livestrong.com’s, poor attempt to slander Red Bull
This post has been placed as a Rebuttal to the post placed by livestrong.com, which talks about the side effects of consuming Red Bull with an opening state such as this, “ Red Bull claims that its energy drink increase your energy and focus”.
For the truth of the matter, all the so called claims are in fact a reality and a fact that people who consume Red Bull experience. Now livestrong.com, as usual adds a scrupulous sting to malign the drink, which we shall make it clear in this post.
Weight gain
Proceeding further, livestrong.com, highlights, Weight gain as a side effect to drinking Red Bull, would you believe that? A can of Red Bull has 110 calories, while a slice of Cheese cake has around 330 calories, now tell us, which one do you think would people indulge in?
This is just a tip of the fraudulent comparison that livestrong.com is attempting at, just wait, we are just getting started.
The the heights of idiosyncrasies hits the roof, when livestrong.com, states that Obese people may be at risk for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease or diabetes.
The truth of the matter is when a person is obese, it does not mean that he or she will just be at risk of either Cardiovascular disease OR diabetes.
Getting one disease does not mean he or she wouldn’t get the other, in other words these two diseases are NOT MUTUALLY Exclusive events but are independent events, that means occurrence of one disease will not interfere with the occurrence of the other.
Coronary heart disease or Diabetes
Moreover, livestrong.com, makes a passing statement that obese people are at risk of these diseases. The much needed question to be asked here would be, on what Data is livestrong.com, is insinuating such claims.
In fact, 1 in 3 American is at risk of coronary heart disease, the disease is much prevalent among African American than among Caucasians. Thus, just because a person is obese, out rightly we cannot put the person in the high risk group.
Secondly, how many obese people have we seen drinking Red Bull, can after can, none. Yet still livestrong,com, is claiming that Red bull has glucose and sucrose or table sugar, but fails to understand that all foods when consumed ought to be converted into sugars. Sugar is the fuel that the body runs on. Also, livestrong.com, makes another insinuation that eating too many high sugar foods can make it difficult to eat all of the nutrients that one needs each day without gaining weight.
The much needed question to ask here is, is there a data that connects High Sugar Foods versus difficulty in eating Nutrient rich foods versus Weight Gain?
When did Harvard Law started doing Nutrition Research?
The heights of unscientific thinking on the part of livestrong.com, hits the pinnacle, when it mentions that, “According Harvard Law School, a can of Red Bull Energy Drink has 110 calories and 27 g sugar”.
There are two things to ask here, when did Harvard Law School started to be counted an Authority in Nutrition and when did they examine Red bull for sugar content and publish the Research paper?
We pity the people who will have to put with such bad reviews which are scrupulously written to malign a good product.
can you really get Insomnia with Red Bull?
livestrong.com, states the following, if you drink Red Bull too close to the time you go to bed, you may have difficulty sleeping because the caffeine may still be stimulating your central nervous system and prevent you from feeling drowsy.
livestrong.com, paints a picture as though Red Bull causes Insomnia. It is an Universal truth that Caffeine is a stimulant that is usually consumed if you have things to focus on. A good short of Espresso will help you get your socks pulled up and head off to work on time, but no one in the right mind will ever drink an Espresso before bed. This causes us to wonder what are livestrong.com’s objectives to placing Insomnia as a side effect.
Chronic Health conditions -what are you talking about?
Here livestrong.com, talks about tooth decay, we can’t take it no more. livestrong,com, is now attributing tooth decay to Red bull consumption, for apparently they did not know that tooth decay is as old as human civilization.
And no matter what you eat, if your food stays there between your teeth, bacteria will set in and eventually the tooth will start to experience tooth decay, to avoid this, we have what is called as Brushing the teeth after a meal and then the habit of flossing. Not sure, if livestrong.com, is aware of these hygiene.
What has, KidsHealth.org , got to do here?
livestrong.com, mentions, KidsHealth.org, foremost, the K and the H are in capitals, what is the need for that? Are they saying that while entering the address on the browser, we are to place a capital k and a capital h?
Then the following wit hits us, “KidsHealth.org warns that if you regularly depend on energy drinks with caffeine to keep yourself alert, you may become dependent and have difficulty focusing without them”.
There are two things to look here, foremost, to whom is this advice directed to, if it is for kids, then forget it, kids attention span is in milliseconds, unless you have something that would interest and stimulate them, you are not going to have them in.
But if you are putting this advice for grown ups, then their focused attention span is in minutes, that is the reason, Red Bull became popular, because they addressed this issue, and here we see, livestrong.com, citing sources which neither has authority nor experience to offer advice for grownups.
Interaction with Alcohol
livestrong.com claims that Red Bull is often used to mix alcoholic drinks in clubs and bars. We shall approach this claim in the following ways.
Scientifically: If you are claiming something, you ought to substantiate the claim with data and research, so how did livestrong.com, make such a wild claim? do they have the data to back it up?
Popularity: If Red Bull was really used, then it would only be done at a request for such preferences being expressed explicitly.
Logically: Thirdly, from logic side if we were to give you a lemonade to drink, telling you that it is good for you and will help detoxify your liver, but, instead, you in turn were to use it to mix your Vodka, then who would you blame? You or the lemonade?
Finally livestrong.com closes off by citing a literature review published in the “International Journal of General Medicine” in 2012, the long-term effects of energy drinks mixed with alcohol requires further investigation to determine their safety.
Apparently, livestrong.com, requires a research team to elaborate on the statement of findings. The Research only goes to show, that no substantial evidence has been found of significance to pin the energy drinks for long term health effects.
Further, the research is not talking about Red Bull, then why on earth did livestrong.com, include it.
We know the reason. The writing is clearly on the wall, livestrong.com, want to malign and tarnish the reputation of Red Bull.
But the efforts are too lame, too poor, too unprofessional , too dumb, like many of the articles and posts of livestrong.com, very poorly constructed, very poorly represented, lacks facts, lacks intricate research, in short, lacks Truth.
Closing thoughts
Just a conclusive thought to all of you who are unsure whether to take the drink Red Bull or not. Red Bull, is an energy drink, it is only of the few companies which makes its product with a Social conscious towards all human beings, following good manufacturing practice which people who consume are aware off. The proof is in the pudding.
