V is for Victory

The origins of the perverbial two finger salute, or the reverse V is a trade mark of the late Sir Winston Churchill. It represented the Brits defiance in losing during the war. They were saying "we are victors - take that".

V today is now a drink made by the beverage company Frucos. Based in Auckland, Frucos has a 60% in NZ and a 53% in Australia, line share of energy drinks in 2003.

Since then Mother (Coke-amatil) , Red Bull and other competitors have been challenging it's premium position.

The good, the bad and the ugly.

Firstly a definition of energy drinks....

This is a cut and paste from Wiki and it summarises what I would say anyway:

"Generally, energy drinks include methylxanthines (including caffeine), vitamin B and herbs. Other common ingredients are guarana, acai, and taurine, plus various forms of ginseng, maltodextrin, carbonated water, inositol, carnitine, creatine, glucuronolactone and ginkgo biloba. Some contain high levels of sugar, and many brands also offer artificially-sweetened 'diet' versions. The central ingredient in most energy drinks is caffeine, the same stimulant found in coffee or tea, often in the form of guarana or yerba mate." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_drink

The Good with energy drinks:

They give people a "natural high" and can stimulate or arouse senses, liberate glucose (therefore energy) and generally give people a pick up.

The Bad

They contain stimulants (natural or synthetic)! They stimulate your body. Some people are already aroused in a biochemical sense - that is , they are easily excited, suffer anxiety, are low in magnesium, calcium or some other mineral, or have an over active thyroid, or or or .... do you see what I mean. How do you know if you are one of the many people who are already hyper-aroused?

The side effects , if you are sensitve, are quite grabbing.

I remember having a red bull at a breakfast, after a late night, on a conference. By morning tea, I felt like vomiting, was felt light headed and my heart was zipping around. I wasn't sure if it was a hang-over,so I kept quiet and made it home. The following day went to the hospital (as I felt like my heart was still racing).

My heart was still racing and I was in an irregular heart rythym. Stimulants stimulate you. Fast heart rate; high blood pressure; pounding in your head; headache; anxiety; panic; tremour; funny feeling in your arms.... not nice.

The ugly:

The ugly side, is that if you are having an energy drink every day, then you are probably relying on it for stimulation. You may even think of consuming an Energy drink is being "healthy". They can become addictive and your body can become reliant on the adrenal stimulation. Without it, you feel tired, fatigued and run down.

The real issue is , as you probably know, is that you are running on emply and that your current lifestyle patterns are unsustainable.

If you are having more than 2 energy drinks or V per WEEK, then you maybe relying on the stimlution, and may need to re-balance your life with sleep, good food etc...

I haven't worked in Accident and Emergency for awhile (nursing), but we were seeing more people with speed and "stimulant" over doses and they were simply SCARY!

Having young people in hospital, writhing around incoherently, was really scary. We didn't know what we were dealing with... was it drugs; a cerebral haemorrhage; meningitis; an acute viral episode or some bizarre psychotic episode. Sometimes it was the mixing or use of plain old energy drinks.

Trust me, if you are sensitive to coffee, being exited at sports, panic if you run late for an appointment, find panadol make you sleepy, then it is not worth trying V or other energy drinks.