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by Emma
Baxter |
Red Bull - the energy drink
that 'gives you wings' and goes well with vodka -
made the headlines in July 2001 when the Swedish
National Food Administration (SNFA) issued a
public warning about its safety after the deaths
of three people who had drunk it.
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The SNFA advised people to stop
mixing Red Bull with alcohol and to stop drinking
it after working out at the gym, until an
investigation into the drink had been carried out.
The warning might have come from Sweden, but it
sent ripples around the world. In the UK,
newspaper headlines warned of 'Red Bull peril' and
appealed to clubbers to think before they
drink.
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Then dieticians entered the fray,
with Dr Wendy Doyle, spokeswoman for the British
Dietetic Association, welcoming the Swedish
inquiry into the drink and raising concerns about
the potential dehydrating effects of mixing Red
Bull with vodka. But even she conceded that, in
moderation, the drink probably does no harm.
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So what is going on? Is Red Bull
the latest club danger? Have its 'wings' finally
been clipped - or is it okay for clubbers to keep
on mixing?
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In reality, the three people who
died in Sweden might have done so after drinking
Red Bull - but there was no proof that Red Bull
had been the cause of their deaths, or even that
it had an effect at all. Two of the people died
after mixing Red Bull with lots of vodka while out
with friends - and the third person died after
drinking Red Bull after a
strenuous gym workout.
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One billion cans of
Red Bull were sold in 2000 - if it was deadly,
wouldn't we have found out by
now? | |
The Red Bull scare was based
entirely on speculation. Even the Swedish National
Food Administration that kickstarted the scare by
launching the inquiry admitted that it just had a
hunch that Red Bull might in some way be harmful.
'The public warning is a precaution', said its
toxicology expert Anders Glynn. 'At this point,
it's just a suspicion and we really don't know
why, as it is a suspicion reported to the press.'
(1)
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No wonder a Red Bull spokeswoman
denounced the scare as 'one story that's not been
based on facts, and has been fuelled by
speculation' (2).
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Red Bull has been on the market
for 14 years - one billion cans were consumed
worldwide in 2000, and 260 million cans were sold
in Britain alone. And according to dieticians,
drinking a can of Red Bull is about as dangerous
as drinking a strong cup of coffee. If it really
was deadly, wouldn't we have found out by now?
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Orange juice is another great
mixer for vodka. I wonder how long until there's a
scare about that?
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What is
spiked?
spiked is an online publication
with the modest ambition of making history as well as
reporting it. spiked stands for liberty,
enlightenment, experimentation and excellence.
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on...
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