Friday, August 15, 2008

Red Bull Gives You Wings ... and an increased stroke risk, apparently

Australian researchers said yesterday that Red Bull increases your risk of stroke ... even for young people like me.
"One hour after [research participants] drank Red Bull, (their blood systems) were no longer normal. They were abnormal like we would expect in a patient with cardiovascular disease." said Scott Willoughby, lead researcher from the Cardiovascular Research Centre at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
I have no degree in chemistry, nor do I know, or want to know, the full ingredient list for Red Bull. I do know from my research one late night that Red Bull only has as much caffeine as a cup of coffee (a depressing fact to learn, let me tell you). So is it all the un-named ingredients causing this increased stroke risk? Or should I also be limiting my coffee consumption to stop increasing my stroke risk? And what about Diet Coke? If one could have a stroke from excess consumption of diet soda, believe you me, I would have had one already.

Final opinion: While I'm sure there are all sorts of disgusting things present in my sugar-free Red Bull, and while it might only have the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee, I still love it. Something about it's bubbly unknown goodness really ... gives me wings, you might say. However, given that even the manufacturer says don't consume more than two Red Bulls a day, and the fact that it's banned in several countries, it's unlikely that I'll be abusing the beverage any time soon.

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