Healthy Simplified
Welcome to the Healthy Simplified podcast, where we put personalized health and wellness in the spotlight. Join us for enlightening education, inspiring stories, and in-depth discussions with industry, medical, and scientific experts. Together, we’ll explore how to craft a unique approach to your well-being.
Healthy Simplified
The Truth About Energy Drinks: Health Risks, Market Insights, and IDLife Solutions
We'll uncover the hidden dangers lurking in every can of your favorite energy drink. Unmask the misleading food labels and understand the real impact of high sugar and caffeine consumption on your health. We'll shed light on how these ingredients contribute to everything from weight gain to poor sleep quality. Plus, get informed about sugar-free alternatives and the complex role of artificial sweeteners. This episode offers a comprehensive breakdown of the risks that come with your quick energy fix.
Lastly, we explore the significant health concerns surrounding energy drink consumption, especially for teens. From sleep disruption and dental issues to the alarming rise in caffeine toxicity and mental health problems, we present shocking statistics and vital research findings. Learn about the genetic factors influencing caffeine metabolism and discover the benefits of slow-released caffeine. By the end of this episode, you'll be equipped with the knowledge to make healthier choices for you and your family, empowering you to navigate the world of energy drinks with confidence.
Welcome to the podcast everyone. We are here for another episode of the Healthy, simplified podcast. Today is an interesting day. I'm going to conduct this in a unique way, in the sense that I'm going to do an extended version of a. Did you know? And for those people that understand anything about ID Life, you know, one of my favorite things to do is to give people information that maybe they should know, maybe they don't know, maybe that they need to know. That allows them to make informed choices, informed decisions, and we figured that today would be a great day to go through something that a lot of people are interested in.
Speaker 1:But a lot of people don't really understand the marketplace. They don't understand the reasoning behind it or why something exists, and what I'm talking about is the buzz about energy drinks. We're going to go into a deep dive into what I'm going to call the liquid energy business, and the reason why we're going to do that is because, when you really sit back and understand why IDLife exists, one of the things you'll get is that Idealife actually creates products because of what we perceive to be a problem in the marketplace. One of the ways to understand that why, if you will, because every Idealife product has a why behind it. To understand that why, you need to appreciate what the problem was first. So one of the things we're going to look at is we're going to look at the history of energy drinks. We're going to look at market growth, we're going to look at the effects that energy drinks are having on our bodies but, more importantly, the effects that they're having on our children's body, and then we're also going to make you rethink what it means to have a quote-unquote caffeine fix, because a lot of people they start out with a perception that an energy drink is going to give me energy. One of the things we're going to do is we're going to dispel that myth really quickly, but first to understand the energy drink business and to understand why it is so popular.
Speaker 1:One of the things you have to understand is the marketplace and, if you didn't know, in 2020, the worldwide market for energy drinks was just over $61 billion. What's interesting about that is that by 2026, it's projected to be over $86 billion and the US represents somewhere between $15 and $20 billion of that all by itself, but the US is not the number one consumer of energy drinks. Interesting little fact Austria has the highest per capita consumption of energy drinks. Interesting little fact Austria has the highest per capita consumption of energy drinks in the world. In fact, if you take every Austrian that is alive, they average two gallons each per year. Yeah, that's a lot of energy in Austria.
Speaker 1:But one of the things that we need to do is we need to go back to the beginning. You need to understand where energy drinks came from, because if you understand where it all started, you can have a better understanding of why they became so popular so fast. And a lot of people don't even understand that energy drinks actually started in the 1960s in Europe. There was a Japanese pharmaceutical company, teisho big surprise, in 1962 created something called Lipovitin D, and the whole idea behind this was to give people a answer to that wonderful thing that we all know called fatigue. In 1985, in the US, we got our very first energy drink. And that's one of those trivia questions what's the first energy drink ever introduced in the United States? And the answer is Jolt Cola. And if you look at their slogan when they first launched, it's probably the most honest energy drink slogan I've ever seen. It literally was all the sugar and twice the caffeine. Now, if that's not a wake-up call. I don't know what it is, because when we get done with this podcast, you're going to understand how all the sugar and twice the caffeine was actually an understatement, but at least it was honest back in 1985.
