Reports say Red Bull cola gives more than just wings

And this news, there are startling reports about the well known energy drink, Red Bull Cola. Since last Friday, six states in Germany have banned and removed the energy drink from shelves in retail stores after samples tested positive for traces of cocaine. Agents for Red Bull, however, say that the cola is (quote) “harmless and marketable in both U.S. and Europe” (unquote) and that the coca leaves used in the Red Bull Cola are used worldwide for flavoring. But are there implications to the Red Bull sold in Belize? News Five contacted distributor in Belize, San Cas Limited and Product Manager, John Gillett, told us that the tainted drinks are not available locally. Gillett further stated that the ingredients in the Red Bull Cola are different from those used in the Red Bull found in retail stores countrywide. But while this is comforting news, News Five spoke with Internist, Doctor Fernando Cuellar, who told us that the abuse of energy drinks in general can have adverse effects.

Dr. Fernando Cuellar, Internist/Intensivist
“Red Bull is a—and it’s unfortunate about calling names because we should refer to these things as energy drinks because we do have quite a number of products on the market. But Red Bull is one of the biggest one, I think the other one is Monster. But in the US and parts of Europe, they have many other brand names. By no means the genuine Red Bull and the other genuine products—and I think that is something important to say—the genuine Red Bull and the other genuine products come from reputable companies and they have none of these illegal substances in them. What they mainly consist of is a lot of caffeine, lots of sugar and some herbs. I think the key word here is abuse because, like I said before, it has lot of caffeine and I think it’s a regular drink would have the equal to a cup of coffee. But these things are drank rather quickly as oppose to a cup of coffee that you drink over a period of time. The length of time that you’ve consumed them makes a difference. I think the worse that I’ve seen and I do have experience first hand in the emergency room in Belize is irregular heartbeats. Young people, who were previously healthy, would go out and party and have three or four of these energy drinks and come to the emergency room feeling that their heart is racing that their pressure is up and some of them would have some weird side effects. And by weird I mean idiosyncratic, meaning that there is no real pattern or description of what they feel. They are sweating, they are nauseous, they are trembling, and that is when it is abuse by itself. And even worse, I think what is happening is that people ten to combine it with alcohol which is an absolute no, no. Whatever exotic drink you can think of, please do not combine it with none of these energy drinks.”