Boost your energy for five hours – without the caffeine crash later.
My experience: I’ve recently discovered that I am becoming old. Not physically old, mind you; I’m still several weeks shy of my 24th birthday. No, the other, lamer kind of old – the kind who secretly wants to be asleep by 11 on a Friday night. The younger of the voices in my head, however, rarely allows this, and constantly berates me to act my age. And so began my quest to find an energy drink that I can stomach – and one that actually works.
Coffee makes me jittery, and most energy drinks taste horrible; plus, many of them have tons of sugar and upwards of 200 calories. That’s what initially drew me to the 5-Hour Energy drink: It has only four calories and no sugar. I was skeptical that a drink this little could actually do what it claims, but I tried it on a Friday night, at dinner with a friend.
It definitely has that strange chemical-y taste that all energy drinks share, but at only 2 ounces, it’s all over in just a couple of sips. (The lemon-lime flavor, in my opinion, is the least offensive. Avoid mixed berry at all costs – it’s reminiscent of cough syrup.) And before I really even realized it, I was peppier and in the mood to stay out and have some fun. My friend went home after dinner, and normally, I’d have been tempted to do the same – but instead, I headed to a friend’s birthday festivities (and had a lovely, alert time).
The next morning, my boyfriend had agreed to help me move into my new apartment, and when I woke up, I tried another one of these little energy drinks – and then had the motivation to move two carloads full of my stuff over to my new place by myself! When he finally dragged himself out of bed and over to my place at 11, loading up what was left of my stuff into his truck only took 15 minutes.
This elixir has a gradual way of working to boost your energy, and in the same way that it slowly perks you up, it gently lowers you back down a few hours later. I tried it again a several times in the morning before work, and I never got any jitters – and they’re not kidding about the lack of a crash later.
I knew it worked to boost my energy, but still, the science-experiment taste worried me – what’s in this stuff?
What the expert says: New York City dietitian Bonnie Dix-Taub sounded a little miffed when I told her of the wonders of the 5-Hour Energy drink and how well it seemed to work for me. It may make you peppier, she said, “but what is the price you’re paying for the possibility of energy?”
She helped me unpack the mysteries of the 5-Hour Energy drink’s ingredients. It contains about as much caffeine as a cup of coffee, but a closer look at some of the other ingredients listed on the drink's nutrition facts is pretty astounding:
- Niacin: 30 milligrams, or 150 percent of the recommended daily value
- Vitamin B6: 40 milligrams, or 2,000 percent daily value
- Vitamin B12: 500 micrograms (0.5 milligrams), or 8,333 percent daily value
But what does it all mean? “Just because a little of something is good doesn’t mean a lot is better,” Taub-Dix says. So all of these nutrients (all B vitamins) are necessary, but the excessive amounts are not – and too much of some nutrients can even be dangerous, she says.
Niacin helps the digestive system, nerves and skin to function properly, and the recommended daily amount for adults is 14 milligrams a day; a bottle of 5-Hour Energy has twice that. Too much niacin can cause your face to flush and feel itchy, which can last for 15 to 30 minutes. (To be fair, the back of the bottle notes the possibility of a niacin flush.)
“It’s not that likely that you’re going to get an overdose of B12,” Taub-Dix says, but too much B6 (more than 200 milligrams – or about five bottles of 5-Hour Energy) can cause nerve toxicity, which messes with your muscle coordination and can make you seriously clumsy, or even paralyzed. The label warns consumers not to drink more than two bottles a day.
It’s more healthful to get your daily dose of these vitamins in foods like fish or dairy products, Taub-Dix says, who lists three rules for natural energy: Get enough sleep, exercise regularly and eat well.
Bottom line: Heeding the advice of nutritionists, I’ll try to only drink these 5-Hour Energy drinks occasionally. But I really like the gentle way these drinks boost your energy and then bring you back down; I’ll definitely turn to them again when I want a little extra energy.