Speaker 1:In 1987, there was a little company that many of you have probably heard of that got started. That's when Red Bull took flight. You have probably heard of they got started that's when Red Bull took flight, and that was a combination of two different people coming together One a Thai energy drink called Krating Dung and the other an Austrian entrepreneur, dietrich Meschitz, who partnered with a Thai businessman, kaleo Yuveda, to create Red Bull. Red Bull came to the US in 1997 and has pretty much owned the energy drink market ever since. Interesting thing about Red Bull not only was it developed in Thailand in 1965 or 1975, but the owner or the creator, kaleo Yuveda, actually, to this day, says that it was created to help truck drivers and laborers avoid the fatigue associated with long shifts. So that's where it started out and, of course, it has taken off from there.
Speaker 1:Now, if you understand all of the things about, okay, these are energy drinks. This is how they got started. This is how they got to the US. You have to understand what they consist of, and for the most part it's two main ingredients. The two rock stars, if you will, of the energy drink industry are sugar and caffeine. So let's start out with sugar. Really simple People understand that sugar increases blood sugar levels or blood glucose levels.
Speaker 1:We all get that. But did you know that the average American consumes over 17 servings of added sugar daily? I use that word added on purpose, because that's not total sugar daily, that's just added. So 17 added servings of sugar a day. That's amounting to about 285 calories, or over 100 pounds of added sugar annually. And see, that's interesting because the American Heart Association says that the average man should consume roughly about nine servings a day, the average woman six servings a day and the average child six servings a day. But our average is 17 of added sugar alone. Now you're probably asking yourself what's the total amount of sugar that the average American is consuming on a daily basis? That is a shocking 42 servings per day. That's 744 calories, or just over 150 pounds of sugar per year. Now it's telling that America has an an obesity epidemic, especially considering we're consuming seven, almost 750, calories a day on average.
Speaker 1:Now think about that when you're talking about a, an ingredient in sugar that has been shown to be just as addictive as cocaine. It basically touches on the same reward pathway in the brain. You you can see these MRI scans. It lights up both areas identically. There's no reason not to understand that sugar has become one of the most addictive drugs we have in the US. The only thing that pales in comparison is, oh yeah, caffeine the other part of the equation. Caffeine, the other part of the equation.
Speaker 1:But one of the things that these podcasts do, and one of the things I love to educate people on, is to understand how to apply this kind of information, now that you know it, into your everyday life. See, because when you actually sit back and think about that and say that you're turning over a food label to understand whether or not a product contains sugar, added sugar, hidden sugars, what you need to understand, first and foremost, is that nutritional facts panels in the US are usually based upon 2,000 calorie diet. So that then, and there of itself, is a problem Because, see, with this sugar consumption that Americans are consuming now, the average American, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US, is actually the average American is consuming 3,600 calories per day. I'm going to let that set in there for just a second. 3,600 calories per day Now, with that you take the average resting metabolic rate. Okay, for Americans.
Speaker 1:What that means is, if you do nothing throughout the day, you just sit there all day long. You're going to burn on average men 1,600 to 1,800 calories, women 1,300 to 1,500 calories to find a way to burn 1,800, women, 2,100 of calories per day, just to maintain their weight. Now, if you think about that for a second, one of the things that we talk about in the US is hey, get your 10,000 steps. 10,000 steps, just so you know, will only burn 300 to 500 calories. The average American, by the way, only takes about 4,000 to 5,000 steps a day, so we're only halfway to that goal. So that's 150 to 250 calories per day that we're burning with our steps. But if you really want to overdo it, you can go out and do a half marathon every single day, but that's only going to get you somewhere between 1,300 and 1,500 calories. And when the average man needs to burn 1,800, average woman 2,100, you can understand why we have a weight issue in the US.
Speaker 1:Now, sugar is just part of the problem. Sugar is a whole nother episode. It's a whole nother podcast, and we can talk about it for multiple different episodes. But the other culprit here is caffeine, see, because it is the most used and abused drug in the world, hands down. While it doesn't contain sugar in and of itself, most people don't realize that caffeine in and of itself also raises blood sugar. Little known fact for you diabetics and pre-diabetics out there. The way that it does that is, it stimulates the adrenaline release, causing the liver to release glucose into the bloodstream. So what happens in these energy drinks is not only do they load them with sugar, they also load them with caffeine, usually high amounts, so that you literally are rocketed into orbit and anything that goes up must come down.
