Examining Energy Drinks

They come in all kinds of colors, flavors, sizes, and prices — products claiming to deliver a burst of energy to wake you up, keep you going, or give you that needed jolt. Are they more than just high doses of caffeine and sugar? What are we actually drinking? Do we really need them? Are there healthy (or healthier) alternatives? Registered dietitian Linda York joins us to discuss the exploding energy drink trend, and offer some less caffeinated ways to boost your energy.

(Linda York, Carolyn Pennington, Chris DeFrancesco, July 2025, studio and production support by Ethan Giorgetti and Ryan Bernat)

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Transcript

Chris: They’re trendy, they’re pricey, and they’re something we’ve largely lived without until about the last generation or so. Today on the Pulse, we’re talking about energy drinks.

This is the UConn Health Pulse, a podcast will help you get to know UConn Health and its people a little better, and ideally leave you with some health information you’ll find useful. I’m  Chris DeFrancesco, with Carolyn Pennington.

Carolyn: Go to any convenience store or gas station and chances are you’ll find products calling themselves energy drinks. And some of the bigger coffee shops are offering variations on their drinks with a promise of giving us an extra jolt. But what are we actually drinking? To help us figure it out, we’ve invited in Linda York, a registered dietician at UConn Health. Thank you, Linda, for joining us.

Linda York, RD: Oh, thanks for having me, Chris and Carolyn, happy to be here.

Carolyn: Well, a lot of products can claim to be an energy drink, but how do you define an energy drink?

Linda York, RD: My first question is, why are there so many more energy drinks and why are people consuming them? And it tends to be adolescents, pre-adolescents, younger people, they’re not getting as much sleep as they used to, so they’re tired. It’s an easy way to give yourself some caffeine. Sleep we know is so important, with obesity, diabetes, and we know about this, but it’s not taken seriously in that age group. So I think these energy drinks, what I think of them as are drinks that have caffeine, many of them have calories as well, some of them have added protein, and they have other stimulants, and this gives you that quick energy jolt.

And talking to people in the clinic where I work, they said that’s what they like about it. They like the quick jolt compared to coffee, which is caffeine. It’s a slower release. So there’s a whole different slew of them, and I really had to educate myself on them to see.

Chris: What’s an example of something that maybe during this research that you’ve discovered that maybe were surprised to learn?

Alright, she’s holding up a Five Hour Energy.

Linda York, RD: This Five Hour Energy that is used by one of my coworkers, she has about two a day, the FDA says, try to limit caffeine to 400 milligrams a day. This has 230 milligrams, so if you have two, you’re getting 460. So I don’t know if it’s the best thing.

It also has other things in it, like tyrosine…

Carolyn: What is that?

Linda York, RD: So these are added chemicals that are stimulants as well, and they work with the caffeine. Guarana, you’ll see a lot. So I don’t think this is a great thing. This is sugar-free. I think you have to watch it.

Carolyn: So you get that jolt. But long-term, what are the effects?

Linda York, RD: I think they have sugar in them, or the jolt, especially if it has sugar and calories, just like having juice or candy, the blood sugar goes up and then it plummets down and then you get a crash, maybe you’d call it.

Chris: Right. The crash.

Carolyn: So then you’ll want to drink another one.

Linda York, RD: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Carolyn: So it seems like it’s trendy also. It’s kind of a cool thing for the kids to drink.

Linda York, RD: And it has a cool marketing edge to it I think.

Carolyn: Yes.

Chris: A lot of them do.

Linda York, RD: But it’s all really cool, sexy, kind of, you know, “Get your edge with the energy” and, you know, “your peak performance” and “ride the wave.” I mean, things like that, I don’t really understand what they’re talking about, but it sounds pretty cool.

Carolyn: The ones that do have the extra calories, then you have the whole  problem of gaining weight.

Linda York, RD: Yeah, gaining weight, and excessive weight gain, diabetes, pre-diabetes, cardiac issues, lack of sleep also, so you got a double whammy there. Most of these energy drinks, the Java Monster drinks, the Starbucks, they have about, at least 220 calories, 210-220. They can have even more than that. And they have like 200 milligrams of caffeine. So if you really wanted to have it, you could have that instead of a cup of coffee, but you wouldn’t want to have more than two of them. And I do think it’s better if we just do the natural “eat like a hundred years ago, drink like a hundred years ago.” Have your coffee, put your skim milk in there, and put cinnamon in instead of sugar. It really sweetens it up. Or vanilla almond milk with cinnamon in your coffee.

Carolyn: What about the artificial sweeteners?

Chris: Yes. Some of these have no calories, right?

