Podcast TRT 3:42

TRANSCRIPT

Reporter: If you’re a college student, you probably know the feeling, you wake up tired, and by the end of the day, you’re on your third energy drink.  

Jessi Troilo: That first sip in the morning is better than sex, anything in this world. Anything. 

Reporter: That was junior Jessica Troilo, a Marketing and Entrepreneurship major at the University of Colorado Boulder. She’s been drinking energy drinks such as Red Bull and the Dutch Bros Rebels since she was sixteen. Welcome to the podcast. I’m Teagan Bischoff. And today we’re looking at how high-caffeine energy drinks are becoming a habit, and what they might be doing to our bodies.  

Troilo: I always get up, at least 2.5, 3 hours before my class, I sit on my couch. 
It’s silent in my house and I can just drink my energy drink. Play on my phone.

Reporter: Troilo is not alone. A survey by Civic Science, a non-profit marketing research company, showed that 64% of young adults aged 18–24 drink at least one energy drink per day. To understand what’s happening in the body when we drink energy drinks, I spoke with Luisa Marot, a researcher at CU Boulder’s Sleep and Chronobiology Lab. 

Luisa Marot: Caffeine will make you feel more alert. But on the other hand, it can compromise your sleep and also can impact your circadian rhythms. 

Reporter: Which in turn, messes up your sleep.  

Marot: If it’s too close to your bedtime, for example, it can delay your melatonin production for example.

Reporter: For Troilo, that tradeoff is real. 

Troilo: If I have that third one, I’m not… I’m not going to bed till 1:30, 2. 

Reporter: And energy drinks impact more than our sleep.  Nicole Stob, a nutrition professor at CU Boulder, says the sugar and caffeine in these drinks can have broad effects. 

Stob: It stimulates your nervous system, so you feel like you have more energy. If you drink it for the first time, you’re kind of bouncing off the walls a little bit, because you’re not used to it, or you just feel kind of nervous or jittery.

Reporter: Some energy drinks have up to 300 milligrams of caffeine– about the limit of what’s recommended for the whole day. And then there’s the sugar. 

Stob: Having too much sugar, especially added sugars, can be problematic in terms of potential weight gain over time, and then risk with, blood cholesterol levels, LDL levels, increasing because of those added sugars. 

Reporter: Energy drinks aren’t just used for a boost; they also are being used as a meal replacement.  

Stob: For a lot of people, an energy drink is breakfast.

Reporter: And going without it isn’t easy for Troilo, who deals with painful headaches, a common sign of caffeine dependence, according to nutrition professor Stob. 

Stob: Caffeine withdrawal is a real thing. A lot of people will really suffer with headaches, very severe headaches, if they don’t get that caffeine.

Reporter: Even knowing the risks, Troilo can’t break the habit.  

Troilo: I think about them, but also, if I’m gonna die, please put a Red Bull in my casket. 

Reporter: That was a joke. 

Troilo: This is, like, an addiction that doesn’t seem as deep to me. It doesn’t destroy my life. It’s probably destroying my health in the long run, but that’s for me to later on decide what I want to do.  

Reporter: Stob has a tip to overcome the addiction to energy drinks. 

Stob: What I always say is food first, supplements second, kind of considering that energy drink to be a supplement. So, make sure you’re getting what you need through food first.

Reporter: I’m Teagan Bischoff. Thank you for listening.