August 22, 2025 • 47 mins
This episode is brought to you by our favorite cohost: coffee. These days, if you stroll into any convenience store across the planet, you're going to run into a selection of energy drinks -- whether we're talking Red Bull, NOS, Monster, or our favorite pal, the humble cup of joe, one thing's for certain: people love this stuff... even if it's not particularly healthy. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max discover the strange origin of a multibillion dollar industry dedicated to keeping people just a little more peppy.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to
(00:27):
the show, fellow Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so
much for tuning in. We are amped about this one.
We are very lily buzzing, buzzin' buzzing with our cousins.
Something Melson rhymes. Uh, there's our super producer, mister Max Williams.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
A cousin's by a dozen.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Okay, yeah, yeah, I don't want to do a loving joke. Look, guys,
we'll be honest.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
With the cousin.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
That's a different topic entirely. That's about like royalty.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah, different dirty dozens, habsburgs. Maybe we'll be honest with you, folks.
We're in very different time zones right now. So this
episode of Ridiculous History is brought to you by caffeine
and brought to you by imbibed energy. Whom there that's
(01:21):
the dulcet tone of none other than mister Noel Brown.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
'tis I? And those are the dulcet tones of none
other than mister Benjamin Bolin, not to be confused with
Anne Bolinh's also a topic for a different day. Ben
Did you hear this story recently about the Celsius energy
drinks that were accidentally filled with vodka.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I did, I did. Someone got in trouble for that, right.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
I imagine some head rolls, if not many. I believe
it's a similar the same company or distributor or whatever factory.
I guess that makes high noon hard seltzer or vodka
kind of cocktail canned drinks that you'll pay like twenty
five dollars for at a concert. And they did a
little switch aroo by accident and so, and you know
it's funny, is the kids love energy drinks and Celsius
(02:07):
is kind of the energy drink ajure of the of
the gen zs for sure. Yeah, the way the kids
got tanks, Yeah, the way Red Bull used to be.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
And those kids, by the way, if they are gen Z,
they were probably disappointed to have their alcohol mixed with
caffeine because drinking alcohol is no longer cool for Western
kids and gen Z, No.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
It definitely isn't. It's not something that they're particularly interested in,
which I am absolutely here for at least my kid
in their friend group. They are much more interested in
music and culture and memes and you know, just like
hanging out irl's, you love to see it.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
You do love to love to see it. Remember four Loco, Ben,
I do remember for Loco. I was recently talking with
some folks about this in preparation for today's episode. Spoiler
for anybody didn't read the title, it's a ridiculous history
of energy drinks I had. You know, I have my days.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
I have my for Loco, being an on purpose combination
of alcohol and energy drinks.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
I was telling someone recently, I'm like, back in my
day for a Loco had caffeine in it.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
But you guys don't mind a quick aside.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
I want to set up I'm not my boy Matt
right here because a couple of weekends ago, I was
a house sitting where I'm watching his cat, and it's
a pretty nice plays up in northern Atlanta area, like
you know, and it's like, you know, an adult's house.
And I open up the fridge and there's like an
entire shelf dedicated just to energy drinks, and above the
fridge I later found was just like more and more
(03:39):
cases of energy drinks.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Matt, I love you, buddy, cause he's he's like this
an adult, but he's also.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
A giant gamer and nerves gamers need their fuel.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yeah, sure, we'll shut up Matt. Also, there may be
a pattern at play here because our brother Matt Frederick
from stuff we don't want you to know, say, not
a coffee guy, but definitely you know what, you will
take that monster energy from his cold dead paws.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Big fan of the Go Go juice.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
Yes, yeah, So shout out to Matt's, shout out to
energy drinks, Shout out to caffeine in general.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
One of the silent partners for our shows, especially when
we're on the road, is our favorite executive producer, Coffee Caffee.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Yeah for sure. So, for better or worse, an estimate
eighty percent of the world's population drinks caffeine daily, and
we are part of that number. Like when the Saints
go Marching in. While coffee, tea, and soda could technically
be considered energy drinks, which is something I've always found,
it's more of a marketing tactic than anything, the idea
of a soft drink versus an energy drink, which seems
(04:52):
relatively a recent phenomenon in terms of advertising. Around thirty
percent of caffeine consumers like their drinks a little on
the stronger side. Like you said, the aforementioned monster. Shout
out to Matt Frederick red Bull you also mentioned and
Celsius that I also mentioned. When we were younger, before
(05:12):
the days of Red Bull and these kind of drinks,
there was Jolt cola.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yes, yeah, I love that you're mentioning Jolt cola. Due
to my Tennessee and background, I also have to shout
out doctor enough, not spelled the way you think, doctor enough.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
There's never enough doctor enough.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Well because they were so energetic when they invented it
that they had to spell it E and UF because
they were in a hurry. We'll get to it, right,
We're going to get to all of this. We'll have
some personal anecdotes and shout outs to things that got
us through our associated musical and theatrical performances back in
(05:51):
the day.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Right now, if you are looking at a can of
your average cola, you're looking at third three milligrams of caffeine.
One average cup of coffee that's ninety six milligrams of caffeine.
And now we get to an escalation when we get
to energy drinks, right, we.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Do a sixteen ounce one of the Skinny Boy cans
of Red Bull contains one hundred and sixty milligrams of caffeine.
We're also we're not going to talk too much about
sugar today, but it's something to be said about that
from a marketing standpoint in and of itself, because remember
back in the day where sugar was advertised like to
give you pep. It's the idea of like a sugar high.
(06:35):
But we don't really think about it in those terms
so much anymore. And a lot of these highly caffeinated
drinks are on the diet side in terms of like
sugar free Red Bulls being so popular and Celsius being
mega low sugar, mega high caffeine. What are those little
like absolutely condensed energy shots. There's a bunch of those now,
(06:58):
but I think there was the OG.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yeah, the OG five hour energy which I've I've messed with.
I'll mess with a five hour energy shot that has
two hundred milligrams of caffeine. Also, it's essentially a vitamin
B overdose.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
I gotta jump in here. Yeah, we got an outside here.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
We had a field trip earlier this year that I
won't spoil, but we have an upcoming episode about it.
