Is 5-Hour Energy All it's Cracked Up to Be?

[Rob Williams]

From our front-page news:

If you leave your house on a regular basis, or watch TV, chances are good that you know what "5-hour Energy" is. It's like a typical energy drink, but not. In this little bottle are numerous vitamins, amino acids and various other good stuff to help keep you alert and give you back a little bit of the energy you lost during the day. Seems good, but...

There's questioning on just how useful this stuff is, and how healthy. After all, it's never been tested over long periods of time, and some doctors don't rule out the fact that all of these vitamins and chemicals thrown together may not be a good thing. In some rarer cases, and if you overdo things, you may actually experience side-effects... not the energy boost, especially if mixing with other energy drinks, or medications.

Many people visiting this site are gamers, myself included, and I've never stopped myself from overdoing it on the Red Bull or Bawls during a LAN party. Even at home, I used to have a bad habit of drinking way too many "Jolts" or Red Bulls. I have since stopped the gluttony, only drinking one on "special" occasions (like LANs), even though for the most part, I find they do nothing at all.

I tried 5-hour Energy a few months ago, and downed both bottles in the package at once, to make sure I'd feel something... but no. It's almost like I've had so much caffeine throughout the years, these quick-energy potions don't do jack for me. Do they work for you? Have you tried 5-hour Energy yourself? Our forums exist for a reason... let us know your thoughts!

The overall health impact of the shots' energy blend is a little fuzzy, according to some experts, because little data has been collected about the effectiveness or safety of the natural compounds. The blend contains: citicoline, tyrosine, phenylalanine, taurine, malic acid, glucuronolactone and caffeine. Phenylalanine, taurine, tyrosine are all amino acids our bodies naturally produce. Malic acid is a natural chemical substance found in food. Glucuronolactone is a byproduct of glucose produced in the liver. Citicoline is a natural compound that produces a chemical in the brain.

Source: CNN​

 

[Kougar]

Everyone I know swears by these things, and out of all the "energy drinks" this one is probably safer than many and doesn't appear to result in a headfirst crash into the ground when it wears off. I've never tried it myself though, energy drinks are not something I'll subject my body to unless I absolutely must stay awake for some critical reason.... I just don't drink them.

Chemicals are still chemicals, and whether you call it a chemical, herb, or drug they all can have the exact same effects (and side effects) on the body. And any vitamin or mineral taken in to high a dosage will have negative side effects too... with everything from cereal to Coke/Pepsi soda fortified with viamins and minerals, combined with multivitamins packed with >300% of your daily recommended values, it's no wonder people are finding out their overdosing was behind some health issues they were having.

As I recall these specific energy drink says to not take more than two of those little vials in a 24 hour period, so if they had no effect on you Rob, then I'm not sure anything you'd find outside of a hospital would? Then again I know what you mean, I can drink a can of any typical brand of soda and go to sleep within minutes of finishing it as if it was caffeine-free. If I'm dog tired then the caffeine doesn't help me stay awake either, although I can notice its effects nonetheless.

 

[On_Wisconsin]

I vaguely remember a friend who tried it when it first came out. I *think* he said "it worked," but to what extent he never said. There is the factor of body type and habits; he doesn't take in much caffeine as you (Rob) have and is a skinny-as-hell track freak (currently running in D3 track, so relatively freakish to me ), so go figure

 

[Rob Williams]

I've never tried it myself though, energy drinks are not something I'll subject my body to unless I absolutely must stay awake for some critical reason.... I just don't drink them.

That's the thing. For some reason, I used to drink a lot of them... at least one a day. Then I started to have stomach pains, and although I'm not sure if it was related, I assumed it was, so I stopped. There are many deaths that are obviously related to overindulging yourself with those, so like smoking and other addictions, there's no sense in partaking if you can help it.

As I recall these specific energy drink says to not take more than two of those little vials in a 24 hour period, so if they had no effect on you Rob, then I'm not sure anything you'd find outside of a hospital would?

I'm not sure what it is, but energy-boosters of any sort have never worked for me. It could be that I drink a lot of coffee, but I'm not sure how much that'd matter. Before Ephedrine pills were banned from public consumption (and before I knew better), I took two one evening and felt nothing. My roommate at the time took one, and he was up until 5:00AM cleaning the house. It's bizarre.

I vaguely remember a friend who tried it when it first came out. I *think* he said "it worked," but to what extent he never said. There is the factor of body type and habits; he doesn't take in much caffeine as you (Rob) have and is a skinny-as-hell track freak (currently running in D3 track, so relatively freakish to me ), so go figure

You pretty much described the perfect person to consume these I think. I'm not exactly the thinnest person out there, nor do I have an active lifestyle (I'm working on it), so it's no surprise that it works for some and not others.

 

[Psi*]

slow day here ... ya-a-awn ... ...

so I googled & followed links upon links ... maybe that could be called sausaging? Hmmm, maybe today would be a day to try one of those drinks excepting I am liking the slowness.

First, I am a complete skeptic about all of these products.

But being a slow day, I googled "5-hour Energy" & at wikipedia I followed the various reference links of the ingredients. Initially, I just glossed over the vitamin B references. People have been taking excessive amount of vitamins for decades. I have read about all kinds of possible dire effects but have not heard about anything actually been diagnosed short of an episode or 2 on "House". But they could be the reason for a conservative recommended "dose" of just 2 per day.

The short version to my surprise is that this stuff isn't such a bad thing. $2 a bottle off amazon doesn't exactly speak to daily vitamin pill, but the 5hour Energy web site doesn't encourage that use either ... to their credit.

My skepticism is about how quickly any such ingredients can be absorbed into the body much less believing the mumbo jumbo about how it is metabolized by your muscle fibers & brain cells. Versus to what I believe is the greater psychological effect of expectation ... which can be a fine thing in itself. But, that is only my opinion. You don't have to agree or listen to ... but don't try to change it without undeniable irrefutable facts.

I was thinking about commenting/summarizing what I read, but ... eh! ... too much to write here especially since those references do a much better job. Actually their own web site has a pretty accurate summary.

Last, just because "it is written" in wikipedia doesn't mean it is *so*.