Linda York, RD: Mostly, yeah. A lot of them have just 10 calories, or they come in a calorie form in a low-calorie form. I see the sucralose here. Some of my patients have gastrointestinal issues and sometimes that can cause bloating, GI issues, a lot of these artificial sweeteners, so it’s something to consider.

If you wanted to make your own shake, this I see is Core Power. This is close to kind of making your own shake. It’s 170 calories, 26 grams of protein. And so I thought, if you really wanted that, it’s not too high in calories, but what I would recommend doing is just getting like Greek yogurt, plain, adding a ton of fruits and vegetables. These aren’t real, but you get the idea.

Chris: She’s got model fruits and vegetables

Linda York, RD: And then maybe you want to even use two cartons of this, so that would give you 160 calories. These basically are nothing but they’re antioxidants and phytochemicals.

Chris: Put it in the blender.

Linda York, RD: Put it in the blender with some ice and then add some fruit. You’re still not talking a lot, you’re talking less than 200 calories. You’ve got some probiotics in there.

Carolyn: Oh, let’s talk about probiotics. Do you really need them?

Linda York, RD: Yeah, I think they’re really good to have.

Chris: And we need to differentiate between probiotics

Carolyn: Yeah, and the prebiotics.

Linda York, RD: “E” comes before “O.” So I always say the pre feeds the pro. It’s like fish food for the pro. The probiotics are the bacteria, the prebiotics are the foods that feed the bacteria.

Chris: Got it. OK.

Carolyn: Oh, that is good.

Linda York, RD: So that’s the only way I can remember it after all these years. But like Kefir, it has pro and prebiotics. So look at, there’s like what, 10 type of bacteria: Lactus brevi, acidophilus, all of these, these are really good for the gut microbiome here, right? But they can be fed with the prebiotic that’s in here and there’s cultured milk and yogurt and stuff like that. And this is 180 calories for a cup. It has eight grams of protein, the same is like a cup of milk, but it’s got really a lot of good things. So why don’t more people have this, with some fruit? And you know, this is really good.

Chris: And what you’re holding up, just for the benefit of those listening is a product — we’re not endorsing any products here — but it’s the Kefir, which is what? Like a smoothie?

Linda York, RD: It’s kind of like a smoothie, yeah. This is a whole milk one with mango. You have to get used to the taste.

Chris: So it’s got some, some dairy. It’s got some fruit.

Carolyn: How does it taste? Is it bitter?

Linda York, RD: It’s kind of like a real bitter yogurt, especially the plain one. But the mango helps and um, you can get low fat too. This is whole milk.

Chris: And that’s sweetened just with the fruit, or is there added sugar in that?

Linda York, RD: Just with the mango, yeah. If I look at added sugars, which is another good thing to look at — caffeine, calories added sugar — usually if it has a lot of added sugar, it has a lot of calories. The added sugars are eight grams. But that’s probably because of the mango flavor, ‘cause the taste is kind of different.

This is another drink here. This is a prebiotic drink, Olipop. This has nine grams of fiber in it, which is good.

Chris: And it’s carbonated?

Linda York, RD: And it’s a carbonated, yeah, classic grape. It is.

Chris: So it looks like a can of soda.

Linda York, RD: Yeah, it’s 45 calories, where soda would be more. Nine grams of fiber — we try to get 25 grams a day. That’s pretty good for soda. It doesn’t have any fiber. It doesn’t have any protein.

Chris: Yeah, you wouldn’t turn to a can of soda for fiber.

Linda York, RD: Am I saying to have this? No, I think you’d rather have… but life is relative, right? If you don’t want the Kefir and you want to get some more fiber, have this. But there are no bacteria in here. So remember the pre feeds, the pro, so there’s no bacteria in here, which it’s nice to have both, like the Keefer.

Chris: OK so that has the prebiotic soda.

Linda York, RD: Yes.

Chris: But none of the probiotics in it.

Linda York, RD: Exactly. See?

Chris: So it’s feeding the probiotics that may already live in your gut. It’s not introducing anymore. Very good. And how is that sweetened?

Linda York, RD: Concord grape juice.

Chris: So fruit juice.

Linda York, RD: Lime juice. But that’s not bad. It’s not artificial. There is Stevia leaf, but Stevia, as we know, is natural. You can even grow it in your garden.

Chris: So I would like to cover with you, whether it’s an energy drink or any kind of drink, when you look at sugar on the label, as far as what’s in there, there’s a lot of different versions of things that maybe you don’t read as sugar but essentially our sugar, whether it’s corn syrup or what, fructose, or all these other. So what are the kinds of things that, “Oh, there’s no sugar in it.” “Well, actually, there’s quite a bit of sugar in it, it just doesn’t say sugar on the label.”