And part of the gig was I had to go
and pick up a lot of field recording equipment from
the office, which is like, you know, thousands of dollars
worth of stuff, and then drive it over to.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
The said thing. And so I was like, crap, I
eat oil from my car. I taxed Ben. Ben got
me some oil, So I put it in there.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
I sold a little five hour energy that Ben had
bought himself, that just sitting in my car waiting for
the next time I see it. It's spent a long time,
but you will get that five energy that's been sitting
in the Atlantis stun for a while.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Now. Yeah, that just makes it stronger, right, makes it better.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Vintage, it's vintage.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
It soaks up the power of the yellow sun.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
There we go. I like how it's a superhero origin
story and we cannot wait to share that very weird
episode with you folks. Unfortunately, we do have a little
bit of a moratorium until we meaning I get our
stuff together on that interview. We can tell you there
(08:19):
is a house involved, as well as some waffles involved. No,
I think you and I were all surprised when we
got some stats from our excellent research associate Ren that
showed us per the Mayo Clinic four hundred milligrams is
the maximum amount of caffeine a healthy adult can consume
(08:43):
per day without experiencing the wiggly wobbles, you know, the
averse side effects like heart palpitations and so on.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Yeah, yeah, don't want that. But you know, per Wren's
excellent outline, if you were to decide to shotgun three
energy drinks in the parking lot of a Bucky's, it
is perfectly legal. Although we do know that lawsuits can
arise from perhaps under advertising and over caffeinating certain beverages.
I'm looking at you, Panera Bread Company with your like
(09:14):
deathly caffeinated sodas that are just sort of masquerading as
regular sodas and instantly cause people to have these gnarly
side effects.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Yeah, they got in trouble for that. When anybody doing
the quick we won't call it cocktail Napkin math, but
anybody doing the quick celsius Napkin math here, four hundred milligrams.
If one cup of coffee is ninety six milligrams, you're
looking at a little under four cups of coffee per day.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
And if you're looking at marketing, sometimes on these energy drinks,
you will often see a little legend on the back
with a little symbol of a cup of coffee and
bragging that this one little skinny can of energy drink
contains the equivalent of like six or seven cups of coffee.
And that's like a feature, not a bug.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Right right, This is bad for you.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
The energy drink industry is worth one hundred and ninety
three billion US dollars and bad for you, good for business. Yes, yeah, yes,
so say we all. And you might be surprised, folks,
to learn that the United States is the top consumer
of energy drinks across the world. I don't know if
(10:26):
that's surprising, because this is tweakers over here in the US.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Like Dennis Leary said, once upon a time, the United
States is the country where cocaine didn't have enough pep.
Someone was walking down the street and they said, what
if we may.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Crack so meth It does seem like the culture of
multitasking and bad work life boundaries here in the United
States could well be a reason for those stats.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
And here we go into the ridiculous origin story, because
despite being the world's top consumer of energy drinks, the
United States did not invent this concept. And we're going
to find out about that in a second. We are
not medical professionals. This is not medical advice. The FDA
(11:22):
Food and Drug Administration of the US considers all energy
drinks not to be medicinal. They are dietary supplements, which
loop right, which speaks to your point, Nol about how
there's no one to stop you from shotgun in a
celsius or a nase at the BUCkies. The products are
(11:43):
not reviewed in any serious way before they hit the shelves.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Don't care for that, Ben, don't care for that, especially
with a lot of young people housing these highly caffeinated
and arguably addictive Oh one hundred percent. Yeah, whether it's
physically addictive or just like psychologically addictive because it gives
you a quote unquote edge, you know what I mean.
And again, not medical professionals, but it does weird me
(12:09):
out a little bit. There's not more oversight to this stuff.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
One hundred percent, man, Yeah, one hundred percent of your
daily caffine inte just in one zip in one zip.
So here's the deal, folks. The energy drinks that you
see in your typical American gas station wouldn't have been
a thing were it not for the proud nation of Japan.
(12:34):
During the nineteen sixties, they really led to charge on
energy drinks. But there was a long time coming, right.
Japanese research is really the culmination of an earlier bevy
of research. We've got to shout out one of our
favorite soda companies on the planet being all Atlanta Boys
(12:58):
these days. Coca Cola.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Coca cola, the coca is for cocaine, invented in eighteen
eighty six by doctor John Pemberton, who is a Confederate
veteran in quote who had a bit of a sweet
tooth for the hard stuff, the dope morphine. In fact,
that was his malign it was yeah uh. And of
course the product did get its name from the two
(13:22):
key ingredients, the African cola nut and the South American
coca leaf. And boy o boy, this is a fun
opportunity to mention this, and I think it's come up.
But technically, Coca cola today still contained would contain cocaine
if they did not de cocaine afy the coca that
(13:44):
goes into it, and apparently the cocaine that is generated
from that is a revenue stream in and of itself.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Yeah, it's medicinal. It can be prescribed to you by
a doctor who is surely on the up and up
the the feel good variety, right right, yes, the doctor.
Never enough, we would call it cola nut has the caffeine,
the coca leaf. You know, you can derive cocaine from
(14:13):
it if you are clever and motivated. That is the
original recipe for coca cola, and it was Pemberton meant
this to combat that all too common mid afternoon post
lunch lethargy. But as you were saying, no politics, and
the law intervened. In nineteen twenty two, the Harrison Act
(14:36):
prohibited the import of coca leaves into the good old
United States of America. But by the time this happened,
Pemberton is kind of out of the picture. Coca Cola
is run by a guy named Candler who has a
lot of roads and buildings named after him in Atlanta
and cocaine.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
I live off of his road. I live off of
one of his roads. Not to docks myself, because you'll
never figure it out, because to your point, then there
are quite a few.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
There's so many this At this point in the early
nineteen twenties, Coca Cola is already a giant, and they
have a small army a very influential lobbyists. So other
businesses are forced to close because their income stream depended
(15:26):
on marketing cocaine based products. However, as you alluded to
so beautifully earlier, Coca Cola got an exception. They got
a loophole. They rubbed the level. Yeah, they rubbed the
right elbows and weaknesses in congress.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Oh yeah, circular motion exactly, That's how it's done.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, this gave them. This gave Coca Cola a right
to use, as you said, decocainified leaves in their recipe.
And so now, despite being named Coca Cola, the beverage
was relying on caffeine and sugar to provide a more
(16:10):
moderate pick me up.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Where were we gonna get that zip? We gotta put
this z We lost the zip. We gotta put the
zip back. Yes, caffeine indeed. Doctor Enough, Wow, he came
next in the American Quest for Energy drinks. Doctor Enough
not a real person, sadly, a sort of like Doctor
(16:35):
Pepper or Doctor Bob, which is one of my favorite
off brand. Doctor Drinks was invented in nineteen forty nine
by a chemist named Bill Schwartz in Chicago, as addressed
during the Fad Diets episode. Also research associated by Wren.
Amphetamines were prescribed to US soldiers during World War Two
(16:55):
to boost energy and morale. Arguable once the come down happens,
I would argue that the morale is not is going
to suffer a little bit. But I guess I get
what they were going for.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Yeah, but it also created some serious addiction problems. And
we see this all the time in modern conflict. Right,
Like service members returning from the Vietnam War were heavily
dosed with painkillers and they came back to the States
with an itch they couldn't scratch. The same thing happened
to a lot of US soldiers in World War Two.
