If, like the famous advertisements claim, Red Bull does “give you wings,” it may not be the sugar and caffeine that makes you feel like Pegasus. New work by an Elon faculty member and his undergraduate researchers points to something else that happens when guzzling the popular energy drink – and it has more to do with your mind than anything else.
“Attention and Reaction Time in University Students Following the Consumption of Red Bull” appears in the latest edition of The Open Nutrition Journal. Mat Gendle, an associate professor of psychology who started at Elon in 2003, served as lead author on the article with 2009 alumni Darren Smucker, Jason Stafstrom and Melanie Helterbran, along with 2008 alum Kimberly Glazer.
The team took note of claims on Red Bull cans boasting that the beverage “increases concentration and reaction speed.” “It’s a very easy claim to verify,” Gendle said.
Though other studies back many of the claims made by Red Bull, to Gendle’s knowledge, very few researchers have simulated “real world” situations where the beverage is most likely to be consumed. In most instances, previous test subjects had been deprived of food and caffeine overnight. But is that when students are drinking the stuff?
The Elon work differed in several ways from previous studies. First, it tested students between 4 and 6 p.m. after a full day of study, and rather than limit food and caffeinated beverages overnight, the researchers asked study volunteers to limit their intake to water for the four hours leading to the test.
Volunteers twice visited the lab: On one occasion they received either Red Bull or its sugar free variety, while on the other visit, they received a placebo of sugar free ginger ale with raspberry syrup made with an artificial sweetener. The results hardly surprised Gendle – Red Bull and Sugar Free Red Bull made no difference after students waited half and hour before attempting a computer test that measured attention and reaction time.
The researchers noted one other aspect to their study. Because some volunteers at times assumed they were sipping energy beverages, though what they drank was a placebo, their reactions – “What did you give me to drink? It’s really messing me up!” – indicate a psychological expectation for consuming Red Bull or other energy drinks. The students may be paying more attention to tasks because they think the drink is having an effect, Gendle said.
“There’s nothing special about Red Bull,” Gendle said. “There is no reason to believe that the caffeine and other ingredients in Red Bull enact effects on the brain that are in line with what consumers expect to happen after they drink a can.”
To read the full journal article in The Open Nutrition Journal, click on the link to the right of this page under the E-Cast section.