Either way, don't mistake them for sports drinks
(NEWSER) - Energy drinks have certainly been effective at marketing themselves to athletes, especially young ones—a recent survey showed that 32% of high-school athletes drink them—but do they actually improve performance? They jury’s out, but it doesn’t look good, experts tell the New York Times . “There’s good evidence that caffeine is ergogenic,” says one pediatrician, but the amounts of caffeine needed to boost performance vary wildly, and the effects decrease the more often it’s used. (Another points out that energy drinks are not interchangeable with sports drinks such as Gatorade, which have far less sugar and usually no caffeine.) More»