Speaker 1:Now an interesting, did you know, is that caffeine does not equal energy. Now I want you to think about this for a second. See, energy, or true energy in the body is something called ATP or adenosine triphosphate. Okay, it's the primary carrier of energy in the cells, directly providing energy for all cellular processes. That means your body's ability to move, think, operate both consciously and unconsciously. So your heart beating, your blinking, your breathing, etc. All that comes from your body's ability to make something called ATP or adenosine triphosphate. Caffeine, on the other hand, is just a stimulant that affects your central nervous system. It doesn't provide energy, but it does enhance your alertness and reduces the perception of fatigue by blocking adenosine receptors in the brain.
Speaker 1:I want to make sure you understood me there it only reduces the perception of fatigue. It doesn't actually take away the fatigue itself. That's why you have the crash with a lot of caffeine-related products, because caffeine can only delay the inevitable. Eventually you will crash. Eventually your body will be fatigued. All of this leads to increased neurotransmitter releases, such as dopamine and norepinephrine, which can improve concentration and energy levels, but it doesn't take care of the underlying problem.
Speaker 1:Now that raises an interesting question how many people do you know wake up every morning and say you know what? I just can't get started without my daily caffeine fix, my morning coffee, my morning of Joe. There's only really two possibilities with people that are in that state. One, they have a caffeine addiction, remember, just as addictive as some of the most addictive things on the planet cocaine and the like. But the other possibility and more likely, the effect it's directly related to poor sleep. See, those are really the only two logical explanations.
Speaker 1:If people wake up tired or fatigued or restless, it's because they're not actually getting good sleep. Little known fact about sleep. I have a tendency to ask this question to a lot of people Are you the type that, when your head hits the pillow, do you fall asleep immediately? Or are you the type that you know, hey, your head hits the pillow and it takes you 12 to 15 minutes to fall asleep? Most people think that when their head hits the pillow and they fall asleep, they're good sleepers. The reality is, harvard Medical School did a study and found that those folks actually have extremely poor sleep habits. They're getting very little actual restful sleep. A healthy sleep cycle is somebody who, when they put their head down at night, they are basically 12 to 15 minutes before they fall asleep. The other people aren't actually falling asleep. They're actually what we call passing out and usually have very few REM cycles, if any at all.
Speaker 1:We have these two culprits in energy drinks. We have sugar and we have caffeine two of the most addictive drugs on the planet. But there was this craze in the US to basically start creating items that were sugar-free. The reason why was because we wanted people to have access to the opportunity of not having to intake those added sugars, our food manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies came out with artificial sweeteners. What is this wolf in sheep's clothing, as I call it?
Speaker 1:Most people think that an artificial sweetener doesn't count Zero calories. You're fine, but did you know that artificial sweeteners may actually decrease your insulin sensitivity, potentially leading to insulin resistance? That's right. So see, a lot of times these sugar-free options, these artificially sweetened drinks, are marketed to people that are trying to lose weight or diabetic. And the reality is these things can have a higher effect on insulin levels, a more adverse effect on the body than sugar itself. In fact, diet sodas have been directly linked to weight gain and metabolic syndrome. They might also alter the brain's response to sweetness, increasing cravings for high-calorie foods. In fact, one of the things that I try to teach people is that a lot of times, you don't understand the body's response to artificial sweeteners, because, see, when you consume an artificial sweetener, the body you know it basically sees that as hey, this is sugar. So it has an insulin response, releases insulin into the bloodstream and it goes looking for sugar, because that's the purpose is to get the sugar out of the body or to use it when it doesn't find sugar, insulin does its secondary function, which it starts converting everything in your stomach to fat.
Speaker 1:The running adage is you didn't order the Diet Coke and hamburger. You actually ordered the Diet Coke and love handles, because that's what's going to happen and metabolically, that's just exactly what does happen. In fact, one of the surprising statistics is a study recently found that people who drink diet soda daily had a 36% higher risk of metabolic syndrome and a 67% higher risk of type 2 diabetes compared to those who don't drink any diet drinks. So be very careful. Is that when you look at the weight-loss aisles in most grocery stores or you see the zero sugar or sugar-free and those types of things, it doesn't mean that it doesn't come with some severe consequences. In fact, it's really just the opposite. They have adverse effects in ways that you didn't even appreciate or understand. In fact, one of the most dangerous things for diabetics is these artificial sweeteners. In fact, one of the most dangerous things for diabetics is these artificial sweeteners. In fact, research suggests that people who drink diet sodas may be more likely to not only be overweight but also obese, putting them into a higher risk category for comorbidities and things of that nature. So sugar, caffeine, artificial sweeteners. Who's the real target market? Okay, because this is good to understand.
