Red Bull & other energy drinks

[tails4wagging]

Don't drink it myself, but apparantly they fund research into animal experiments.

:mad:

[VeganMum]

Nor me and Im glad I don't now

[Aurora]

The college I work at used to have this revolting stuff in the drinks machines. Unfortunately the students who drank it ended the day practically climbing the walls. The behaviour is bad enough without the kids drinking this muck!

[Tofu Monster]

Don't drink it myself, but apparantly they fund research into animal experiments.

how do you know, tails?

[Stu]

My thoughts precisely. Can we have your source, Tails?

[Artichoke47]

Red Bull has taurine in it. I wonder if it's animal-derived. I wouldn't drink that stuff even if they didn't test on animals; I don't think it's vegan or vegetarian.

[tails4wagging]

No good at cross-posting but my friend sent me a copy of an email which was from the german 'doctors against animal experiments'. They removed baby rats from their mums and submerged them in water for 20 mins, to see what brain damage was done to them. They even ripped babies from the mother rats bodies to do this experiment.

These experiments were done at a childrens hospital in Austria. This is/was sponsored by Red Bull.

[Gorilla]

apparently the taurine in Red Bull is not animal-derived (according to another vegan board) but it's nasty stuff and best avoided anyway, and now this. :mad:

[RockyRaccoon]

I can't understand why anybody would want to drink that stuff, it's revolting. I tried it once with vodka, apparantly a popular combination. I just thought, what a way to ruin a perfectly good glass of vodka!

[Wishin986]

I know that most energy drinks contain taurine. However, I was just looking up somethings about taurine on the internet and it came up that the taurine in Red Bull isn't from animal origin. Is that true?

Also are there other energy drinks that do not contain taurine from animal origin? What about kabbalah energy drink? :confused:

[Mr Flibble]

Red bull in the UK is (at least was last time i checked) vegan. The taurine is synthetic. Beware of course that in the US they may use a different source.

[Risker]

Red Bull Energy Drink is suitable for vegetarians. Red Bull Energy Drink does not contain any animal products or substances derived from animals.


The composition and the ingredients of Red Bull Energy Drink are the same all over the world, except for slight variations in the vitamin content due to national regulations.

Both quotes from the FAQ on http://www.redbullusa.com/

[Tray]

red bull it's vegan but it sucks anyway

[speedylemons]

i agree. red bull sucks!

The only energy drink i kind of liked and drank seldomly before going vegan was that Mt Dew AMP energy drink. But since going vegan i read online that taurine comes from the bile of bulls or something and whether or not it's animal derived in the us i'm going to steer clear of all those preservatives and weird ingredients.

[snaffler]

Purdys is pretty good at perking up the mind body and soul...far better than Red Death

[Mr Flibble]

I had my first can in years on friday night due to no other source of caffeine at a service station (no coffee in the entire place!!). It was late, I was really tired and still had 2 hours of motorway driving to do. It had the same disgusting taste I remember, but in it's defense it did do the trick. Certainly not something I want to make a habit of thou

[Prophet]

Also are there other energy drinks that do not contain taurine from animal origin? What about kabbalah energy drink? :confused:

Nobody answered his/her question about the kabbalah drink, and I am also curious. Has anybody looked into this?

[AborneSborn]

I thought it might be a good idea to warn everyone, since this fact seems to be known by very few. Energy drinks and energy bars that contain TAURINE are not vegan. This includes Sparx, which I don't believe has a list of ingredients on it, but does contain Taurine as well. For those who are curious the taurine in energy drinks probably comes from the dead tissue of sea creatures. Although I was once lead to believe that it came from bull's adrenal gland. I don't know any vegans who drink energy drinks anyway. But for those of you who do, try this drink called guru. I dont know if a lot of stores carry it, but it's energy sources are all natural and plant based. They might have a website you could check out, I practically need a guru every day just to get by.

The one thing that really pisses me off is how unnecessary it is to put taurine in every god damn energy drink. Even the energy drinks that blue sky makes has taurine.

[Tigerlily]

Actually, I believe most energy drinks use synthetic taurine. On Red Bull's website they state this and say their beverage is suitable for veg*ns. I'm sure it's similar for other energy drinks. Real taurine would be too expensive to use.

[Bic]

I've never heard of an energy drink using real taurine. As Tigerlily stated, it'd be too expensive. At 2 bucks a pop, they can't afford to hike up their prices any more just to put dead sea creatures in it.
I used to drink Red Bull regularly. At least a can a day. I have since quit all forms of caffeine, but I don't believe there is anything wrong with Red Bull. Mixing it with vodka, though (someone mentioned it above) can be deadly due to the high concentrations of alcohol and caffeine and should be avoided.

I'd like to see an actual copy of the e-mail. I have trouble seeing what interest Red Bull would have in torturing rats when their product is already verified as safe and, for that matter, has nothing to do with brain damage due to oxygen deprivation.

[Gorilla]

I'd like to see an actual copy of the e-mail. I have trouble seeing what interest Red Bull would have in torturing rats when their product is already verified as safe and, for that matter, has nothing to do with brain damage due to oxygen deprivation.

i haven't seen any proof of the animal testing myself, but there was that story about fruit juice companies testing their products on animals to try and "prove" some stupid health claims, so i wouldn't put it past any such company to fund pointless vivisection to be honest.

i don't drink Red Bull anyway because it's horrible and the one time i drank it with vodka i went a bit crazy :eek:

[Purple]

I had 5 cans in one night and nearly fainted :) was shaking all night.

I find beer is making me very sleepy when I'm out, but I do want to kick my redbull habit.

Anyone else get a headache when they drink lager/beer?

[Marrers]

Caffiene seems to have no effect on me at all - not in coffee or these drinks.

[Risker]

There seems to be a lot of myths surrounding redbull, I suppose it comes with the territory for a successful company. I for one used to enjoy a vodka redbull and I liked the taste, the only reason I stopped drinking it was because it's very expensive and as I've got older I no longer aim to get as drunk as I can as quickly as I can.

The one energy drink I didn't like was one made by the RAC and it was called... RAC. After drinking it I spent the whole night feeling terribly sick and shaking, I checked the ingredients and it had 6 times as much caffeine in it as red bull so I assume that was why. I never saw that drink in the shops again so I suspect they pulled it.

[Orange-powered]

I can't stand red bull its awful bleugh