I saw this article on the web and wanted to share.

With all the new energy drinks being pushed out there, so few are labeled sugar free so I never paid attention. Then I saw the makers of Red Bull came out with a sugar free version. Let me clarify something. Energy drinks like Red Bull are NOT drank like soda for taste or when you’re just really thirsty. Actually it tastes like carbonated medicine to me. But it’s not a big 12 oz. soda, it’s a 8 oz “shooter” to me. These are for when you need a pick me up for mental or physical fatigue, like when some drink coffee. I picked it up on a whim because I just wasn’t in the mood for a hot cup of coffee on a summer day.

Within 15 to 20 minutes, I felt really good. Not “high”, not caffeine-jittery, but I felt very alert and ready to get back to work. I figured it may be psychological, but what the heck. I started drinking one every day to get going rather than wrestling with hot coffee in my lap on my morning commute. After a couple weeks, I noticed that I was definitely losing weight again. With all the personal bullshit in my life right now, I have never given up low carb, but I had noticed with all the stress that the weight wasn’t coming off like it used to while eating only 10 grams or under of carbs a day. Let me remind you, that stress DOES effect your insulin and blood sugar levels, that’s a FACT, Jack!

Within these couple weeks, 10 pounds had peeled off without thinking about it. Drinking the Sugar Free Red Bull was the ONLY thing I was doing differently. I wasn't eating any less calories or carbs than my usual low carb routine of 10g a day or less. I wasn't getting any more exercise than usual. But I had still kind of dismissed it as being the panacea. I was very curious about how Sugar Free Red Bull made me feel better than a cup of coffee when the caffeine levels in one serving are comparable to a cup of coffee (80 mg). So I did some research. The buzz on the web is that the sugar free version of Red Bull is JUST AS POTENT for energy as the sugared version. So it’s NOT the sugar or carbs giving you the energy here…it’s got to be something else.

Another active ingredient in Red Bull is taurine. Taurine is an essential amino acid that your own body manufactures and you get from nature from meat & fish. But with age, we don’t produce as much as we should. Taurine (think the astrological sign Taurus, the bull), is linked to reducing high blood pressure, improving heart function, acting as an antioxidant, regulating calcium & postassium, and prevents abnormal blood clotting. And I am also finding evidence it helps regulate our blood sugar.



<FONT face=Arial>One of the first scientific bits of info I had received on taurine said " Taurine is incorporated into one of the most abundant bile acids, chenodeoxychloic acid where it serves to emulsify dietary lipids in the intestine, promoting digestion." <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">- http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/aminoacids/pages/taurine.html