Posted on 11/15/2012 9:23:27 AM PST by NormsRevenge
You know those little vials of who-knows-what that TV bills as a healthier alternative to energy drinks. Turns out they might make you die. Or to be more specific, the flavored energy shot "has been mentioned in some 90 filings with the F.D.A., including more than 30 that involved serious or life-threatening injuries like heart attacks, convulsions and, in one case, a spontaneous abortion," according to a New York Times investigation.
...
Don't worry, 5-Hour Energy fans, Monster Energy drink is a culprit, too. Following a review of FDA records, The Times found that 5-Hour Energy was implicated in at least 13 deaths over the last four years, while Monster was cited in five deaths in a review last month. Both the paper and the FDA are careful to point out that correlation does not equal causation in these horrifying examples of pick-me-ups gone wrong. Nevertheless, we're pretty sure coffee will remain our stimulant of choice for the foreseeable future.
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The scariest thing about the Times report isn't necessarily the threat of heart attack or spontaneous abortion. It's the fact that nobody really knows what's going on with energy drinks -- or in 5-Hour Energy's case "dietary supplements" -- that become implicated in fatalities. Even scarier, is that the companies making these potions know that it's happening. They're required by federal law to report cases that link their products to fatalities to the FDA. They don't want to talk about it either. "I am not interested in making any comment," Manoj Bhargava, the chief executive of Living Essentials, the company that makes 5-Hour Energy. (Go ahead and let the irony of that company name sink in.)
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
yep, they work great.
“First they came for the ephedrine...”
i took one of those 6 years ago and it wired me for 2 days. took the bottle back to walgreens, explained what happen, and they gave me a refund. never again on any of that crap BUT, unlike libtards, i don’t want it banded just because i don’t like it. i cannot take statins but that doesn’t mean they don’t help lots of people. the world does not revolve around me.
There’s no sugar in 5 Hour Energy Drink (sweetened with Splenda).
Also, you didn’t mention the other active “energy” ingredients: taurine, glucuronolactone, malic Acid, citicoline, tyrosine, phenylalanine. At least, you mentioned the B-complex, which most MSM reviewers of energy drinks fail to do.
I occasionally use energy drinks, including 5 Hour. I find that they do increase alertness, without the jitters that accompany ingesting too much caffiene. I suspect that energy drinks have prevented many more traffic deaths, than the number of heart attacks the article claims they’ve caused.
There’s a lot of misinformation out there about energy drinks. Lazy MSM reporters simply call them “high caffeine” drinks (which does not apply to many of them) as if caffeine were the only active ingredient. It does seem that, as aft_lizard says in #15, it’s all about setting up for law suits.
Anything —*anything*, even pure water — will kill you, if you ingest too much of it, too quickly. Do we need government’s to ban everything that *might* harm us — or do we simply need to READ THE FLIPPING LABEL?
A good does of Vitamins has been doing me a world of good lately
For any freepers over 50:
Niacin- the first time you take it it might freak you out- you will feel hot and flushed for about a half hour. After you get used to it you will love the flushed out feeling afterwards
Valaryan and Melatonin - for sleeping
Saw Palmetto- I found that taking it every day is not the best way- I have changed to a double dose on weekends only
Vitamin E AND Magnesium (together they have a synnergistic effect, I think, for making you feel good)
DO NOT FORGET ORANGE JUICE!!! Fresh squoze is best but anything is better than nothing
MUSHROOMS! I have been getting all kinds of dried mushrooms from the asian market and I can whip up a mushroom soup in a flash- and I can’t get enough of it!
Herbs- Tumeric, basil, oregano- use them!!!!!!!!!!!
GNC has some good brands of Testosterone boosters- The natural kids are better than the synthetic ones, but they are both expensive.
I spent $300 in GNC a few months ago and I felt better than I had in years using the above combinations
I am tempted to wrote a book- I feel like my health has been improving so much lately from my research into good fooods and vitamins
The report is likely the raw data report, where data is collected about what, if any, "substances" were consumed within the time period immediately preceding an event.
You can't tell anything from these reports. If there is a significant jump in numbers, then they can spend money on an actual study. The study would compare the rate of some outcome being reported to the same rate for those not in the group.
For example, if 20% of 30-year-olds are found to take 5-hour energy, and then they found that 20% of the heart attacks of 30-year-olds were people who consumed 5-hour energy, that would just be the expected outcome.
Too many people don't understand this, and whenever something bad happens, they just want to blame whatever they just did in the last day or two.
Every body dies...... that includes the subset taking 5 hour energy.
The probability of another causative is very likely. Having an easy target to sue is the root of the article
“Take a high dose B-Complex capsule and wash it down with a double espresso plus 5 sugars for a similar (and cheaper) effect”
A 5 hour energy drink is nothing more then a high dose of B-Complex. No sugar or caffeine just B6 & B12 I think.
JB
As for no caffeine, this chart begs to differ. Granted it is a wiki entry but I'd think the drink companies would be all over it if it was inaccurate.
It is far cheaper to just take the micro-dots(sublingual tabs) from WalMart. There is no crash because B-12 is a vitamin and most folks do not get enough in their diet.
I tried the 5-Hour a couple of times when I was working night shift and it worked as advertised. Finally I read the label and remembered seeing the microdots in WM. I went and bought a bottle of 236 for $2.00. Further study convinced me that the liquid form is he most effective and e 2 of the 500 size tabs would be equivalent to one 5hr. Actually I did great with just one tab and, being naturally cheap, did not go up to the 1000 units indicated. Somebody told my daughter to take B-12 for her sciatica, She takes the 2500s and has not been bothered by it in years.
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