Comparison of the Effect of Energy Drinks with a Simple Carbohydrate Solution on Anaerobic Power, Fatigue Index and Blood Lactate Level

Introduction: Nowadays, the consumption of energy drinks has been increased among athletes due to the extensive advertisings of manufacturers about their effects on athletes' performance. The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of Redbull energy drink with simple carbohydrate solution on anaerobic power, fatigue index and blood lactate levels in the male students of physical education. Methods: Ten male students were randomly selected from 20 volunteer students. Their mean age, height and weight was 21.1±1.8 years, 170.7±7.2 cm and 63.3±5 kg, respectively. All 10 subjects were tested at three stages, first step after the consumption of Redbull energy drink(6 ml/kg body weight), the second step after drinking a carbohydrate solution(6 ml/kg body weight) that was iso-caloric with Redbull, and third step, after drinking placebo. Anaerobic test, including Wingate 30 second test was performed at all three stages(in the same way) 40 minutes after drinks. We used Kolmogorov Smirnov test to evaluate the normality of distribution and dependent t-test to compare the results of the three stages. Results: The results showed that anaerobic power after Redbull consumption was lower than carbohydrate solution or placebo consumption(p=0.005 and p=0.002, respectively). Fatigue index and lactate level after 2 and 6 minutes was not significantly different among three groups(P>0.05). Conclusion: The overall results showed that consumption of Redbull energy drinks not only doesn’t have a positive effect on improvement of anaerobic power and lactate level comparing carbohydrate solution, but also is harmful in these cases.