Everyone’s always talking about how bad energy drinks are for you, but honestly, I don’t get what’s so terrible about them. I mean, coffee does the same thing, right? People have been drinking coffee for over a thousand years and they’ve turned out just fine. What’s the difference?
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Energy drink is stocked up with sugars and artificial sweeteners
Coffee still isn’t very good, but apart from the caffeine its fine
I imagine taurine and guarana are in there for some sort of purpose, and the pregnancy labels aren’t on the strong iterations out of a mere whim. Definitely, most energy drinks rattle you more than coffee does.
Energy drinks have a lot more caffeine in them, as well as sugar, sweeteners and stimulants.
I am no chemist but my assumption is: maybe it isn’t the caffeine but the sugar that is the problem. Coffee in it’s pureist form is “water, ground coffee beans.” Compare that to some energy drink labels and I think you may have your answer.
TLDR; ingredients
Coffee is bean water and energy drinks are sugar water.
Comparing 3-5 ingredients to 20-30 that’s why.
You can control the sugar content in your coffee drink. Energy drinks? Not so much. I also dislike the idea of energy drinks. Never had a Red Bull, but it sounds like it would taste nasty
It’s the caffeine to liquid ratio, if somebody was drinking like 3 cups of coffee one after the other people would be concerned and we have companies being called out for insane caffeine content of their large x shot drinks.
Coffee isn’t as demonised because a regular black coffee is like 80mg of caffeine when a regular can of energy drink can be 200+, that might not sound insane but when the recommendation is not to exceed 400 and the drinks are sweet and easy to consume it’s easy for people to drink 2/3 a day.
Honestly I say the exact same for coffee when it’s the stupidly high calorie effectively desert drinks you can buy and places like Starbucks, they get in a high caffeine content with a couple of shots of espresso but then completely hide it with so much sugar people can easily over consume it.
Edit:
To add to that I’d say look at how pre workout isn’t demonised despite being high caffeine and having the same ease of consumption as an energy drink. Because it’s clearly advertised as “take once a day at most” nobody is casually sipping on it all day like they do energy drinks. It’s all about the ease of access/overconsumption that has people worried
Sugar and mostly chemicals
Sugar and other additives in the energy drinks.
Energy drinks have more caffeine than coffee and are easier to over consume. It’s not exactly easy to chug hot coffee (believe me, I try)
Some are really high in phosphoric acids. Anyone drinking a lot of energy drinks might be heading for an osteoporosis problem down the road.
From my experience, it comes down to sugar, sugar-like substances and sodium
Maybe because coffee has only coffee beans and energy drink has sugar, caffeine, and a list of unpronounceable ingredients.
I want to preface the coming comments with my experience: I did my EPQ essay on essentially this topic. For non english people, its essentially a 5000 word research project at about the high school level. It’s hardly like I’m the most informed or academically perfect on this topic, however it did still require refencing 20-ish academic articles so i would like to think my view is based on some evidence and not purely opinion. That being said:
I would argue that most of the stigmatisation comes from marketing. Looking at pure numbers of caffeine, a monster contains about 180mg of caffeine, whereas a large americano (from a popular British cafe chain, costa) contains 400mg (Edit: Some may think this is an extreme example, so for integrity I would like to add that a medium latte, probably the most commonly served drink there, is 200mg of caffeine). It’s generally agreed that caffeine can cause some acute side effects, such as headaches, dizziness, or sickness. However, the scientific consensus from my research is that caffeine is safe when taken chronically, only posing significant risks to health if you are vulnerable: with heart issues, poor metabolizers or people with liver diseases (doi:10.1007/s12024-016-9786-9).
The same is true for other parts of popular energy drinks (my report focussed on monster so i’ll use that as my main example). It can pretty safely be stated that taurine is NOT going to present an issue, even at some ridiculously high doses of 10g/kg for 6 months (doi:10.1212/wnl.33.5.599-a) though this study is not done on healthy people so take its findings with the requisite grains of salt. Frankly, its my opinion its only slapped in there as a marketing term, to help justify the higher cost of energy drinks compared to caffeine tablets, which are ridiculously cheap, given the effects of taurine are debated at best, and that’s when taken in higher doses, chronically. To be honest i know nothing about guarana, and from a **very** cursory glance at pubmed, there doesn’t seem to be a massive amount of direct research on it, however it has been consumed for a while so i would tentatively argue it is not, at least obviously and immediately, dangerous.
