Cocaine is illegal... or is it?
Scientists in Germany recently examined the energy drink Red Bull Cola and found in it traces of cocaine.
According to the Time, "the 0.13 micrograms of cocaine per can of the drink does not pose a serious health threat - you'd have to drink 12,000 liters of Red Bull Cola for negative affects to be felt - but it was enough to cause concern."
Red Bull does not hide the fact that it uses coca, cardamom and Kola nuts, along with other key "natural" ingredients, for its new energy drink. However, the company insists that "coca leaves are used as a flavoring agent only after removing the illegal cocaine alkaloid."
Red Bull is not the first company to use coca in their drinks. "Coca-Cola's 19th century formula used unaltered coca leaves. In the early 1900s the company said it would only use 'spent' or de-cocainized leaves though the company refuses to confirm whether leaves in any form are still used."
Fritz Soergel, the head of the Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Research in Germany came to defense of Red Bull's use of cocaine. "According to the tests we carried out," Soergel told Time, the cocaine in Red Bull Cola has no effect on humans.
"If you start examining lots of other drinks and food so carefully, you'd find a lot of surprising things," Soergel added.
So, according to Fritz Soergel, there is so much poison that is being sold to us on a daily basis by legitimate food and beverage producers that we don't know and probably don't want to know about...
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Comments: 25
You got it. Pop causes kidney stones....so does milk! This aint nothin'...
I woudln't drink Red Bull, or other energy drinks, if you paid me!!! I don't even drink regular coca cola that often. I might have a can of coke every two months, just for the taste. Hubby loves it, so I keep it in the house for him, but it's not my thing. I like my coffee (I drink about two cups a day for the taste) and the rest of the time I'll drink WATER.
That's crazy, no wonder it keeps someone raring to go!
I wonder what effect this might have on drug screenings.
Savo- If you hadn't cited the Time article (and linked to it), I would not have believed the report. It sounds too close to an urban legend to be true. That said, I think trace elements (as described here) probably don't have an impact and aren't cause for worry about product safety/addiction/etc.
That said, I wonder if this story might have a beneficial impact on Red Bull sales. People who want to "live on the edge" may find a coolness factor to a "trace elements" story blown out of proportion.
Tom, you've got a point. Anyone over 25 years old will no doubt remember Popeye brand Candy Cigarettes, among other brands. They were actually called candy cigarettes, and they were made to look like cigarettes, and when my sister and I were toddlers, we pretended to smoke them "just like Mommy and Daddy." This "cocaine" thing just might boost sales for them.
Cocain isn't what's causing me not to drink Red Bull. I didn't want to drink it even before I knew about the cocaine. I just don't like the idea of altering my energy with a drink, especially one that's going to make me totally crash, when it eventually wears off. I won't even drink enough coffee to give me a caffeine buzz, and I love my coffee.
Tom, I also think that many people will now see the Red Bull Cola as a cool drink which will in turn increase the sales of the drink...
A 12-ounce can of Red Bull costs as much as a two-litre bottle of cola. No brainer to me.
Good point, Walker. I paid no attention to the cost until you mentioned it, but now that I know how expensive that crap really is, I'm even more determined not to go anywhere near it.
thats cool
Interesting article, Savo . . .
Savo: Quite interesting. Of course cocaine has been found on the money each of us handle every day as well. If we look at many of the additives and ingredients in other food stuffs we consume, a tiny amount of cocaine might be the safest. It is just another indication that we need to reexamine our food supply in general, for safety and health. Never tried Red Bull myself, my morning coffee gets me going all day.
I didn't know that, Thanks for sharing :)
O.K.
I tasted Red Bull once. It was nasty. I can't believe it sells well.
Scary stuff!
I tried it once myself, and thought it was pretty awful as well, not to mention painful. That crap burns going down.
I agree with Soergel, I really don't want to know what they're putting in the food and drinks these days.
I dont like these drinks for anyone!
Interesting, that would explain why my heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest the couple of times I've had Red Bull.
Red Bull is not bad at all, especially mixed with Votka. It's not, however, good to have more than six of these... I once couldn't sleep for about 50 hours.
6 of them mixed with vodka? WOW! How much does that cost?
If I really need an energy rush that badly I'll stick to the Danish method (eating coffee beans right out of the bag). I do that when I'm really stressed, and need something to crunch on.
Better yet melt milk chocolate or white chocolate in my fondue pot, throw some of the beans in there, spread 'em on waxed paper on a cookie sheet and put it in the freezer for a while. Leah's homemade coffee bean bark!!
I wonder what would happen if you ate a piece of that with 6 Red Bulls mixed with vodka? How long would you stay awake? LOL
Don't forget, Vodka in the 'States costs 1/3 what it does here.
Yeah, but is Red Bull cheaper in the USA than it is here?
This experience with 6 Red Bulls and Votka was a few years ago, back in the college days...