Dr Deviant

Hell no. Red Bull is the salad of the drink world… well, the sugar free one contains artifical sweetener, so maybe not that one

There are various reports on how it kills you and a smidge of common sense will help you though the myriad of crap out there.

Please note: Dr Deviant is not a medical doctor. Please seek professional medical advise before taking up any of his suggestions. If you do take up any of his suggestions chances are that the medical advise you require is of the psychiatric variety.

You read things like “in a study of 30 students” and to be honest, what do 30 students tell you… they take drugs and eat pot noodles both of which contain far more dangerous stuff than the listed contents of Red Bull.

People who have adverse reactions to Red Bull generally have adverse reactions to cups of coffee as well – caffeine is actually a toxin and people are sensitive to it. Oral doses of caffeine greater than 10 grams can be fatal to an average adult. A can of Red Bull has the equivalent of just over a third of an average cup of coffee and it would take 312 and a half cans to do said damage to said adult. By the way, they have reduced the amount of caffeine in a can to it’s current level in about 2006!

Both Taurine and Glucuronolactone are either naturally occurring or naturally synthesised proteins that aid digestion and metabolism in humans. Searches in both the British Medical Journal and on the American Food and Drug Administration’s website have no health advisories for either of these substances. While there haven’t been any tests to see how many kilos of these substances it would take to kill someone (other than by dropping a pallet of them from a great height), prior to the introduction of these drinks there were no reported cases of death attributed to either substance or the manifestation of their effects on the human body – no-one accidentally digested themselves, and no-one accidentally thought themselves to death.

“Ah, but what about the binary poison effect!!!!” I hear the voices cry. Well, since they all exist in you at the same time when you have a cup of coffee, I’m assuming it’s a pretty safe combo.

“Ah, but people have died after drinking Red Bull!!!” – the same voices. Really? as I mentioned above, I bet they were also breathing after drinking the Red Bull and prior to their death… Seriously though, the “Publicised” deaths of 3 swedes in 1991, and the Irish basketball player in 1999 were actually linked to the caffeine and it’s effects in other areas… namely alcohol and exercise.

So in summary, how, EXACTLY, is Red Bull NOT good for you? don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it is good for you, but I don’t think it as lethal as… bleach, or carbon monoxide, or nicotine – all of which you breathe in every day whether you smoke or not. Hell, if you drink enough water that’ll kill you as well, and there is nearly twice as much sugar in a regular can of coke then there is in a can ofRed Bull. Loose the hype people, or provide factual evidence of its ability to cause death!!!

Anyhow, I have had 6 cans today and managed to write this article in 3.8 seconds… that can’t be bad

Do I drink it? Yes, because it’s sterile and I like the taste… sorry, wrong movie.