Lifting the lid on energy drinks

Safefood, the independent State body tasked with educating the public on issues of food safety and nutritution, have issued a warning about the high levels of sugar and caffeine in popular energy drinks. 

The organisation have put together a fact sheet (below) to show the public just how much sugar and caffeine are present in energy drinks that are widely available.

To give the numbers below some context, it is helpful to know that 1 teaspoon of sugar contains 4g of sugar and 1 americano coffee contains 80mg of caffeine.

Many of these energy drinks exceed the daily amount of sugar intake for the average person.

According to Safefood;

The sugar and caffeine content of some popular energy drinks: 

• Rockstar Xdurance (500ml) – 17 teaspoons / 69g of sugar and 160mg of caffeine
• Mountain Dew (500ml) – 17 teaspoons / 66g of sugar and 90mg of caffeine
• Monster (500ml) – 14 teaspoons / 55g of sugar and 160mg of caffeine
• Relentless Origin (500ml) – 14 teaspoons / 55g of sugar and 160mg of caffeine
• Energise Edge (440ml) – 12 teaspoons / 48g of sugar and 140.8mg of caffeine
• Redbull (250ml) – 7 teaspoons / 27.5g of sugar and 80mg of caffeine
• Tiger (250ml) – 7 teaspoons / 27.5g of sugar and 80mg of caffeine
• Blue Bear (250ml) – 7 teaspoons / 26.5g of sugar and 75mg of caffeine
• Boost (250ml) – 7 teaspoons / 26.5g of sugar and 75mg of caffeine
• Red Thunder – (250ml) – 7 teaspoons / 26g of sugar and 75mg of caffeine
• Emerge (250ml) – 6 teaspoons / 23.25g of sugar and 75mg of caffeine
• KX Energy (250ml) – 3 teaspoons / 12.2g of sugar and 75mg of caffeine
• Tesco Blue Spark (250ml) – 3 teaspoons / 12.2g and 75mg of caffeine
• Monster Rehab (500ml)  – 3 teaspoons / 11g and 160mg of caffeine