Speaker 1:A lot of people that listen to this podcast have children or have children in their lives. And what if I told you that the target market for energy drinks most energy drink companies is ages 13 to 35? That's their target. In fact, I would almost argue that it's 13 to 25. But most of the research says 13 to 35. In fact, more than 67% of energy drinks are consumed by that age demographic. That's right. Two-thirds of the energy drinks consumed are consumed by people ages 13 to 35. Over 50% are consumed by people under 25, which is why I'm saying 13 to 25 is really the target as far as I'm concerned. But 30% of teens in the US use energy drinks every single day. In fact, one of Red Bull's initial ads summed it up perfectly. As far as I'm concerned. It was literally nobody ever wished they slept more during college. Wow, if you go back and actually look at some of the original ads of some of these energy drink companies, they were literally saying the truth back then. Obviously, now there's a little bit more awareness and that slogans have changed, but if you go back and look at the original stuff, you actually get to understand what their true motivation was.
Speaker 1:An alarming fact that you might want to be aware of is a 2018 study found that 40% of American teens aged 13 to 19 reported side effects from consuming energy drinks, including heart palpitations, insomnia and feeling jittery. So imagine that 40%, ages 13 to 19, have already felt heart palpitations as a result of energy drink consumption. Now, a lot of that is attributed to the fact that a lot of these energy drinks they contain 500 plus milligrams of caffeine, and the average teen, especially male teens, are drinking anywhere from three to five of them per day. Truly understand why Idealife decided to take this market on and actually create a product that was more of a healthy option as opposed to what is out. There is some of these statistics and other things I'm about to share with you, because when you actually look at some of the things that are happening every single year in this country related to energy drinks, you will understand the problem in a way that you probably never have before. For instance, what if I told you there were over 20,000 emergency room visits in the US every single year related to energy drink consumption, with over 1,500 of them involving children ages 12 to 17? What if I told you that 19% of college age individuals reported to experience heart palpitations after consuming energy drinks? Remember what I told you earlier, that 40% had experienced some form. But what if I told you 19% of college-aged individuals report experiencing heart palpitations every time? It's something that they're actually starting to feel on a regular basis Obviously obviously not great for their future cardiovascular health. Now one of the other trends that you probably have heard of is mixing energy drinks with red bull and other energy drinks. Yes, actually milk mixing alcohol. But here's the the shocking statistic a recent study found that 31% of children ages 12 to 17, obviously well below the drinking age and 34% of ages 18 to 24 year olds regularly mix energy drinks with alcohol, which obviously increases the risk of binge drinking and alcohol related injuries.
Speaker 1:What about sleep? One of the biggest issues we have, one of the biggest pandemics we have in the US right now that no one's really talking about, is the lack of sleep that so many of our teens are getting and how that's affecting their development and their health and obesity rates, etc. Research shows that 50% of young adults who regularly consume energy drinks report sleep problems, compared to 28% of occasional adults who regularly consume energy drinks report sleep problems, compared to 28% of occasional consumers. What about their dental health? A study found in the Journal of the American Dental Association found that energy drinks can be up to 11 times more erosive of tooth enamel than regular soft drinks. Imagine the future of their teeth, imagine their tooth health, imagine all of the tooth-related problems and issues and root canals and bridges and all the other things that are going to be coming on simply because overconsumption of energy drinks.
Speaker 1:What about caffeine toxicity? In 2015, the American Association of Poison Control Centers reported 1,675 cases of caffeine toxicity specifically attributed to energy drinks. 1,675 cases of caffeine toxicity specifically attributed to energy drinks 1,675. But that number grew to 3,789 cases by 2021, so just six years later, and from 2019 to 2023, there was nearly a 20% increase in cases involving children ages 6 to 19. It goes on from there.
Speaker 1:What about the behavioral impact? A study of 8th, 10th and 12th graders found that those who consumed energy drinks were 66% more likely to have a risk of ADD and ADHD symptoms in school. It's crazy. The cardiovascular effects A 2019 study found that consuming 32 ounces of energy drinks within an hour increased the risk of electrical disturbances in the heart by 40%. One of the ones that should touch home for a lot of people is the mental health impact of energy drinks. Research published in the Journal of Caffeine Research found that high-frequency energy drink consumers were two and a half times more likely to report anxiety and three times more likely to report depression compared to non-consumers, and a study in Frontiers in Psychiatry reported that 22% of energy drink consumers experience withdrawal symptoms when they stop consumption, including headaches, fatigue, difficulty concentrating and difficulty sleeping.
