Blow, like most energy drinks, includes a cavalcade of impressive-sounding ingredients - taurine, B vitamins, inositol, L-carnitine - but the tried-and-true upper is the ever-present caffeine. Perhaps too much.
"There have been alarming rates of all these health problems associated with high caffeine," said Lisa Hark, director of the Nutrition Education and Prevention Program at the University of Pennsylvania. To find out how much is too much, go to www.energyfiend.com's death-by-caffeine calculator.
Then there's the booze issue. Red Bull, the flagship energy drink, is often mixed with vodka or taken with a shot of the liqueur Jägermeister, the widely guzzled "Jäger Bomb." In the April 2006 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, researchers reported that drinking Red Bull made subjects feel less drunk, but not act less drunk.
The impact of a drink mix like Blow forges new territory. It cuts out the liquid middleman and can be dissolved directly into any cocktail. "It's being sold in liquor stores," said Lauren Seal, Blow promoter. "People have put it in anything: shots, vodka-based cocktails, gin."
But heed the warning on the vial: "Do not snort Blow."
- Erika Gebel
