Energy drinks - marketing hype or real value?

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I have to admit that any time I see a can of Red Bull, something inside me wants to take a sip of this supposedly energy giving drink. Doesn't taste like much but there is something interesting about it. I've also tried Power Horse and Burn but that's as far as I've gone. In the last year or so, the market has been flooded with all sorts of energy drinks. The key feature of these drinks is that they promise increased energy, concentration and other medically unverifiable attributes. Another common factor is that they contain large amounts of caffeine, guarana (extracts from the guarana plant), taurine, various forms of ginseng, maltodextrin, inositol, carnitine, creatine, glucuronolactone and ginkgo biloba. Some of the energy drinks I can remember are:










Red Bull
Power Horse
911
Burn
Bomba
Boom Boom
Rhino
Rox
Commando bear
Effect

I was recently gifted over 100 cans of Red Bull leftover from a party. I drank four cans a day for some weeks. Can't say I felt any better from drinking the stuff. God knows what damage I've done to my body from drinking so much of the stuff.

I've officially sworn off Energy drinks till further notice!

I googled and found an Old CNN Article on energy drinks. If you're not sure then just stop drinking this stuff. NAFDAC is doing a great job but not much is known about the long term effects on the body of these drinks. We also don't know the effects of mixing them with othere things. Hope we don't grow extra ears and noses after some years!

Considering the N250 price tag versus N50 for a coke, am I paying more money to damage my health? For that amount of money I had better run faster and possibly fly. Trying to appear cool and hip maybe?

So can someone please tell me what value these drinks really have?