(17:31):
They survived the war, they came back to the States
and they were missing that extra zippity doo dah. And
this is where doctor Enough comes in. Like we said,
our buddy Bill Schwartz creates a lemon lime soda that
you can still find.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
I thought it was lemon lime. Interesting, Yeah, you.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Can still find it in East Tennessee today. So when
we get on our road trip up to that part
of the world, we're gonna have some pals. That's what
we're gonna ask. We're going to drink some doctor enough.
This stuff is not initially marketed as you know, a
beverage you would have at lunch or dinner. Instead, it's
(18:16):
a tonic. It's a medicinal substance that is supposed to
supposed to pick you up if you're a tired housewife,
if you're a business tycoon, if you're a farmer laboring
from dawn to dusk. And just like the five hour
energy drink later, this has a lot of vitamin B
(18:36):
and a little bit of caffeine.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
You know what else has a lot of vitamin B
and it ben hm hmm cocaine oil on the streets
because that is a cutting agent that is very very
popular because it can cut down into a clear, you know,
a powdery white consistency substance, and it does actually give
you a little bit of zip. So it is a
hugely popular cut agent to get more bang for your
(19:02):
buck when you're slinging.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Drugs better than fentanyl, I guess, but I would say so,
but I'm just learning this now. Oh my gosh, this
is why I love you twelve.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Sorry, I'm not that I don't mean to be the
drugs facts guy. I know a lot of other stuff too,
but yeah, I actually just learned this recently on a
on a podcast called a Shock Incarceration that I'm working on.
That's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Mm hmmm. Oh yeah. I like schalk incarceration as well.
I'm excited to hear more of it. So here's the
thing about Doctor Enough. It was never a success in
the national market, but it did catch fire and become
a regional hit in Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.
(19:43):
And that's why we have to drive up. We've got
to take a road trip to East Tennessee to get
some doctor Enough. People still swear by it. I remember
older relatives telling me this could do all sorts of things.
It was like a light panacea. We also have to
take a quick quick tangent here, folks. Soft drinks were
(20:05):
cold soft drinks originally to indicate that they did not
contain alcohol. And our super producer Max unfortunately just disclose
to us that he cannot have energy drinks nor soft
drinks due to the condition.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
The dreaded condition.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
I gotta have coffee though.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Okay, well, that's good coffee is the og and that's
what my it's my preference as well. Oh yeah, you
can do it up so many different ways. And it also,
you know, doesn't have all of the crazy chemical additives
that some of these drinks have. Soft drinks, hard cider,
hard seltzer. Yeah, there you go. In case you were wondering,
(20:46):
which you probably weren't. I think it's a little self explanatory.
Hard boiled eggs very much the same thing.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
One hundred percent the same thing. Uh No one fact
check us ever, So there there is maybe some sand
to the claim that vitamin B heavy drinks can be
somehow restorative, because conditions like lethargy and fatigue can be
(21:16):
linked to vitamin B deficiencies.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Well, and a lot of times you'll hear about rock
stars or you know, folks on the road touring actors
even having like a medic on staff or a personal
doctor who will shoot them in the butt with some
B twelve to get them through the day.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
That's how you know you're famous.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
That's how you know you're famous. They are real popular
and the whole medspa craze of today, like with all
these glp ones and various types of injectables. People are
really into injecting themselves with both B twelve. Not that
that's like a brand new thing at all, but it's
just it seems like it's having a bit of a
resurgence in popularity.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Yeah. Yeah. Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant from Stuff You
Should Know, as well as Jonathan Strickland aka The Twister,
have it in their contracts that they have to get
shot in the butt with vitamin B twelve before recording.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
It's true. Gives them the zip, give them the pep
they need to give you the content you crave.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
There we go, So that is also they're gonna be
so mad at us if they hear that. While Americans
are enjoying the energy buzz from these sodas that have
vitamins but no longer have cocaine, we flash to Japan.
We journey to a place called Taisho Pharmaceutical Company, and
(22:36):
the clever boffins there are trying to figure out how
to make an energy beverage with a higher caffeine content,
and this is where they stumble across something we call taurine.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
In the modern market, the common active ingredient and most
energy drinks includes tarine, sugar, and of course caffeine. Caffeine
was first isolated from the coffee bean by Francis Runge
in eighteen nineteen, and it is the first major chemical
compound responsible for increasing energy levels. And according to our
(23:15):
Alma mater, how stuff works, Caffeine works by blocking the
effects of a dentisine, a brain chemical involved in sleep.
When caffeine blocks adnizine, it causes neurons in the brain
to fire, giving you that that oh so pleasant zippity
dudeout feeling that we're all chasing p pu pew. That's
the sound of neurons fire.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Right. So, when this chemical is blocked, your body in
your brain essentially enter what we would call fight or
flight mode. And that's because the little pew pew pew
signals in your neurds cause your pituitary gland to make adrenaline.
Adrenaline is your number one superpower hormonally, it is your
(24:00):
survival hormone. It's what causes your heart to beat faster,
it makes your liver secrete more sugar into your bloodstream
that gives you an energy high. And then at the
same time, caffeine does help your mood. It rigs your mood.
It gives you dopamine, and that's why we have such
(24:21):
strong associations with a nice cup of coffee or a
little espresso in the morning.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Yeah, but if you're not careful, you can also experience
some of those negative side effects in the form of
a caffeine crash. Caffeine is a stimulant, so well, it
probably won't kill you unless you have some sort of
pre existing heart condition. For example, it does put stress
on your nervous system as a whole, and this stress
can lead to what is often colloquially referred to as
(24:48):
the jitters, a form of anxiety that many of us
feel hours after we've had a little too much caffeine.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Yeah, it can give you the jimmys, the palpitations. So
this is where we see a new player on the
stage touring. So I don't know about you, no MX,
but I first learned about tourine when I was reading
the ingredient label ingredients label on a can of red bull.
(25:18):
I said, okay, caffeine, get it, Vitamin B copy. Try
what is tory?
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Well, we'll tell you. It is a substance an amino
acid to be specific, that occurs naturally in foods that
are high in protein, like chicken or fish. Well, amino
acids are used to synthesize protein. Only nine of them
are absolutely essential for human life, and the Cleveland Clinic
reports that taurine is not one of them. It's it's
(25:48):
the extra one. Yeah, you don't need it? Yeah, do
you want it? Maybe?
