu SS, Cai ZY, Qu ZW, Yang RM, Cai YL, Wang GQ, Su XQ, Zhong XS, Cheng RY, Xu WA, Li JX, Feng B. Huperzine-
A in capsules and tablets for treating patients with Alzheimer¶s disease. ActaPharmacol Sin 1999 Jun;20(6):486-90).
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DMAE, is naturally found in fish, such as salmon.
It plays an important part in many of the brain¶s chemical processes, and may serve as a precursor to the brain chemical
acetylcholine. DMAE has been reported as helping to elevate mood, improve memory and learning. Taking DMAE also
manifested a decrease in irritability and an increase in academic ability.
Pfeiffer, C., et al. Stimulant effect of 2-Dimethyl-l-aminoethanol (DMAE): Possible precursor of brain acetylcholine.
Science. 126:610-611, 1957. ‡ Bonavita E. Neuropsychological study of the senile brain during and after single and
combined treatment with deanol and citicoline. ClinTer 1986;117(5):387-98.