The next issue of contention is sugar. Full sugar energy drinks are most definitely less healthy than a coffee, this link shouldnt need to be explained further. However, no sugar versions do contain sweeteners, in the case of monster, sucralose and acesulfame K. Whilst there is some argument, the science generally points in the direction of neither being cancerous, despite what is commonly said (doi:10.1016/j.yrtph.2023.105369)
This leads onto my final point, which is that energy drinks rely on counter cultural, in your face advertising. Brands like monster and redbull sponsor extreme sports for this exact reason, to better appeal to their target audience of young poeople, who want ot view themselves as opposed to the main stream, and risk takers. this owes itself to the view that these drinks are less healthy, when in fact, they are likely to be about as impactful as someone eating a donut and a coffee on their lunch break.
To finish, i feel i should say that i am NOT a researcher, i am not even a university student. evrything i’ve said can be wrong, and given my experience, there is a very real chance i could misinterpreting or cherry picking my data. However, with what i have presented, i would argue that energy drinks are not unsafe, and i think this opinion is generally supported by the research, whereas as the counter is a result of extreme marketing which gives the wrong impression, specifically to the odler generation, as a form of division acting as a way of other marketing.
I’m also drinking a mango loco monster right now though, so maybe I’m just a shill.
Edit: 20-ish academic articles not 2
Coffee ingredients:
Coffee has antioxidants and polyphenols.
The caffeine dose is a lot higher in energy drinks. A good portion still contain a lot of sugar although sugar free variants exist.
Coffee also contains various antioxidants and other compounds that may have slight beneficial effects. Energy drinks do contain vitamins though their bioavailability is relatively low.
So sugar free variants aren’t the devil but they are likely higher doses of caffeine compared to coffee.
The amount of misinformation in this thread is staggering.
A usual energy drink contains 30mg of caffeine per 100ml. That means one can gives you about the same amount as one espresso: 75mg of caffeine.
So no, energy drinks don’t usually contain more caffeine than coffee.
Sugar is a problem, measure it.
However, sugar-free energy drinks exist, and no, artificial sweeteners aren’t worse than sugar. In fact, they are pretty harmless. There’s a ton of misinformation on this, about them being toxic (false), increasing your insulin (false), etc.
In short, a can of sugar-free energy drink will be about as healthy as a single espresso without milk.
What a lot of the other commenters said, plus the sodium content and high vitamin b counts.
It’s not any one of these things, it’s the combination. If someone drinks a lot of coffee, they may have had too much caffeine, which does have health risks, including heart palpations, increased heart rate, high blood pressure, etc
But if someone has a lot of energy drinks, they have had too much caffeine and sodium, which both impact your blood pressure and heart, and can put additional strain on your kidneys and liver.
The average can of Monster has twice the recommended daily amount of vitamin B3 (niacin). Niacin Toxicity can cause liver damage, high blood glucose, and high levels of uric acid in the blood, (which in turn can cause gout and kidney problems.)
It also has about twice the recommended amount of vitamin b6. This can cause skin lesions; tingling, pain, and numbness in hands and feet; loss of control eye and body movements; and nervous system damage.
So, to answer your question, someone drink excessive amounts of coffee can cause problems. However, the extra ingredients in energy drinks can cause more problems.
Energy drink are usually loaded with too much caffeine as well as a fuck ton of sugar. The carbonation is bad for your teeth plus taurine and all the other shit. It really fucks up your stomach and makes you crash hard when it wears off.
As one redditor said, compare labels and you will have the answer.
They’re usually full of vitamins for some reason. And it’s not great to routinely consume 2000% of your daily recommended dose of these vitamins.
It’s not about what it does it’s about what’s in it and how “it” is done.
Coffee is only ok in moderate doses. After a certain amount it can at a minimum disrupt sleep and in worst cases give tachycardia
Energy drinks have a lot of caffeine plus sugar plus other stimulants and blood thinners
And even with energy drinks it all depends on the dosage and the person taking it.