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Right? So it sounds useful if you're a young Ben
Bullen reading the back of a can, because you're the
guy who reads ingredient lists for fun. But there is
to your point, Noel, there is very little to suggest
that taurine as an additive helps your body's energy production.
We know it helps with other stuff. Taurine is imperative
(26:16):
to your vision, your digestion, and your nervous system. And
this is where we get to we get to one
of the other big energy rush sources for humanity, glucose.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
I ask glucose not to be confused with gluten. That's
its own thing and probably worthy of an episode on
its own. While we're in the like, yeah, the health,
it's the food science realm, right, and the idea of
of being you know, gluten free, gluten intolerance, celiacs and
all of that. And some of the fads that have
sprung up around that in terms of food marketing. Not
(26:52):
to say that they're all fads, and people definitely have
gluten sensitivity, but it is an interesting topic. We're talking
about glucose. I mean, get out track. It is your
body these main source of energy. It is of course
a type of sugar. So let's just add on to
all these extra chemicals in these energy drinks with a
copious amount of sugar.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, this is a story that's familiar to a lot
of our non American ridiculous historians. One of the main
things that our pals say when they travel to the
US for the first time is, holy crap, why is
everything so sweet? Why does everything have so much sugar
(27:33):
in it? Totally?
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Yeah, even in Japan, and I have not been, and
I'm so jealous of you gooding to go so much,
but one day. But like a lot of their dessert
type foods, even like cheesecakes, are not that sweet. They're
all about kind of a more mild, almost bordering on
savory vibe. And if you go to like Bubble tea
places that are more or less authentic here in the States,
(27:57):
you will have an option to really the tailor the
sweetness and very low sweetness is absolutely an option which
just seems unheard of in American sweet treat culture.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
I can't wait until we all go together. Right. There's
a reason, there's a physical chemical reason that sugar is
so popular, And for our purposes here we need to
quote our friends at the Harvard Medical School. They point
out that brain functions like thinking, memory, and learning are
(28:32):
very closely linked to glucose levels and how efficiently your
brain uses said glucose. So if you don't have enough
glucose in your brain, your little chemical messagers, your neurotransmitters are.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
Not cewan, yeah, not puanepew.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Right, and the communication between your neurons breaks down. So
that's why the added sugar in energy drinks makes you
feel more zip. But he do die in this short term.
Processed sugar, however, lacks key vitamins and minerals. And if
we're being super duper honest and square about it, you
(29:13):
can get the same effect from a more complex carbohydrate
without the subsequent energy crash, for sure, like fruits, vegetables,
and grain. Doctor for sure.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
There is also I've been one a bit of a
fitness journey recently and trying to just adjust my diet
in certain ways to kind of help promote muscle growth
and weight loss. And there is something to be said
about limiting even those natural sugars in your diet to
a certain degree in certain periods of your fat loss attempts.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Yeah, exactly. There is such a thing as too much fruit,
and you know, everything in moderation, even moderation. Let's get
back to the lab, as we like to say in
hip hop. By the way, spoiler, folks, Noel and I
are eventually going to work on some hip hop together.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Rick yw We are in the lab, the Rainbow Cave.
I can't wait, Ben, But for now we're gonna pop
back to the Japanese lab that we were hanging out
in earlier.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Yeah. Yeah, So it's Naishow Company, Taishow Pharmaceutical Company. It's
nineteen sixty two. Our buddies, the boffins at Tai Show,
released the first modern energy drink. It's called Lipovitan D.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Of course, this is, of course hearly sexy, sounds a
little a little clinical. But by the nineteen eighties, the beverage,
which was sold in little mini bottles wasn't strong enough.
So Japan known for its ruthless, you know, sleepless business culture.
Salary men, I believe, is a term that gets thrown
around the lot. That type of individual was looking for
(31:02):
a little bit of extra something, something to help them
climb that corporate ladder in order to I mean, gosh
I mentioned the whole lack of work life boundaries here
in America, it is potentially being responsible for energy drink craze,
but in Japan it's even worse. I mean, it is
pathological over there.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Yeah. Yeah, it's a very sensitive issue and there's a
lot of I would say there's a big cultural inertia
toward it. So the idea, simply put, is this, you
have to be at work all the time, even if
you are not really working. Traditionally, you're not supposed to
(31:42):
leave before your boss leaves. And when your boss leaves,
in that competitive corporate environment, you don't get to go
home immediately. You're required to go have a happy hour
that could last for multiple hours, and then you you want.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
To be able to drink your boss under the table,
or at the very least keep up. That's part of
the culture too, and I think we've talked about this.
There was a really interesting photo I guess you could
call it essay kind of thing that I saw online
a few years ago where it was salary men just
passed out because they've missed all the trains and so
they're just like on benches. They literally can't get home
(32:21):
because of exactly the phenomenon that you're describing.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
And then get up and back to work very hungover
at seven in the morning.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
What are you going to smell? Grate?
Speaker 1 (32:31):
You're going to reach for some lipovit and d and
so this has these energy drinks in Japan and this
milieu in the nineteen eighties, they have found a huge demographic, right,
the powerful industry folk of Japan, and now these energy
(32:52):
drinks are getting consumed everywhere. They're being sold in every
convenie or every convenience store, and the companies who were
manufacturing these drinks are paying tons and tons of cash
to us celebrities. We should do an entire ridiculous history
(33:13):
of American celebrities in weird Japanese commercials.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
I love it well. I mean, it was famously kind
of brought to light in the incredible film Lost in Translation,
where Bill Murray was in Japan. It was kind of
like a sort of his career in stalled a little
bit in the States, and so he went to Japan
to do a series of commercials for Suntory whiskey, because
what is it, Make it suntory relaxing times, make it
(33:38):
suntory time. But for this energy drink craze, we saw
the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nicholas Cage, Dennis Hopper, I've
even seen like Andy Warhol, maybe not doing this particular product,
but you would be shocked. Nicholas Cage also does an
incredible series of commercials for Fame, a very popular pachinko
parlor brand. But the aren't Schwarzenegger ones in particular for
(34:02):
this very tiny bottle energy drink. It's called like he
just he says die Joe boy boy, That's what he
says at the end of it. So I don't know
if the drink is called one of those things that
are that's just their catchphrase. But they are bonkers bananas.
He turns into all kinds of weird like a genie,
and it starts juggling these salarymen at a certain point.
Google them you will. You can find a compilation of
(34:24):
all of these and they are a delight because, to
Rend's point, at the time, Americans were never going to
see their favorite movie stars shilling for these Japanese companies.
But with the beautiful thing and often terrifying thing that
is the Internet, we can now enjoy those relics of
the past.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
It is so amazing. I don't want to sound like
a Wiya boo or whatever, but Japanese advertisements, packaging and packaging.
