Energy drinks blended with caffeine, sugar and vitamins, provide the same amount of energy found in other sources of caffeine, says a study conducted on brain activity by Center College behavioral neuroscience professor and a group of students.
The popular drink with energy-boosting ingredients preferred by majority of the students to help them stay awake doesn't seem to augment an individual's brain power.
"There was no statistical difference," said Katie Ann Skogsberg, an assistant professor of psychology and behavioral neuroscience at Center.
To arrive at the conclusion, participants were divided into three groups and supplied with a grape-flavored purple drink. In one group the drink contained caffeine and vitamins resembling an energy drink, the second group's drink included just caffeine while only grape-flavored drinks were given to the third group.
Skogsberg said that the study was concentrated on brain waves, not caffeine's overall impact on health. Realizing the negative effects of excess caffeine, the researchers mixed the powder in their drinks that is in-tune with their weight.
The participants were asked to finish a task while their brain waves were analysed by an electroencephalograph machine. The analysis showed that the brain activity increased in two groups that consumed caffeine when compared to the group that did not. Skogsberg said that both the groups that had caffeine in their drinks reported same brain activity levels.
"We found many studies on the effects of caffeine on brain activity and reaction time in the research literature, but none on energy drinks," Skogsberg said. "Of the existing studies on energy drinks, we found only measures of the subjective effects-how participants reported they felt-as opposed to objective measures such as brain activity and reaction time."
She got the idea of testing the effect of energy drinks when her husband asked her whether those really worked.
"I came up with the research idea while standing in the grocery store checkout line," Skogsberg said. "My husband casually wondered if the energy drinks we saw for sale really worked. I could test it," You never know what is going to strike your imagination. Everything is a hypothesis to be tested."
Skogsberg is also planning to study how brain patterns work when people think they are receiving an energy drink or caffeine when they are instead being given a placebo.