Speaker 1:See, these are the things that people don't talk about. These are the issues and problems that Americans are dealing with, but, most importantly, our children are dealing with, directly related to the overconsumption of these high-caffeine, high-sugar drinks. But see, there's another side of it, because it goes beyond just the addictive nature of the caffeine, the sugar, the artificial sweeteners, everything else. It goes beyond the side effects and other impacts that it's having on your health. There's also a genetic component to this. See, one of the other things that IDLife obviously provides its consumers is genetic information about themselves. See, one of the other things that ID Life obviously provides its consumers is genetic information about themselves, and one of those genetic markers that we test for is your ability to metabolize caffeine.
Speaker 1:Okay, and a lot of people don't really appreciate the role that your genes play in caffeine consumption. For instance, the gene that we really are looking at the most is the CYP1A2 gene. That's the one we really look at and that influences your caffeine metabolism speed how fast your body can metabolize caffeine out of your bloodstream. Now that becomes extremely important because if you're what we call a slow metabolizer of caffeine and you consume caffeine after 12 o'clock, 1 o'clock in the afternoon, you probably think that you're a night owl, and the reality is your body just is still trying to metabolize out the caffeine. You still have a higher than average heart rate. Your blood pressure is probably slightly elevated. You're not going to be going to sleep anytime soon, anytime soon. Those slow metabolizers have a much more difficult time getting it out of the bloodstream, thus causing what they think is their inability to fall asleep. The other thing that it does is it has cardiovascular issues for people that are slow metabolizers. Fun fact, 10% of the population roughly according to geneticists, are what we call super metabolizers of caffeine.
Speaker 1:I happen to be one of these people. Now what's interesting about me is I can consume about as much caffeine as I want to, and I have never experienced what people consider to be the jitters. I don't know what that feeling is. I don't. I can't associate with it. I just can't. I'm one of the lucky ones that is. In fact, I'm ADHD. It's just something that I am. So caffeine for me is almost has the reverse effect Instead of being a stimulant, it's actually a somewhat of a depressant. It actually helps calm me down. I'm that type that can have caffeine right before I go to sleep and boom, I'm out. But I represent 10% of the population. The other 90% the other 90% of the population have a reduced metabolization of caffeine, with more than 50% of those individuals having what we call slow metabolization of caffeine. That means any consumption over 100 milligrams a day is going to be troublesome for these people, 100 milligrams of caffeine is roughly a cup of coffee.
Speaker 1:Now, there's a big difference between obviously added caffeine and naturally occurring caffeine, and one of the reasons why Idealife uses slow released caffeine is to address this issue. You're not getting all of it at once. You're getting it slowly, over a period of time, so that your body can actually have time to metabolize it out. Now, one of the things that was a phenomenon, still is in some respects, was a product called 5-Hour Energy. Now, a lot of people use 5-Hour Energy. They like the convenience of it.
Speaker 1:There's some things that you need to make sure that you understand about that formulation, and I'm just throwing this information out there just so people can know, because I'm talking about genetics and now I'm talking about a particular product, and part of the reason why is because I want you to pay attention to the supplement facts label that's on that product. For instance, the amount of niacin that's in it. Niacin is the B3 vitamin. It causes niacin flush and reddening and flushing and things of that nature. It's 150% of your daily intake recommended value. Okay, vitamin B6 has 2000 of your daily value in it. Vitamin B12, it has 8,333% of your daily value. That's right. It is 8,333% of the amount of B12 you should consume on a daily basis. Caffeine is roughly 200 milligrams, but here's the other thing that's in there.
Speaker 1:A lot of people didn't know there is 400 micrograms, or 100% of your daily value, of folic acid. Now, for those people that are MTHFR like myself, I'm compound heterozygous. The reason why I'm pointing this out is because obviously, you know the impact that folic acid can have on you. A lot of times, like I've told people, folic acid is put into a lot of products and a lot of ingredients, and you know that folic acid isn't for you. So if you happen to be MTHFR positive, like I am, then by all means you need to be aware of this. And if you don't know what I mean by MTHFR, there's another podcast where I actually walk through what it is, the impact it has, the methylation function and all the benefits and detriments of having MTHFR and what you can do about it.
