Matthew McKeever has gulped down a Red Bull every day for nearly four years.The biological sciences senior said he started drinking energy drinks his first semester of college. He keeps a “fridge pack” of 12 chilled Red Bulls at home for when he needs a boost.McKeever is just one of many consumers contributing to the $5.7 billion energy drink industry targeted at 18 to 35 year olds, according to a 2007 college consumption survey published in Nutrition Journal.Since Red Bull entered the U.S. energy drink market in 1997, the industry has expanded globally, according to Reportbuyer.com, a British market-research Web site. U.S. consumers drank 990 million liters of energy drinks in 2006, according to the site. A report this year by the Canadian government showed there are 210 brands of energy drinks in North America alone.Brandi Milioto, human ecology instructor, said in an e-mail large energy drinks containing double the usual 30 grams of sugar equal about 14 teaspoons of refined sugar, or 240 calories. She said consuming a 16-oz. energy drink a day could result in a half-pound weight gain per week.Common ingredients in energy drinks include high amounts of sugar and caffeine, taurine, guarana, ginseng and occasionally ephedra. Charles Kaufman, Baton Rouge neurologist, said the caffeine and sugar in energy drinks behave like diuretics and dehydrate the body, meaning they should not be relied on during exercise. Judy Myhand, human nutrition and food instructor, said guarana is simply a caffeine-like substance twice as strong as coffee beans. She said problems arise with taurine, an amino acid that has been associated with higher risks of stroke, because it raises blood pressure.But Kaufman said caffeine, sugar and ephedra, which all raise heart rates, are more harmful.Milioto said as intake surpasses about 200 to 300 milligrams of caffeine a day, negative effects can take hold of the body. These include nervousness, increased heart rate, high blood pressure and insomnia.”A student could get themselves caught in a vicious cycle of not being able to sleep at night, waking up for class tired, consuming one or more energy drinks to get through the day, and then at night it all starts over,” Milioto said.McKeever said he orders Jagerbombs and Vodka Red Bulls when he goes out with friends.Myhand said mixing alcohol with energy drinks is especially dangerous. Alcohol is a depressant, she said, and when the senses become depressed and sluggish, the body is issuing a warning that too much alcohol has been consumed. Energy drinks, which are stimulants, mask those messages causing students to overdrink.  “You get drunk faster,” she said. “It’ll speed things on into your system.” Milioto said mixing energy supplements with alcohol also means mixing the diuretic nature of the energy drink’s caffeine with the dehydrating effect of alcohol. But Kaufman said when mixed with alcohol, energy drinks are safe when used in moderation. “Anything can be abused,” he said. “It’s not directly harmful if you use it in moderation.” Myhand said energy drinks are problematic because the energizing ingredients are sometimes unregulated, making it difficult to determine the amounts a drink actually contains. Despite a petition by scientists last year to the Food and Drug Administration, energy drink manufacturers are not required to announce amounts of energizing components on drink packaging.”These drinks are just a way to make money,” Myhand said. A cup of coffee or tea serves the same stimulant function, she said.For energy emergencies, Milioto suggests non-herbal tea or coffee with low-fat milk because coffee contains antioxidants. Milioto said the key to keeping up energy while maintaining health is limiting the number of spikes and drops in blood sugar. ——Contact Sarah Lawson at [email protected]