Also your tolerance for caffeine varies with age, it may also vary if your weight varies significantly
As a millennial, i can’t wait until I’m older, like in my 70s, and I’m radioactive from all the energy drinks I’ve been consuming my entire adolescent and adult life as if it were water. Should be epic!
I’m not a chemist nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn but I would say it’s a couple of things.
Look at the ingredient list. Coffee can be as simple as ground coffee beans seeped in hot water. Energy drinks have significantly more ingredients.
Marketing. Energy drinks are big and flashy! Coffee is boring. So younger people or those more suseptible to marketing think chugging 4 red bulls is perfectly fine.
They are fine, people always talk about how bad they are but then eat cookies and donuts which are way worse
Who’s saying energy drinks are bad? And follow up question, do these people have scientific studies showing that energy drinks are significantly more harmful than other sugary sodas?
Let me Google that for you
I remember this from a long time ago, can’t say I’ve seen much of it in the past 10 years. Energy drinks are more popular than ever.
Many energy drinks have a lot more caffeine than the same amount of coffee. And while a moderate amount of caffeine is fine for most people, too much is very unhealthy. And that’s before you get into all the sugar/artificial sweeteners/other stuff in energy drinks.
A cup of coffee, before you add anything else to it, has no sugar, and actually pretty good levels of various antioxidants and other beneficial compounds. To the point that actual medical studies have shown that drinking a couple cups of coffee a day has some real health benefits. Including a lower risk of stroke, some cancers, and Parkinson’s disease. Of course, all the sugar and stuff many people add to their coffee outweighs some of those benefits. So, if you drink coffee, try to have it in a fairly minimal way. (also tea has many similar benefits)
And obviously, while some coffee daily can be good for your health, too much coffee is going to be unhealthy. The evidence shows that for most people somewhere between two to four cups (16-32 oz) a day is fine, and has health benefits.
Some links about coffee having some benefits
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/coffee-and-health/faq-20058339
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/news/2025/when-it-comes-health-benefits-coffee-timing-may-count
https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/public-health/what-doctors-wish-patients-knew-about-impact-caffeine
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6003581/
Energy drinks are packed with a lot more chemicals and additives than your typical cup of coffee. Also the caffeine content in a cup of coffee Vs and energy drink isn’t the same. Energy drinks tend to have a lot more caffeine in them.
It’s the idea that a colored liquid made with 20 chemicals, flavorings, sugar or sugar substitute, caffeine or other stimulants with no real nutritional value, shelf stable in a can is a better way to pep you up than eating well, staying hydrated and getting enough sleep that’s the issue. Not the false dichotomy between coffee and energy drinks.
Many of them have a lot of salt as well as sugar.
Coffee is actually quite healthy if you are habituated to it. Polyphenol content has a lot to do with it. Energy drinks do not have those. Isolated aminos and small amounts of compounds like glucuronolactone are not equivalent.
Lots of reports about the benefits of coffee on PubMed. For example, here’s an excerpt of a 2021 review of the literature showing cardiovascular benefits in habituated coffee drinkers and a reduction in all cause mortality:
From:
Coffee and Arterial Hypertension
Curr Hypertens Rep. 2021; 23(7): 38
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8352830/
It examines several studies. These are excerpts from a few:
>…Regular moderate (1–3 cups of coffee/day) coffee consumption may reduce BP and the risk of developing hypertension, as well as the risk of death from any cause. Habitual and moderate (1–3 cups of coffee/day) coffee consumption likely does not increase the risk of uncontrolled BP and does not disturb the circadian BP profile in hypertensive patients.
>…A recent study by Torres-Callado et al. assessed the effects of coffee consumption on all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality. The study included 1567 people who were followed for 18 years. Consumption of > 1 cup of coffee/day was associated with a reduced risk of all-cause mortality and cancer but had no effect of CVD [Cardiovascular Disease] mortality.