You know, check out ourday episode as well, folks. There's
a technology gap right in advertising in tech. So now
(35:02):
these energy drinks, it's like mid to late eighties verging
into the nineteen nineties. These drinks are mainstream in Japan,
and the manufacturers creating these beverages say, we've got to
think bigger, right, Let's go from addition to multiplication. Let's
go from checkers to chess. Let's distribute our stuff outside
(35:26):
of Japan to other countries in Asia.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
Yeah, but not yet the US because I imagine there
were maybe FDA regulations around it. Not one hundred percent
sure why they weren't able to immediately make that leap,
but someone took advantage of that. A guy named Dietrich
mighta shits, don't titter, don't do it? Okay, that's worthy
of a titter. This is where he got the idea
for Red Bull.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
Yeah, so, our buddy Dietrich is an account executive for
a company that doesn't sell energy drinks. They sell bathroom
products and he has to travel around a lot for
his job. He finds himself in Bangkok in Thailand, and
he tries an energy drink called Kratting Dying and there
(36:14):
were there was nothing like okay. So dietrichs from Austria, right,
and there's nothing like this back home, and so he says,
what this is amazing. We could take Vienna by storm.
And he teams up with the folks who make Crichton
down and he says, we gotta figure out something like
(36:34):
this that we can sell to Europeans. And this is
how Red Bull gets launched in nineteen eighty seven. This
is so wild because we were not to date ourselves
too hard. But all three of us were round in
nineteen eighty seven, and I simply don't remember seeing Red Bull.
When's the first time you saw it?
Speaker 3 (36:56):
I would say in the early two thousands, right late nineties.
As a team and there's a good reason for that
because it was launched in nineteen eighty seven only in
Europe and became a huge favorite among long haul truck
drivers and other blue collar types, very similar to how
it was popularized in Japan, and Red Bull did not
(37:18):
enter into the US markets until nineteen ninety seven. So
all that tracks, and despite some competitors popping up like
Monster and Rockstar, it does still remain the top selling
energy drink in the world because it gives you wings and.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
It's jump in here. I actually was not around in
nineteen eighty seven.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
All right, Max, with the facts.
Speaker 4 (37:41):
That seeking in the phones backs and he's fallen knowledge.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
It's just for you right now here with the facts.
We're just overdue for that, all right, Max. Well you
know what, you didn't miss too much?
Speaker 3 (37:58):
Nah, you did miss Red Bull. It wasn't around then.
But why don't we pop the top drain a can
on this topic? Take us home, Ben, why don't you?
Speaker 1 (38:07):
Ah? Yes, all right, so homeward bound West Virginia, Mountain Mom, etc.
Energy drinks are relatively recent then in the grand scheme
of things, but despite being the newbies, they have become
the second most popular dietary supplement. Amongst the utes of
(38:29):
the world, of the US in particular, the number one
thing is multi vitamins, right, your old flintstone vitamins or
those delightful gummies. I have a problem with gummy gummy vitamins.
I don't have too many addictions anymore, but I'll tell you, man,
a multi vitamin gummy I just I keep eating them.
(38:50):
They're delicious.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
Oh no, you're gonna o d on the d.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
He died as he lived eating multi vitamin gummies. What
a boring funeral speech that would be?
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Or maybe the bee I know, not meaning to be
dirty here, No, Ben, there were worse ways to go out,
you know. Yeah, you're happy.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
We actually I think the statute has passed so we
can tell you that years back we were in conversations
with Red Bull to see about doing some stunts with them.
One of those was going to be a very extreme
version of the old Pine Wood Derby. That was due
(39:31):
to a show called Car Stuff. It didn't happen, but
we also pitched the idea of base jumping and cliff diving.
So Red Bull, if you're hearing this, hit us up.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
Well, you know to that point though, Ben I mean,
Red Bull did kind of keep its relevance, not necessarily
because it was like the only game in town or
maybe even the best tasting energy drink in town, but
a lot of it's marketing focus on kind of hip
stuff and like like X games, sports and all of that,
and then making really interesting internet content and even music
(40:06):
musicians having like Red Bull Academy and stuff like that.
I mean, I gotta give them props because they actually
have put some interesting and useful stuff out into the
world in terms of, yeah, you know, live performances, clinics
about making music, and about extreme sports, so you know.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
And speaking of extreme since we are audio podcast, Noel,
you have pulled up what I hope is an Arnold
Schwarzenegger AD from Japan.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
Yeah, and I just wanted to play the audio to
get us out of this episode. I wish you could
see it, but just do google it. Just type in
Schwartzenegger Japanese energy drink ads and you're gonna hear Arnold
as he is. Let's set the scene. He's he's dressed
as a Japanese salary man. He's talking to his boss.
There's some charts and graphs on the on the wall,
and it would appear that his boss is giving him
(40:53):
what for because he's not he's not carrying his weight.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Mm hmmm, yeah, that's the.
Speaker 3 (41:29):
Thing that happened. Maybe we should describe He does get
yelled at and bonked on the nose by like his
boss with a pointer stick, at which point he disappears,
almost like a superman transformation, slams this little energy vial
and then becomes like a superpowered Genie type creature, carrying
(41:50):
way too many boxes on his shoulders and bounding across
the tops of cars in heavy traffic.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Yeah. And you can go to any any Japanese convenience
store today and find an entire section of a shelf
which is just different versions of these small tonics and
energy drinks with every imaginable flavor. This is still kind
(42:17):
of catching on. In the United States. There's almost no
federal oversight, which means that the makers of these beverages
don't have to play by the same set of rules
that soda manufacturers have to play by. So this means, logically,
and we don't want to be bummers about this, this
(42:37):
means logically, it's only a matter of time before another
dangerous chemical makes its way into your favorite energy drink.
And I got to be honest, I other than coffee
and maybe five hour energy drinks once in a while,
I can't handle most of the stuff. I have no
(42:58):
idea how our pal Matt Frederick is just shotgun in
monster energy drinks. When I was doing a lot of
stage comedy and sketch and acting, I would drink something
called nas Did you ever hear of that one? N os?
Speaker 3 (43:13):
Mmmmm hmm. That was crazy. I always thought it was
like a drink version of no does remember, yes, like
Trucker speed over the counter type of speed. I do
want to wrap up with a couple of fun facts
that Wren found here at the end. This idea that
the name red bull comes from the fact that taurine
(43:33):
is derived from bull testicles. Not true, Not true. This
is let's just put an end to that one. And
this one I think is helpful for a lot of folks.
