Q: How healthy are the new energy drinks, like Red Bull and Rock Star? They seem to be full of vitamins and beneficial herbs.

A: 10 minutes on the RedBull.com web site almost had me convinced it was a
motor fuel, not a drink for humans. But finally I found the link for
ingredients, and I went "yikes!"

Caffeine, sucrose, glucose, aspartame, glucuronolactone (just typing that made me sleepy, I guess their marketing works).

This is a chemical cocktail that will give you a fake boost while
depleting your energy reserves. And for extra measure, the artificial
and synthetic chemicals will play havoc with your insides, which were
never meant to meet a substance such as this.

Rock star is also a caffeine and synthetic cocktail, with a few
herbs and vitamins thrown in to fool us into thinking this stuff isn't
slow poison. Fortification of breakfast cereal doesn't work.
Fortification of toxic liquids isn't likely to work either. If you want
vitamins, eat a plant.

If you're a vegan and worried about B12, take a sublingual B12
supplement and skip the caffeine and gunk that these "energy suckers"
provide.

Taking caffeine and sugar when you're tired is like signing up for
another credit card when you've maxed out your existing ones. Sure, you
have the illusion of more money. But the bigger the illusion, the
bigger the crash later.