Energy Drinks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Energy Drinks - Essay Example Energy drinks contains caffeine which provides stamina and increases the physical performance to the consumers. In natural form, caffeine is a bitter tasting drug but most of the energy drinks are processed to cover the bitter taste. Caffeine is contained in drinks like chocolate, coffee, tea and many other soft drinks, it also found in many over the counter medications especially the painkillers. Caffeine is usually eliminated from the body very rapidly though its effects may last for about six hours. Caffeine and other ingredients of energy drinks stimulate the central nervous system thereby improving the metabolic reactions of the body, hence they are used recreationally and medically to restore mental awareness. When the central nervous system is stimulated, the brain tends to function faster due to improved flow of thought, increased alertness and better coordination of the body and in excess the effects flow to the spinal cord (Han et al 2007, 499). The energy drinks has several other ingredients that include taurine and glucuronolactone apart from caffeine. Taurine is a type of an amino acid that is found naturally in the human body and is a very important building block for proteins. Many people rely on energy drinks to replace the lost taurine, as in taurine is lost in times of stress in small amounts leading to some sort of deficiency (Craig & Stitzel 2008, 219). The taurine amino acids are believed to be antitoxic substances that cleanse the body of harmful substances. Glucuronolactone is carbohydrate metabolite that also occurs naturally in the body though it can be synthesized artificially, it provides instant energy boost since it's a carbohydrate formed from glucose catabolism and its also believed to cleanse the body of harmful substances. The body's homeostasis system is designed to maintain constancy in the body, upon consumption of caffeine; the body reacts to it to try and neutralize the effects of the caffeine through the process termed metabolism or catabolism to be precise. Caffeine is totally absorbed in the stomach and the small intestines within the first thirty minutes after ingestion. Following absorption, caffeine is metabolized into three compounds; theobromine, paraxanthine and theophyline with the latter constituting the smaller percentage while paraxanthine comprising the largest percentage about 84% (Craig & Stitzel 2008, 223). Metabolism takes place in the liver with the use of enzyme system called cytochrome P450 oxidase; paraxathine breaks down lipids into fatty acids and glycerol in a process called lipolysis, theobromine is alkaloid that is also a vasodilator and therefore dilates blood vessels and hence increases urine formation, and thoephylline is a smooth muscle relaxant and a diuretic (Craig & Stitzel 2008, 226). The three compounds are further metabolized before excretion. For the body to get rid of the foreign particles in the body, caffeine and its by-products have to be eliminated and are usually excreted following the