Red Bull has a reputation as the “bad boy” of the drinks fridge. One of the original wave of new energy drinks it contains Taurine and Caffeine instead of Guarana (which never gives me much of a buzz, to be honest). It also contains B-group vitamins, glucuronolactone, sucrose and glucose. Sounds nasty right? Well, no. Not really.

Lets break it down :

Taurine : Naturally occurring in animals, including us and in fact we are 0.1% Taurine by weight! 
Caffeine : Naturally occurring and safely consumed for thousands of years.
B-group Vitamins : Hey this is starting to sound like a health drink. 
Glucuronolactone : Natural, non toxic plant extract.
Sucrose : Table sugar, not unhealthy except when overused.  
Glucose : Simple (healthier) sugar used by your brain, liver, muscles etc.

So basically the sugar is the main argument against it, but no more dangerous than say – a rich slice of chocolate cake. Hardly the bad boy image we’ve been led to expect.

Here’s a journal paper about Red Bull improving driving performance. And another study concluded “The amounts of guarana, taurine, and ginseng found in popular energy drinks are far below the amounts expected to deliver either therapeutic benefits or adverse events.” It does go on however to say “caffeine and sugar are present in amounts known to cause a variety of adverse health effects.”

On that note, the research reveals that a safe level of caffeine is below 400mg daily. A Red Bull has 80mg, about the same as a cup of coffee.

We’ve all heard one or two reports of people dying from Red Bull, but having established that it’s about as safe as a cup of coffee lets put this in perspective.

In 2008, over 5000 coffee overdoses and at least 1 death were reported in the USA alone. It’s safe to say that several people die because of coffee every year.

Red Bull markets itself as giving you wings! It goes to great lengths to associate itself with extreme sports and people “living on the edge”. Merely opening a can before an intense HTML/CSS session gives me the feeling I’m some kind of rebel drug abuser shaking my fist at the man, man! In reality, I’m just some shmuck at his desk having what equates to a cup of coffee.

I think Red Bull knows this and has capitalised beautifully on the undue panic their brand has caused concerned mothers everywhere. It’s clever, and it’s well executed.

But more importantly, it’s safe. So just relax and let me drink my least obnoxious remaining vice in peace!

(Like the hardcore bad boy of web design I am).