And maybe you're like, oh, I can't drink a coffee
after you know, two o'clock or something that will keep
me up all night. It would seem that that is
not the case. Likely a half life of caffeine is
only two to four hours, So if you're having trouble
getting to sleep at night, Chances are it wasn't that
(43:56):
cup of coffee or afternoon DC. That's diet coke to blame.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
Yeah, And if we want to kick one more fact,
let's go to Kathleen E. Miller, who is a big
deal at a place called the Research Institute on Addictions
over at the University of Buffalo. And doctor Miller is
dropping a gem here. This is a fun stat for
you to share at your next party.
Speaker 3 (44:21):
Folks.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
If you report that you have six or more energy
drinks over the course of a month, not a week,
over a month, a month, you are statistically more likely
to also report that you've gotten a fight over the
previous year, that you have sex without a condom, or
that you drive without a seatbelt. Okay, life on.
Speaker 3 (44:45):
The bit of a bit of a correlation between energy
drink consumption and risky behavior.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
Yes, but not necessarily causation. And I appreciate that you
pointed that out. So with that, we are going to
wrap today's episode. We can't wait to hear from you, folks.
Please be safe with your energy drinks and your stimulants.
Remember a lot of times, there's nothing that beats a
(45:12):
good old glass of water. God, we sound old.
Speaker 3 (45:17):
It's true, And I just want to point out one
last thing to that point.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
Ben.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
Coffee, of course and caffeine are diuretics. So if you're
drinking a lot of coffee that is, you need to
almost offset that by drinking water. Would not consider your
coffee intake to be part of that daily water consumption
that we're all shooting for.
Speaker 1 (45:37):
Yeah, one hundred percent, and we are one hundred percent
grateful that you have joined us today. Big thanks to
our super producer, mister Max Williams. Big thanks to Alex
Williams who composed this track in Big thanks reluctantly to
Jonathan Strickland aka the Quister. You know, I'm kind of
(45:58):
mad Adam Nole because he is huge in Japan. He's
in every advertisement for a lot of weird stuff.
Speaker 3 (46:06):
M that's true. That's because he looks like the Buddha.
Speaker 1 (46:10):
Okay, so you've seen the advertisements as well. Big thanks
to Christa Vassiotis Eve's Jeff Coo here in Spirit, Doctor
Rachel Big Spinach, Lance Oh Oh Gosh, aj Bahamas Jacobs.
Please check out his show The Puzzler and if you
dig our show you're gonna love our pals over at
(46:33):
ridiculous crime.
Speaker 3 (46:35):
Oh yeah, the rude Dude's over a ridiculous crime, and
once again he's thanks to ren Renfair Jones for rocking
this incredible research brief for today's episode. We'll see you
next time, folks. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
(46:56):
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to
(00:27):
the show, fellow Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so
much for tuning in. We are amped about this one.
We are very lily buzzing, buzzin' buzzing with our cousins.
Something Melson rhymes. Uh, there's our super producer, mister Max Williams.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
A cousin's by a dozen.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Okay, yeah, yeah, I don't want to do a loving joke. Look, guys,
we'll be honest.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
With the cousin.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
That's a different topic entirely. That's about like royalty.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah, different dirty dozens, habsburgs. Maybe we'll be honest with you, folks.
We're in very different time zones right now. So this
episode of Ridiculous History is brought to you by caffeine
and brought to you by imbibed energy. Whom there that's
(01:21):
the dulcet tone of none other than mister Noel Brown.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
'tis I? And those are the dulcet tones of none
other than mister Benjamin Bolin, not to be confused with
Anne Bolinh's also a topic for a different day. Ben
Did you hear this story recently about the Celsius energy
drinks that were accidentally filled with vodka.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I did, I did. Someone got in trouble for that, right.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
I imagine some head rolls, if not many. I believe
it's a similar the same company or distributor or whatever factory.
I guess that makes high noon hard seltzer or vodka
kind of cocktail canned drinks that you'll pay like twenty
five dollars for at a concert. And they did a
little switch aroo by accident and so, and you know
it's funny, is the kids love energy drinks and Celsius
(02:07):
is kind of the energy drink ajure of the of
the gen zs for sure. Yeah, the way the kids
got tanks, Yeah, the way Red Bull used to be.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
And those kids, by the way, if they are gen Z,
they were probably disappointed to have their alcohol mixed with
caffeine because drinking alcohol is no longer cool for Western
kids and gen Z, No.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
It definitely isn't. It's not something that they're particularly interested in,
which I am absolutely here for at least my kid
in their friend group. They are much more interested in
music and culture and memes and you know, just like
hanging out irl's, you love to see it.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
You do love to love to see it. Remember four Loco, Ben,
I do remember for Loco. I was recently talking with
some folks about this in preparation for today's episode. Spoiler
for anybody didn't read the title, it's a ridiculous history
of energy drinks I had. You know, I have my days.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
I have my for Loco, being an on purpose combination
of alcohol and energy drinks.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
I was telling someone recently, I'm like, back in my
day for a Loco had caffeine in it.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
But you guys don't mind a quick aside.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
I want to set up I'm not my boy Matt
right here because a couple of weekends ago, I was
a house sitting where I'm watching his cat, and it's
a pretty nice plays up in northern Atlanta area, like
you know, and it's like, you know, an adult's house.
And I open up the fridge and there's like an
entire shelf dedicated just to energy drinks, and above the
fridge I later found was just like more and more
(03:39):
cases of energy drinks.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Matt, I love you, buddy, cause he's he's like this
an adult, but he's also.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
A giant gamer and nerves gamers need their fuel.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yeah, sure, we'll shut up Matt. Also, there may be
a pattern at play here because our brother Matt Frederick
from stuff we don't want you to know, say, not
a coffee guy, but definitely you know what, you will
take that monster energy from his cold dead paws.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Big fan of the Go Go juice.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
Yes, yeah, So shout out to Matt's, shout out to
energy drinks, Shout out to caffeine in general.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
One of the silent partners for our shows, especially when
we're on the road, is our favorite executive producer, Coffee Caffee.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Yeah for sure. So, for better or worse, an estimate
eighty percent of the world's population drinks caffeine daily, and
we are part of that number. Like when the Saints
go Marching in. While coffee, tea, and soda could technically
be considered energy drinks, which is something I've always found,
it's more of a marketing tactic than anything, the idea
of a soft drink versus an energy drink, which seems
(04:52):
relatively a recent phenomenon in terms of advertising. Around thirty
percent of caffeine consumers like their drinks a little on
the stronger side. Like you said, the aforementioned monster. Shout
out to Matt Frederick red Bull you also mentioned and
Celsius that I also mentioned. When we were younger, before
(05:12):
the days of Red Bull and these kind of drinks,
there was Jolt cola.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yes, yeah, I love that you're mentioning Jolt cola. Due
to my Tennessee and background, I also have to shout
out doctor enough, not spelled the way you think, doctor enough.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
There's never enough doctor enough.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Well because they were so energetic when they invented it
that they had to spell it E and UF because
they were in a hurry. We'll get to it, right,
We're going to get to all of this. We'll have
some personal anecdotes and shout outs to things that got
us through our associated musical and theatrical performances back in
(05:51):
the day.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Right now, if you are looking at a can of
your average cola, you're looking at third three milligrams of caffeine.
