Monster Energy Drinks - Did Their High Sugar and Caffeine Caused Death?

Monster’s products seem to get a lot of bad publicity. With their high amount of sugar, combined with caffeine, the Monster energy drink, according to some customer advocates, pose a high risk to members of the public. 

Let’s see… is this negative publicity really justified?

Monster’s drinks were introduced by Hansen Natural Corp. in April 2002. Hansen Natural? What’s natural about formulated and mass-produced drinks in aluminum cans?


Never mind… the energy drink has been very popular for its black can and its green M logo. It is a huge market share holder in the energy drink sector, the fastest growing segment at the moment. Hansen is taking advantage of this trend by sponsoring extreme sports such as skateboarding, snowboarding, BMX and motorcross, like Red Bull. They certainly have learned from the master!

Their ingredients include carbonated water, glucose, sucrose, natural flavors, sodium citrate, added color, caffeine, panax ginseng root extract, benzoic acid, sorbic acid, inositol and guarana seed extract, among other things. They have been posited as the main cause why these, and energy drinks in general, are harmful for our health. 

Now, for sure there are people who died after consuming the energy drink. In response, the FDA is carrying out research on multiple stories about the energy drink that have resulted in the deaths of certain persons. 

So… how harmful are the suspected ingredients? Take a look:

Sugar

The sugar content in each drink is about 5-6 teaspoons, making the drink a no-no for diabetics or anyone sensitive to sugar. More importantly, refined sugars and carbohydrates unhealthy over 3-4 teaspoons (1/2 oz) a day for anybody.

Caffeine

A 16 oz can contains about 160 mg of caffeine. That is about on a and a half times of the caffeine in one cup of coffee and twice as much as is recommended for older children and teenagers. 


Other ingredients

Besides the ginseng root and guarana seed extracts, none of them contribute to a healthy diet. However, the amount of these extract is much less than required to be effective - essentially they are added for marketing, not health reasons

On the other hand… why bother with, say, “semi-healthy” energy drinks, like Monster, when you can have the real thing with CaffeinAll?