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Dubious research tied to Red Bull has shaped energy drink policy

theexamination.org

221–230 of 263 posts

Re: Dubious research tied to Red Bull has shaped energy drink policy

#221
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's an acid, which softens your enamel. You should ideally rinse with something that remineralizes the enamel, i.e. flouride.

I've been drinking loads of coke Zero (up to 3 liters a day, these days it's about 2 liters), and my teeth are fine. I'm 40 and have been drinking it for most of my life, it started when I was about 16, with regular coke back then. Maybe I'm lucky.

> and my teeth are fine

says the dentist? or says you?

after a check-up i was strongly recommended to stop taking soft drinks...no symptoms whatsoever but the teeth are weakening

Re: Dubious research tied to Red Bull has shaped energy drink policy

#222
In Scotland in the early 2000s, there was a moral panic over a tonic wine called Buckfast, made in Buckfast Abbey by an order of Benedictine monks.

It's the kind of thing meant for your granny to have when sick. It contains caffeine and alcohol, and neds started drinking it because caffeine and alcohol both feel good (humans have known this for thousands of years).

It quickly became part of the local youth culture, and was quickly blamed for all the deep-seated anti-social behaviour issues prevalent in the region. It was known as 'wreck the hoose juice'. Breathless tabloid headlines were written, schlocky documentaries were made (I was made to watch one in school), and politicians started laying the blame at supermarkets for selling the stuff.

The big supermarkets stopped selling it of their own accord, and still don't to this day. They were hurt by the bad PR and like to get ahead of regulation, which is not toothless in the UK. Buckie, with it's now notorious reputation, started to be drank by artsy pretentious students instead of violent neds. And would you believe it, when it was drank by this different demographic, the problems magically disappeared!

My point being, observational studies are useless here because only a certain kind of person is consuming a drink called 'FCKED UP'. Caffeine is one of the most well-studied drugs in medicine, and we know it's safe. Evidence to the contrary would have to be strong, not be anecdotal or observational.

Re: Dubious research tied to Red Bull has shaped energy drink policy

#223
post #222

In Scotland in the early 2000s, there was a moral panic over a tonic wine called Buckfast, made in Buckfast Abbey by an order of Benedictine monks. It's the kind of thing meant for your granny to have when sick. It contains caffeine and alcohol, and neds started drinking it because caffeine and alcohol both feel good (humans have known this for thousands of years). It quickly became part of the local youth culture, a…

[deleted]

Re: Dubious research tied to Red Bull has shaped energy drink policy

#225
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, there's more than enough reasons to criticise or laugh at the UK that actually exist, without mocking a country for a hypothetical of someone online that hasn't actually been proposed by any politicians or, well, anybody at all?

It is incredibly annoying at the self-checkout being asked to present PHOTO ID to buy a monster energy. I was once denied my beverage, so I walked back over to the meal deal area and purchased a Starbucks canned coffee that had THE SAME LEVEL OF CAFFIENE

You're making the mistake of assuming it has something to do with the caffeine content or caffeine being illegal.

There's one pattern that all these rules have in common: Someone noticed a problem, so they added friction to try and reduce the problem. People are getting fucked up on Red Bull? Add friction to buying a Red Bull. People aren't getting fucked up on coffee? Then don't add friction to coffee. I know us engineer personalities would like to define uniform rules for all caffeinated products or not define any rules, and that's what you should do if you are making a medical robot to maintain someone's caffeine level, but that isn't really how the social world works. It's a quite straightforward loop of observation->response.

Re: Dubious research tied to Red Bull has shaped energy drink policy

#226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is incredibly annoying at the self-checkout being asked to present PHOTO ID to buy a monster energy. I was once denied my beverage, so I walked back over to the meal deal area and purchased a Starbucks canned coffee that had THE SAME LEVEL OF CAFFIENE

You're making the mistake of assuming it has something to do with the caffeine content or caffeine being illegal. There's one pattern that all these rules have in common: Someone noticed a problem, so they added friction to try and reduce the problem. People are getting fucked up on Red Bull? Add friction to buying a Red Bull. People aren't getting fucked up on coffee? Then don't add friction to coffee. I know us eng…

[dead]

Re: Dubious research tied to Red Bull has shaped energy drink policy

#227
post #169

>A considerable body of research suggests that incidents like these aren’t just chance or circumstance. Mixing alcohol and energy drinks was linked to higher rates of binge drinking, sexual abuse and drunk driving, according to a study conducted among U.S. college students. This sounds like it could be correlation? People who are more prone to risk-taking are more likely to mix caffeine and alcohol? Although, in that…

feels like it wouldn't change behavior all that much just choice of the drug

People don't say to themselves "today I want caffeine and alcohol" and then search for products matching their preferred mix ratio. They just see a product meant to get them fucked up, and consume it. The selection of easily available products absolutely matters.

Re: Dubious research tied to Red Bull has shaped energy drink policy

#228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The best case is it does no harm. No it’s not. The best case it gives you energy (it’s in the name!) to do whatever you want and it does no harm. Assuming it actually does no harm, why wouldn’t you want more energy any time you want it, any time you drink some delicious fizzy neon green liquid? I’m saying this as someone who doesn’t drink energy drink (because I assume and feel that it actually causes harm, not bec…

what harm are you thinking of? any pointers?

Arrhythmia, for example?

Re: Dubious research tied to Red Bull has shaped energy drink policy

#229
post #90

anyone in the thread old enough to remember when we trusted the tobacco industry to run its own studies on the safety of tobacco which found that tobacco was definitely safe, then later found that no one knows whether tobacco is safe or not so we can't regulate it until we're sure, then eventually found that the whole time everyone knew it was dangerous?

The problem with rational decisionmaking is there are vast areas where only irrational opinions are acceptable. Try the same line of logical reasoning for vaccines, low fat high carb diets, statins, uncontrolled immigration, various economic policies, and let us know how long until you get wrongthink attacks. There are vast irrational areas of discussion where even the faintest hint of rationality is double plus ungo…

Or, the Occam's razor explanation: maybe the lines that you think are rational are actually irrational?

"I can't be out of touch. It's everyone else who is wrong!"

Re: Dubious research tied to Red Bull has shaped energy drink policy

#230
post #5

[flagged]

Say it louder for the folks in the back! I drink monsters on ocasion, there was a time I was drinking one a day. And it was exclusivelly people who couldn't go without multiple cups of coffe a day telling me how it's so much worse and how bad its going to be. Yes I am aware energy drinks are not the healthiest choice of drink. But you could say the same for anything that isn't water or naturally blended juice. Beside…

Don't most people grow out of the "I'm going to hurt myself by doing the exact opposite of my parents' advice" phase as teenagers?
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