It’s deemed relatively healthy due to its lack of sugar and the addition of key natural health- enhancing vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin C to support your immune system and vitamin B for energy production. There are 15 sparkling and non-sparkling flavors to choose from, six of which are in this variety pack. It gets its high caffeine content from a combination of sources: green tea extract with EGCG (a highly potent antioxidant found in green tea and matcha that helps prevent free-radical damage and reduce inflammation) ( 2 ) as well as guarana seed extract.īut what makes this one so popular? It’s accessible (you can get it at nearly every gas station or grocery store in America) and it’s damn tasty. Each 12-ounce can packs 200 mg of caffeine-more than any other drink on this list-and just 10 calories. Let’s start with the best healthy energy drink of the moment: Celsius Live Fit. In short, avoid artificial sweeteners like aspartame for their potential to be digestive upsetting look for monk fruit, agave, and honey, which are all generally considered safe. “As always, it is important to read the ingredient label, as sometimes stevia and monk fruit are combined with other unhealthy artificial sweeteners.
Monk fruit is low-calorie and may contain antioxidants so it can be a good alternative to sugar,” she explains. “Though stevia has been generally recognized as safe, there are concerns over its impact on our overall health. If artificial sweeteners don’t cause you GI distress and you don’t have a medical condition like diabetes or high blood pressure to consider, Gately says they are safe for most people to consume in moderation. “Some people may experience GI distress, like diarrhea, after consumption,” explains Gately. Though faux sugars like stevia and sucralose (known as Splenda) have no sugar content, they also have zero nutritional value and can cause digestive issues. Then there are the sugar alternatives found in many energy drinks. The seed itself isn’t unhealthy, but it’s an NCAA-banned stimulant -it can show up in a urine test and shouldn’t be consumed by competitive college athletes, says Gately.
If you’re starting your day with a quad-shot latte, reaching for an afternoon Americano, and taking down a Celsius before your men’s league basketball game, that’s overdoing it.īeyond excess caffeine and sugar, some popular “healthy” energy drinks, such as Celsius, also include guarana, whose seed s contain about four times more caffeine than coffee beans ( 1 ).
The average person can safely consume around 400 mg (or less) of caffeine per day, or about four small cups of coffee. So it’s not about avoiding caffeine altogether, but rather about limiting your intake. “When you consume caffeine, it stimulates your nervous system causing your heart rate to increase, which pushes blood to your muscles and signals your liver to release glucose, providing you with energy,” adds Gately. Though some caffeine is perfectly healthy-it gives you energy and improves your ability to focus and concentrate-“some energy drinks contain high levels of caffeine that can be dangerous and negatively impact your heart, not to mention your anxiety and ability to sleep,” says registered dietitian Valerie Gately, MS, RDN, LD. Fortunately, it’s 2023, and there are plenty of healthy-ish alternatives to the sugar bombs of youth.ĭoes that mean we can consider these new-wave energy drinks to be “healthy”? Not quite. But that vice may come with downsides: caffeine jitters and an eventual sugar crash. A can of Red Bull or Monster can give you a boost when your ass is dragging at 3 p.m.
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