Speaker 1:Interesting fact, though, about the creator of Five Hour Energy. Sorry if I got that name wrong, but he pledged 99% of his wealth to charity and is working on inventions to solve world problems like water scarcity and energy poverty. At least he's doing something good with the wealth that he's created from his creation. All right, so the insomniac's drink of choice. I mentioned earlier that one of the issues that you have with people that consume energy drinks is they have a tendency to have sleep disruption and sleep disorders A lot of times, when you're talking about 90% of the population being slow metabolizers of caffeine, which means consumption of anything more than call it between 200 and 400 milligrams, causes a major issue for them with regard to their ability to metabolize that out and all of the ill effects of over-caffeinization. And the average energy drink in this country has 500 milligrams of caffeine in just one much less the three to five the average person is consuming. You can understand why we call this the insomniac's drink of choice. Can understand why we call this the insomniac's drink of choice Because 51% of women and 37% of men who consume energy drinks daily report experiencing insomnia. Now I'm going to let you let that set in for a second. 51% of women and 37% of men who consume these energy drinks on a daily report, daily basis, report experiencing insomnia. Now, daily energy drink consumers are more than twice as likely to sleep less than six hours per night compared to non-consumers. Now think about that for a second.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about a few of the impacts that this can have. Number one thing needed to maintain a healthy weight and for your body to repair and recover is sleep. Hands down. There's no even real argument about that. The only thing that is a close second may be water consumption. Again, that's a whole nother podcast that we can talk about. But first and foremost, sleep is necessary for that. The second thing it's necessary for cognitive function the following day, having fatigue, having brain fog all of these things are all related to lack of proper sleep.
Speaker 1:But one of the other things that happens in these situations is there's two hormones in your body. One of them is called leptin, the other is called ghrelin. Leptin tells your brain hey, you know what I think, I'm hungry, and ghrelin I'm sorry. Ghrelin tells your body I'm hungry. Leptin tells your body hey, you know what I think, I'm hungry, and ghrelin I'm sorry. Ghrelin tells your body I'm hungry. Leptin tells your body hey, I've had enough to eat, I'm full. The problem when you are sleep deprived, especially if you're dealing with insomnia, is ghrelin is on overload, in other words, the I'm hungry gene is on overload, or the hormone, I should say, and the leptin hormone, the hormone that says hey, I've had enough to eat is asleep, it's gone, it's not there.
Speaker 1:So when we're dealing with situations like this, people have a much higher degree of overeating, overconsumption of food and constant binge eating, resulting in extreme cases of being overweight and obese. So you can see the direct correlation of the consumption or overconsumption of these energy drinks, the impact that it has on sleep and then sleep having it on your health and your weight. In fact, when you look at all of the studies that are out there, one of the ones that was most interesting to me was the impact that these energy drinks are having with regard to our military personnel. Specifically, a study found that military personnel who consumed three or more energy drinks per day which was a high percentage of our military were more likely to sleep less than four hours per night and more likely to fall asleep during briefings and on guard duty. Now, I've never had the honor of serving in our military. I know a lot of people who have. I've got a long family history of it but I can only imagine that falling asleep on guard duty is not a good thing and can only result in bad things, not to mention the trouble that you're going to get in with your superior officers, but the impact that it can have on the security of our military bases, etc.
Speaker 1:How much is too much? Okay, let's go back and again say something that I said earlier, which is the American Heart Association recommends that men have no more than nine servings of sugar per day. Okay, that's 36 grams. Each serving is four grams. So, men 36 grams or nine servings. Women and children Men 36 grams or nine servings. Women and children six servings or 24 grams. Okay, just so you know. The average energy drink out there has much, much more than that. In fact, red Bull contains three servings of added sugar. Okay, so there's that. At least it's somewhat in the reasonable range. Monster contains 13 servings. Okay, think through that for a second. If the American Heart Association is saying nine for men, six for women, and the average Monster contains 13, you think that's bad?
Speaker 1:How about Mountain Dew? Most of you don't even think Mountain Dew, you don't think energy drink. But Mountain Dew has got so much caffeine and so much sugar in it. It's off the charts. 19 servings of added sugar. Here's an eye-opening fact A 16-ounce can of Monster contains 54 grams of sugar, which is more than the recommended daily limit for added sugars. By itself, okay, mountain Dew blows that away by another six servings. So think of that's another 24 grams of sugar. And these are things that go unregulated and are allowed to be consumed by our children without even our permission.