>…In contrast,…3–4 cups of coffee/day significantly reduced risk of developing or dying from CVD. …Coffee consumption (filtered and unfiltered) was significantly associated with 21% and 16% reductions in risk of all-cause mortality in men and women, respectively. Subgroup analysis showed that coffee consumption was significantly associated with a 28% reduction in the risk of death from CVD in women but not in men. In men, only the consumption of filtered coffee was associated with a significant 12% reduction in the risk of death due to CVD.
>…consumption of up to 4 cups of coffee a day was associated with a 14% reduction in the risk of all-cause mortality and a 15% reduction in the risk of CVD mortality. In addition, non-smokers derived greater benefit from consuming coffee than those who smoked.
Energy drinks often have artificial ingredients. Coffee’s original source is a plant even though it, too, can have artificial ingredients by the time it’s consumed.
I had a crippling energy drink addiction for years and the main problem is the sugar and extra ingredients. It’s better here ( Canada ) now that caffeine content got regulated, because those early arbitrary amounts made energy drinks easy to over consume.
I drink coffee these days and I like it black and bitter. I find it really easy to just drink a cup or two and call it a day. With energy drinks I just constantly want to open another one. And the energy drink high and feeling is completely different.
energy drinks have way more caffeine than coffee
Some people can’t do artificial sweeteners.
I don’t have an allergy or anything, but to me they taste so bad I can’t get anything that has them down. Pretty much every energy drink, even the kinds with more sugar than a soda, has these sweeteners in them.
Energy drinks have way more caffeine a shit load of sugar and random vitamins and taurine in it. Just generally things you don’t need more of in your life
Energy drinks have a lot more caffeine than coffee. Coffee generally has about 95mg of caffeine in a cup according to a quick Google search. Red bull has 111mg in a 12 Oz can. Monster energy has 160mg, some others can have 300mg in one can.
The other main issue is sugar content. Almost 50g of sugar in a 16 ounce monster energy drink. And if you go sugarless instead, artificial sweetners are debatable whether or not they’re any better.
Energy drinks are also usually very high in B vitamins, but I don’t think you can overdose on vitamin B or anything like that
I mean coffee is natural. Who knows what’s in that energy drink
…. What??? Lmao
Give me the ingredients of both drinks and then get back to me. It’s clearly not the caffeine bro 😂
Sugar is the biggest thing in energy drinks. Plus they typically have a higher caffeine content than coffee so you can get too much caffeine in less energy drinks than cups of coffee
Calories
High fructose corn syrup is what makes energy drinks bad for you, not necessarily the caffeine.
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Caveman answer?
Coffee = caffeine + water = not that bad
Energy drink = random chemicals+ sugar+ caffeine = bad.
Because coffee taste good and energy drinks taste like ass
Sugar and all the other additives are a main issue these days, I think, because some people drink so many sugary drinks. They are heavily marketed in ways attractive to younger audiences, who are more sensitive to caffeine and sugar generally, and are often flavored to attract such audiences too. While coffee is generally not something most kids like the taste of, it’s true that per can, most brands have roughly the equivalent caffeine as a cup of coffee. But when it tastes like a regular fruity soft drink, it’s easy to overconsume, and overdosing on caffeine isn’t that hard (that’s ignoring the high sugar content in many, too).
As a normie who doesn’t know the science, I don’t trust energy drinks or cola because they get their caffeine from a powder the dosage of which could have all kinds of excess or tinkering; might buy a drink that’s 3x the amount of caffeine in my coffee without realizing that’s how much was in it.
With coffee there’s the expectation that the caffeine comes from the bean at more or less the same dosage every time unless specifically advertised otherwise as “espresso” or “triple shot” or smt.
But also with coffee if it’s too strong you can always just stretch it out with milk or water. I don’t like artificial fruit-drinks to begin with, while coffee is something I’d drink anyway and can tell immediately if and why it’s hitting me too strong.
To be clear this is just my super subjective tastes; Im sure none of this is an issue for most other people, this is just why I go to other things first
The problem is that most energy drinks are loaded with over 3 times your daily recommended intake of B vitamins, as well as other additives (depending on the drink) to get you feeling “jumpy”. Straight up caffiene, even in large quantities, is easier on your kidneys and your liver than all those B vitamins and shit
Sitting here having a whiskey wondering what all the fuss is about
sugar.
also the cans are ugly.