One average cup of coffee that's ninety six milligrams of caffeine.
And now we get to an escalation when we get
to energy drinks, right, we.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Do a sixteen ounce one of the Skinny Boy cans
of Red Bull contains one hundred and sixty milligrams of caffeine.
We're also we're not going to talk too much about
sugar today, but it's something to be said about that
from a marketing standpoint in and of itself, because remember
back in the day where sugar was advertised like to
give you pep. It's the idea of like a sugar high.
(06:35):
But we don't really think about it in those terms
so much anymore. And a lot of these highly caffeinated
drinks are on the diet side in terms of like
sugar free Red Bulls being so popular and Celsius being
mega low sugar, mega high caffeine. What are those little
like absolutely condensed energy shots. There's a bunch of those now,
(06:58):
but I think there was the OG.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yeah, the OG five hour energy which I've I've messed with.
I'll mess with a five hour energy shot that has
two hundred milligrams of caffeine. Also, it's essentially a vitamin
B overdose.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
I gotta jump in here. Yeah, we got an outside here.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
We had a field trip earlier this year that I
won't spoil, but we have an upcoming episode about it.
And part of the gig was I had to go
and pick up a lot of field recording equipment from
the office, which is like, you know, thousands of dollars
worth of stuff, and then drive it over to.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
The said thing. And so I was like, crap, I
eat oil from my car. I taxed Ben. Ben got
me some oil, So I put it in there.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
I sold a little five hour energy that Ben had
bought himself, that just sitting in my car waiting for
the next time I see it. It's spent a long time,
but you will get that five energy that's been sitting
in the Atlantis stun for a while.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Now. Yeah, that just makes it stronger, right, makes it better.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Vintage, it's vintage.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
It soaks up the power of the yellow sun.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
There we go. I like how it's a superhero origin
story and we cannot wait to share that very weird
episode with you folks. Unfortunately, we do have a little
bit of a moratorium until we meaning I get our
stuff together on that interview. We can tell you there
(08:19):
is a house involved, as well as some waffles involved. No,
I think you and I were all surprised when we
got some stats from our excellent research associate Ren that
showed us per the Mayo Clinic four hundred milligrams is
the maximum amount of caffeine a healthy adult can consume
(08:43):
per day without experiencing the wiggly wobbles, you know, the
averse side effects like heart palpitations and so on.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Yeah, yeah, don't want that. But you know, per Wren's
excellent outline, if you were to decide to shotgun three
energy drinks in the parking lot of a Bucky's, it
is perfectly legal. Although we do know that lawsuits can
arise from perhaps under advertising and over caffeinating certain beverages.
I'm looking at you, Panera Bread Company with your like
(09:14):
deathly caffeinated sodas that are just sort of masquerading as
regular sodas and instantly cause people to have these gnarly
side effects.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Yeah, they got in trouble for that. When anybody doing
the quick we won't call it cocktail Napkin math, but
anybody doing the quick celsius Napkin math here, four hundred milligrams.
If one cup of coffee is ninety six milligrams, you're
looking at a little under four cups of coffee per day.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
And if you're looking at marketing, sometimes on these energy drinks,
you will often see a little legend on the back
with a little symbol of a cup of coffee and
bragging that this one little skinny can of energy drink
contains the equivalent of like six or seven cups of coffee.
And that's like a feature, not a bug.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Right right, This is bad for you.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
The energy drink industry is worth one hundred and ninety
three billion US dollars and bad for you, good for business. Yes, yeah, yes,
so say we all. And you might be surprised, folks,
to learn that the United States is the top consumer
of energy drinks across the world. I don't know if
(10:26):
that's surprising, because this is tweakers over here in the US.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Like Dennis Leary said, once upon a time, the United
States is the country where cocaine didn't have enough pep.
Someone was walking down the street and they said, what
if we may.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Crack so meth It does seem like the culture of
multitasking and bad work life boundaries here in the United
States could well be a reason for those stats.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
And here we go into the ridiculous origin story, because
despite being the world's top consumer of energy drinks, the
United States did not invent this concept. And we're going
to find out about that in a second. We are
not medical professionals. This is not medical advice. The FDA
(11:22):
Food and Drug Administration of the US considers all energy
drinks not to be medicinal. They are dietary supplements, which
loop right, which speaks to your point, Nol about how
there's no one to stop you from shotgun in a
celsius or a nase at the BUCkies. The products are
(11:43):
not reviewed in any serious way before they hit the shelves.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Don't care for that, Ben, don't care for that, especially
with a lot of young people housing these highly caffeinated
and arguably addictive Oh one hundred percent. Yeah, whether it's
physically addictive or just like psychologically addictive because it gives
you a quote unquote edge, you know what I mean.
And again, not medical professionals, but it does weird me
(12:09):
out a little bit. There's not more oversight to this stuff.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
One hundred percent, man, Yeah, one hundred percent of your
daily caffine inte just in one zip in one zip.
So here's the deal, folks. The energy drinks that you
see in your typical American gas station wouldn't have been
a thing were it not for the proud nation of Japan.
(12:34):
During the nineteen sixties, they really led to charge on
energy drinks. But there was a long time coming, right.
Japanese research is really the culmination of an earlier bevy
of research. We've got to shout out one of our
favorite soda companies on the planet being all Atlanta Boys
(12:58):
these days. Coca Cola.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Coca cola, the coca is for cocaine, invented in eighteen
eighty six by doctor John Pemberton, who is a Confederate
veteran in quote who had a bit of a sweet
tooth for the hard stuff, the dope morphine. In fact,
that was his malign it was yeah uh. And of
course the product did get its name from the two
(13:22):
key ingredients, the African cola nut and the South American
coca leaf. And boy o boy, this is a fun
opportunity to mention this, and I think it's come up.
But technically, Coca cola today still contained would contain cocaine
if they did not de cocaine afy the coca that
(13:44):
goes into it, and apparently the cocaine that is generated
from that is a revenue stream in and of itself.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Yeah, it's medicinal. It can be prescribed to you by
a doctor who is surely on the up and up
the the feel good variety, right right, yes, the doctor.
