Caffeine and Niacin Levels in Energy DrinksBy: Liz Knisley & Kelley Smith

Background Information Caffeine toxicity results when a person takes in

250-500 mg of caffeine Symptoms: irritability, nervousness, tremors, and

insomnia Caffeine can become lethal when 1000 mg or

more is consumed Symptoms: seizures or aspiration

Detrimental effect on epilepsy control Pregnant women consuming 6 or more cups a

day can result in miscarriage or low fetal birth weight

Background Information Niacin is a lipid-altering drug

Mainly known to decrease cholesterol levels

Main side effect of niacin is flushing of the skin

If 80 mg is consumed at one period of time it increases the risk of muscle damage Supplements are usually extended

release

Purpose and Method

Purpose: to determine whether the amount of caffeine and niacin in a specific energy drink was dangerous to the human body and in what amount.

Method: use the HPLC to test different contents of energy drinks and compare them to standards run of both caffeine and niacin

What We Did… Ran standards of caffeine and niacin on

HPLC Ran diluted energy drinks to gain spectra

that could be compared to the standards Monster (16 fl. oz.) Red Bull (8.4 fl. oz.) 5 Hour Energy (1.93 fl. oz.) Mt. Dew Kickstart (16 fl. oz.) Rock Star: energy x2 (16 fl. oz.)

HPLC Caffeine Standards

50 ppm, 40 ppm, 30 ppm, 20 ppm, and 10 ppm

Niacin Standards 50 ppm, 40 ppm, 30 ppm, 20 ppm, and 10

ppm Energy drinks were all diluted to 1:8

Errors Ran standards originally to compare

caffeine to previous ran standards Instrument was set to 254 nm

Niacin was not actually 250 mg like it said on bottle Had to reweigh out the niacin for the

stock solution

Set Backs Originally wanted to make a 1:2 dilution

of each energy drink Spectra did not come close to the

standards Tried to dilute to 1:4 and still was off the

chart Finally a dilution of 1:8 worked

Originally wanted to use taurine but the lab did not carry it

Conclusion When wanting more for your money Monster and

Rockstar (energy x2) are the way to go Mt. Dew Kickstart comes in second Red Bull comes in third 5 hour energy is last

You would have to consume 60.452 Monsters or Rockstar at a consecutive times to die from caffeine intake 70.517 Mt. Dew Kickstarts 115.141 Red Bulls 501.002 5 Hour Energys

Future Work Test more energy drinks such as NOS

that contain warning labels for levels of caffeine

Run less diluted standards of niacin so that we can compare the results

Run other compounds associated with energy drinks such as taurine

CitationsAlpert, P. The Health Lowdown on Caffeine. Home Health Care Management Practice. [Online] 2012, 24, 156. http://hhc.sagepub.com/content/24/3/156.full.pdf+html (accessed May 09, 2013).Hochholzer, W., Berg, D., Giugliano, R. The Facts

Behind Niacin. Ther Adv Cardiovasc Dis. [Online] 2011, 5, 227. http://tak.sagepub.com/content/5/5/227.full.pdf+html (accessed May 09, 2013).