Speaker 1:We've now talked about the history. We've talked about where they came from. We've talked about why they're created. We've talked about how they're created to be addictive. We've talked about the impact that they're having on our health, on our sleep, on our obesity rates and, most importantly, the impact that they're going to have on our long-term health and wellness. So now you understand the problem, but do you understand the ideal life solution? See, one of the things that we wanted to do when we created our product is we first wanted to address this overconsumption of three to five energy drinks per day. Okay, because that was the average. That's what was happening. One of the reasons why that was happening was because the way these things were created was they put a large amount of sugar, large amount of caffeine, again sending you into orbit. You come crashing down every two to three hours, so you kept grabbing, kept grabbing, kept grabbing, trying to get to the afternoon.
Speaker 1:We use something called encapsulated caffeine. Gives you that small bump or that small pick-me-up, and it lasts four to six hours, which means, instead of having two, three, four a day, most people just need one. Now, some people two, but for the most part it's one a day. In fact, the only sugar that we actually use. In fact, we have one product that has no sugar. We mainly use Stevia, but when we do use it, it's less than one serving, it's only three grams. And then it's organic cane sugar, which has a lower glycemic response. On top of that, we put VO2 enhancers into our energy drink. Now, why would we put VO2 enhancers? Most people think VO2 and they're thinking, okay, why did you put workout stuff into your energy drink?
Speaker 1:What is true energy? Energy is oxygen in the blood. Remember, energy comes from ATP. True energy comes from ATP in the body, controlling the body's movement, not the perception of lack of fatigue which comes from caffeine. Again, we wanted to create actual energy in the body, so oxygenation will give you more energy. Not only that, we wanted to give you the mental clarity components we wanted you to actually be able to function cognitively. We didn't want to create an energizer bunny. We wanted to create something where you could have what's called focused energy. And then, of course, most importantly, no crash.
Speaker 1:The whole idea behind using low sugar content, using Stevia as a sweetener in addition, and then also adding in a time-release caffeine, as there's no crash, so small bump, no crash, getting you to where you need to go. In fact, one of the things we teach at IDLife, and a lot of people now know, is that when you get into the afternoon and you have that afternoon lull and you're thinking, man, I need more energy. And remember, caffeine does not equal energy. You're right, you do need energy, but the reason why you need energy is mainly because you have an electrolyte depletion. See, at night you don't realize, while you sleep you probably have sweat out a lot of your electrolytes and you're not replenishing those throughout the day. So when you get in the afternoon, one of the things we tell people is you can grab, for instance, one of our hydrate formulas 400 milligrams of electrolyte coconut water powder. Try that in the afternoon and watch the natural pick-me-up that you will get from replenishing those electrolytes as opposed to reaching for the caffeine. Now why is that important? Why should you go electrolyte rather than caffeine?
Speaker 1:Remember that 90% of the population are slower metabolizers of caffeine. By not consuming the caffeine in the afternoon, you're not going to inhibit your sleep cycle, giving yourself the best chance of actually getting a good night's sleep, waking up actually refreshed and getting your day started actually developing a good circadian rhythm. Your day started actually developing a good circadian rhythm, getting yourself on path to have a healthy lifestyle. See, when you understand the why behind something, why we created it you can understand the why behind what ID Life exists for See, we exist to identify problems in the marketplace, gaps to address head on, but mostly to explain to consumers that hey, there really are problems out there. There really are alternatives to what you are seeing, alternatives to things that are available for purchase, alternatives that are better for you.
Speaker 1:Yes, caffeine is something that a lot of people are addicted to. So is sugar, but at the same token, you can start educating folks on how to change that they could not be the average. Getting away from the average 42 servings of sugar a day, that's going to help their health. Getting away from the average thousand plus milligrams that the average American is consuming of caffeine on a daily basis and all the adrenal function disruptions and things that are happening as a result of that, is a benefit to them. But it all starts with understanding the why, and that's what these podcasts and the Did you Knows and everything that we teach at ID Life is all about trying to give people the information so that they can make an informed choice.
Speaker 1:I hope this podcast has been beneficial to you. I hope it's provided some insight into this industry but, most importantly, insight into why you need to be an informed consumer and not just a mindless consumer just drinking these things on a daily basis and, most importantly, having the conversation with your children, because they are the targets of the marketing for these products and, most importantly, they are also the number one consumers. So when you know, you know and now you know. So until next time. This is Mark Bennett, on behalf of ID Life. Thank you for listening to the podcast today.