It’s all the other crap in the energy drinks or drinking way too many that gets ya.
Coffee has one ingredient that is a concern — caffeine. And you have to try really hard to OD on caffeine from coffee. So, to us, it’s a harmless, mildly addictive stimulant.
Energy drinks have loads of sugar, various vitamins, supplements (ginko biloba being the most common) and caffeine. There are a lot more unknowns in there (particularly supplement interactions if you’re taking any medication). For example, some of these are blood thinners. Not good if you also happen to be taking a blood thinner, for example.
I personally know a man who loved to pound those back instead of eating.
One day, he was driving with his 8 year old daughter, when he had a seizure, causing him to crash. Doctors concluded it was the energy drinks.
My guess is. When you drink coffee, you have 1 or 2 then go hours before you have another cup.
People who drink energy drink, drink them like soda or water. They will have mutiple a day, one after the other.
Mostly because of the sugar. You get a sugar free kind and it’s not any different than taking that much caffeine in another form.
Who said energy drinks are bad? I mean, some energy drinks are bad, and some people drink them in bad ways. Some energy drinks have massive amounts of caffeine far beyond what is in a cup of coffee, along with tons of sugar and other ingredients that might possibly be harmful. Likewise some people drink way too many energy drinks throughout the day, where for most people coffee is a morning thing. But people drinking way too much coffee, or coffee with a ton of added sugar and fat and other crap is bad too.
Personally I have a V8 Energy+ drink every now and then. It’s pretty much fruit and vegetable juice, a few vitamins, and a modest amount of caffeine (about the same as a cup of coffee). I won’t claim it’s a “health” drink, but I don’t think it’s particularly unhealthy either.
Scary new thing is scary and using scary language like “chemicals” scares people.
The only things that are worse in energy drinks vs coffee is the same things that make pop/soda not good. Added sugars (as if people aren’t putting sugar in their coffee), carbonated water, acidic (coffee is too tho)
Mostly it’s just becsuse it’s a new thing and new things are scary and obviously unacceptable.
It’s about dosage. A lot of the other common ingredients (guarana, ginseng, taurine etc) are often blamed, but even these tend to be pretty safe for human consumption.
But pretty much anything can be bad in high doses and a lot of these and others have pretty high doses per drink. A lot have several coffees worth if caffeine in them. Even that probably would be an issue by itself though.
I’ve known two physically fit, seemingly healthy people to have severe heart problems that were blamed on energy drinks. One died. But the thing is, both of those were drinking a lot of it. The one who didn’t die was drinking 1-2 litres a day, the one who died didn’t drink anything but energy drinks. It was literally all he’d drink, every day. Again, if that were coffee it probably would have done the same thing.
Sugar and salt.
One cup of coffee has 50-80 milligrams of caffeine in it
A monster has 300
Carbonated beverages are harmful on your esophagus and stomach with long term use.
Coffee is also the single largest source of antioxidants in the American diet, whereas many energy drinks have no redeeming content.
Is the caffeine natural or chemical? Things like that often make a difference.
Drink sugar free and you’ll be fine. But it’s never a good idea to become dependent on mind-altering chemicals. Drink in moderation
Sugar n shiet
A cup of Coffee is essentially the standard comparison for caffeinated drinks… it’s incredibly easy to track how much you’re having subconsciously.
Energy drinks vary their caffeine and sugar levels drastically between different brands and sometimes they even vary significantly between different products of the same brand.
The sugar in energy drinks is also pretty bad because many people aren’t stopping at one drink, and most are having a ton of sugar in other meals/drinks throughout the day.
U just answered ur own question. One is bean water thats been drank for hundreds of years. And the other is manufactured in a lab with god knows what in there and a shit ton of a sugar. Do you have brain damage how do u not see the difference?
From a health perspective though its mainly the sugar. If the way u drink coffee is with a shit ton of sugar and cream then an energy drink probably isnt that measurably worse.
Caffeine in a normal amount is not bad for you. Its actually shown to be pretty positive with some caveats.