Linda York, RD: Well, when you look at a product, say if we’re going to look at this, this is Chobani Greek nonfat yogurt, right? It’s 80 calories. If we look at the total carb, it’s six grams, and then if we look at the added sugars, they’re zero. These carbs are good carbs, they’re complex carbs. They’re not junky carbs, which are just sugar, which is a carbohydrate like honey, jam, jelly. This is good carb. Where does it come from? The milk, the lactose in here.

So that’s what we look at, the added sugars. Those are kind of the junky ones You try to find no-added-sugar products, so always look at that. But there are two types of carbs. Complex, which are really good, give us a lot of energy, just like this caffeine gives us some energy, but it’s a better source of energy and it’s a slow-release energy, and you want that: bread, cereals, milk, OK, fruits. But when we’re talking about the simple sugars, which are another type of sugar, those are the empty calories, bankrupt calorie foods,

Chris: And those are the ones that can lead to the crashes, right?

Linda York, RD: The crashes, I think could be the sugar in them, but I also think you can get the crash in the ones that have no calories and no sugar from the caffeine and these other stimulants that are in there.

Chris: And then kind of coming off of those and they wear off.

Linda York, RD: Yeah, and I think when you talk to people, they talk about the crash. They said, “I was drinking too many of them, and I really felt like, whoa.” Or they had a really fast heartbeat. And if you have too much caffeine, fast heartbeat, blood pressure goes up, Some people have GI issues. And remember, caffeine dehydrates you, and many people use them for exercise and all, so you’re getting dehydrated and that’s not what you want when you’re doing a road race or something, right? Just like beer at the end of the road race, it’s a diuretic. Probably not the thing you want after you’ve done a 15K or whatever. So make sure you chase your energy drink with caffeine with water if you’re working outside, especially in this hot weather, ‘cause it is dehydrating. It also can have some GI side effects, caffeine too.

But I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I think you can overdo it. Stay within the 400 milligrams. Try not to get a lot of calories. Because we can certainly even get that with a cup of coffee and the sweet and — What is it called? The Dunkin Donut, I want it — light and sweet, right? That’s like four creamers and four sugars, right? That’s a lot of calories. Coffee doesn’t have hardly any calories, but when you add that and you add a cappuccino swirl for another 200 calories, your drink could be 350 calories. And most women are trying to stay around 500 calories a meal, if they’re trying to maintain their weight or maybe lose a little weight. So you’re getting all those junky calories from sugar, fat, caffeine, and you’re not going to feel that great in a few hours. You’re going to be hungry.

Chris: But it gives you the energy to. Really do a great workout and burn it all off, right?

Linda York, RD: And then get dehydrated and [laughter]

Chris: Alright, so when it’s all said and done, we’re trying to figure out what else can we drink to make us feel better, maybe in the moment or maybe in a little bit more longer term, making good choices about what we drink. I don’t know, there’s a lot of stuff on here that’s expensive and loaded with calories and sugar and caffeine, but you’re holding a bottle of water right now. I mean, it seems like a lot of times the answer is, let’s just go back to that.

Linda York, RD: Water’s great. Yeah, I think a lot of people don’t drink enough water. We need to hydrate ourselves. I believe in eating three balanced meals, as boring as it is, but drink two cups of water before each meal. Then you know you’re going to get six cups, and then before each snack have a cup. Even if you’re out to eat, whatever, get into the habit of doing that. Hydration’s important.

These drinks have reasons why they’re here. Some people, if you’re doing a 15K or a marathon, you’re going to be talking about Liquid IV, things like that, gel packs, stuff like that, then I’m not really equipped to talk about that. But this every day using them? Why not just use coffee, or why not make your own shake with prebiotics, protein, good complex carbohydrate, right? Fruits and vegetables. Just take some time, make it, and you’d be better off. Eat like a hundred years ago. Drink like a hundred years ago. We always had water. We might not in the future, but [laughter]

Chris: Well, and maybe go to bed a little earlier and you won’t have to try to outrun that sleep deficit in the morning with these kinds of products.

Linda York, RD: Yeah. Respect, sleep. I think there’s a lack of respect. It’s very important to get into a sleep routine. Sleep hygiene, as they say.

Chris: Linda York, thank you so much for sharing your dietary and nutrition expertise with us. That is our time for today. Thank you to Ethan Georgetti and Ryan Burnett for your studio support.

For Linda York and Carolyn Pennington, this is Chris DeFrancesco, thanking you for listening to the UConn Health Pulse. Be sure to subscribe so you can catch us next time, and please share with a friend.