Yeah I drink coffee black, energy drinks have much more stuff in them.
>People have been drinking coffee for over a thousand years and they’ve turned out just fine.
You sure about that?
It’s not the caffeine that’s bad for you, it’s the sugar. There’s also mixed research on whether artificial sweeteners are bad for you (such as for gut health).
Why does every here claim sugar in energy drinks? Nearly all of them (especially the most popular)now have zero sugar. Looking at the label on my delicious can of Jolly Rancher C4 it’s 200mg of caffeine and 10 calories. I’ll guzzle this stuff all day.
I drink the zero sugar energy drinks I have one a week usually unless I feel tired when I get to work and need some energy which doesn’t happen much tho. I don’t drink coffee at all I don’t like it.
Why is drowning bad but drinking a glass of water isn’t?
Makes no damn sense.
Most energy drinks have equal to 5 cups of coffee in caffeine and 3 sodas full of sugar. Different shots are different but read the labels, you will see the contents. it’s a crazy amount , especially for thise that drink multiple a day.
And coffee is not good for you, it’s is often the cause of stomach ulcers, increased pulse rate, high blood pressure leading to strokes and heart attacks.
Energy Drinks taste like ass
Compare the sugar content of an energy drink to a cup of black coffee
Black coffee vs mega sugared energy drink? Not great. Mega sugary starbucks triple frapp with whipped topping+drizzle vs zero sugar energy drink? Probably take the energy drink.
Also worth noting that the energy drinks you guys have in the states are fucking INSANE, I regularly see cans with 300+ mg of caffeine in a 500ml can, that’s absolutely going to fuck you up longterm drinking that much caffeine in such a short time. At least up here in Canada it’s limited to 180mg for a 500ml can, so about the same as a large coffee.
The mormons would like to have a word.
I drank an energy drink once and had some kind of dissociative episode where I became suicidal. It was wild, haven’t touched them since.
Ingredients. Beans and water vs
Energy drinks have a higher concentration of caffeine, so it’s easier to drink too much and overdose.
Sugar , so much
Like really much and people are not good with discipline.
Then you got a Lot of Diabetes and that costs the state
That is the real problem
Sugar and sodium.
Energy drinks can exacerbate heart problems to a greater extent than coffee can, due to the combinations of stimulants, sugar, caffeine and vitamins.
Energy drinks aren’t terrible, they just *can* be terrible if you’re prone to heart attacks. Almost everyone who has ever died from energy drink consumption has had a heart attack, and an overwhelming majority of them had heart conditions. They usually didn’t know about those heart conditions before consuming the drink, and/or they consumed more than is recommended.
There’s also the argument that people make about untested ingredients, which may be true in some small minority of cases, but most of the ingredients in an energy drink are perfectly safe and well studied and tested. Sugar is almost always the worst ingredient in terms of overall health. The B vitamins are completely safe (unless you have a condition that makes them unsafe), taurine is fine, guarana is a plant that primarily contains caffeine. It also has theobromine and theophylline, which are found in cocoa and tea, catechins, which are polyphenols similar to the ones in green tea, and some trace minerals.
But yeah, TL;DR: Energy drinks aren’t strictly worse for you than coffee, though they certainly can be. If you’re a black coffee drinker, the sugar in most energy drinks is going to be the biggest difference, followed by the other additives that don’t exist in coffee. Most of those additives are actually good, but if you put enough of them in one drink, the odds of one of them inducing a poor reaction in a small percentage of people increases. You can think of it like allergies – If you’re allergic to say, one kind of seafood, but you’re not sure which, you know you can eat halibut, or prawns or clams, or crab, and be ok. But eating a seafood stew might be a bad idea, because that one kind of seafood could be in there.
From personal experience, energy drinks always mess with my emotions. Coffee simply gives me energy.
A lot of energy drinks can lead to kidney stones. I had two of those bastards before I changed my habits.
I see a lot of bullshit in these comments.
Personally I think they’re both wonderful.
But chemically, energy drinks have other stimulants like taurine, l-carantine that gives you the feeling that you have more energy, energy drinks are also more sugary or they have sugar substitutes which the news keeps telling me causes cancer :/