Never enough, we would call it cola nut has the caffeine,
the coca leaf. You know, you can derive cocaine from
(14:13):
it if you are clever and motivated. That is the
original recipe for coca cola, and it was Pemberton meant
this to combat that all too common mid afternoon post
lunch lethargy. But as you were saying, no politics, and
the law intervened. In nineteen twenty two, the Harrison Act
(14:36):
prohibited the import of coca leaves into the good old
United States of America. But by the time this happened,
Pemberton is kind of out of the picture. Coca Cola
is run by a guy named Candler who has a
lot of roads and buildings named after him in Atlanta
and cocaine.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
I live off of his road. I live off of
one of his roads. Not to docks myself, because you'll
never figure it out, because to your point, then there
are quite a few.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
There's so many this At this point in the early
nineteen twenties, Coca Cola is already a giant, and they
have a small army a very influential lobbyists. So other
businesses are forced to close because their income stream depended
(15:26):
on marketing cocaine based products. However, as you alluded to
so beautifully earlier, Coca Cola got an exception. They got
a loophole. They rubbed the level. Yeah, they rubbed the
right elbows and weaknesses in congress.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Oh yeah, circular motion exactly, That's how it's done.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, this gave them. This gave Coca Cola a right
to use, as you said, decocainified leaves in their recipe.
And so now, despite being named Coca Cola, the beverage
was relying on caffeine and sugar to provide a more
(16:10):
moderate pick me up.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Where were we gonna get that zip? We gotta put
this z We lost the zip. We gotta put the
zip back. Yes, caffeine indeed. Doctor Enough, Wow, he came
next in the American Quest for Energy drinks. Doctor Enough
not a real person, sadly, a sort of like Doctor
(16:35):
Pepper or Doctor Bob, which is one of my favorite
off brand. Doctor Drinks was invented in nineteen forty nine
by a chemist named Bill Schwartz in Chicago, as addressed
during the Fad Diets episode. Also research associated by Wren.
Amphetamines were prescribed to US soldiers during World War Two
(16:55):
to boost energy and morale. Arguable once the come down happens,
I would argue that the morale is not is going
to suffer a little bit. But I guess I get
what they were going for.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Yeah, but it also created some serious addiction problems. And
we see this all the time in modern conflict. Right,
Like service members returning from the Vietnam War were heavily
dosed with painkillers and they came back to the States
with an itch they couldn't scratch. The same thing happened
to a lot of US soldiers in World War Two.
(17:31):
They survived the war, they came back to the States
and they were missing that extra zippity doo dah. And
this is where doctor Enough comes in. Like we said,
our buddy Bill Schwartz creates a lemon lime soda that
you can still find.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
I thought it was lemon lime. Interesting, Yeah, you.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Can still find it in East Tennessee today. So when
we get on our road trip up to that part
of the world, we're gonna have some pals. That's what
we're gonna ask. We're going to drink some doctor enough.
This stuff is not initially marketed as you know, a
beverage you would have at lunch or dinner. Instead, it's
(18:16):
a tonic. It's a medicinal substance that is supposed to
supposed to pick you up if you're a tired housewife,
if you're a business tycoon, if you're a farmer laboring
from dawn to dusk. And just like the five hour
energy drink later, this has a lot of vitamin B
(18:36):
and a little bit of caffeine.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
You know what else has a lot of vitamin B
and it ben hm hmm cocaine oil on the streets
because that is a cutting agent that is very very
popular because it can cut down into a clear, you know,
a powdery white consistency substance, and it does actually give
you a little bit of zip. So it is a
hugely popular cut agent to get more bang for your
(19:02):
buck when you're slinging.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Drugs better than fentanyl, I guess, but I would say so,
but I'm just learning this now. Oh my gosh, this
is why I love you twelve.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Sorry, I'm not that I don't mean to be the
drugs facts guy. I know a lot of other stuff too,
but yeah, I actually just learned this recently on a
on a podcast called a Shock Incarceration that I'm working on.
That's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Mm hmmm. Oh yeah. I like schalk incarceration as well.
I'm excited to hear more of it. So here's the
thing about Doctor Enough. It was never a success in
the national market, but it did catch fire and become
a regional hit in Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.
(19:43):
And that's why we have to drive up. We've got
to take a road trip to East Tennessee to get
some doctor Enough. People still swear by it. I remember
older relatives telling me this could do all sorts of things.
It was like a light panacea. We also have to
take a quick quick tangent here, folks. Soft drinks were
(20:05):
cold soft drinks originally to indicate that they did not
contain alcohol. And our super producer Max unfortunately just disclose
to us that he cannot have energy drinks nor soft
drinks due to the condition.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
The dreaded condition.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
I gotta have coffee though.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Okay, well, that's good coffee is the og and that's
what my it's my preference as well. Oh yeah, you
can do it up so many different ways. And it also,
you know, doesn't have all of the crazy chemical additives
that some of these drinks have. Soft drinks, hard cider,
hard seltzer. Yeah, there you go. In case you were wondering,
(20:46):
which you probably weren't. I think it's a little self explanatory.
Hard boiled eggs very much the same thing.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
One hundred percent the same thing. Uh No one fact
check us ever, So there there is maybe some sand
to the claim that vitamin B heavy drinks can be
somehow restorative, because conditions like lethargy and fatigue can be
(21:16):
linked to vitamin B deficiencies.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Well, and a lot of times you'll hear about rock
stars or you know, folks on the road touring actors
even having like a medic on staff or a personal
doctor who will shoot them in the butt with some
B twelve to get them through the day.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
That's how you know you're famous.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
That's how you know you're famous. They are real popular
and the whole medspa craze of today, like with all
these glp ones and various types of injectables. People are
really into injecting themselves with both B twelve. Not that
that's like a brand new thing at all, but it's
just it seems like it's having a bit of a
resurgence in popularity.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Yeah. Yeah. Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant from Stuff You
Should Know, as well as Jonathan Strickland aka The Twister,
have it in their contracts that they have to get
shot in the butt with vitamin B twelve before recording.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
It's true. Gives them the zip, give them the pep
they need to give you the content you crave.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
There we go, So that is also they're gonna be
so mad at us if they hear that. While Americans
are enjoying the energy buzz from these sodas that have
vitamins but no longer have cocaine, we flash to Japan.
We journey to a place called Taisho Pharmaceutical Company, and
(22:36):
the clever boffins there are trying to figure out how
to make an energy beverage with a higher caffeine content,
and this is where they stumble across something we call taurine.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
In the modern market, the common active ingredient and most
energy drinks includes tarine, sugar, and of course caffeine. Caffeine
was first isolated from the coffee bean by Francis Runge
in eighteen nineteen, and it is the first major chemical
compound responsible for increasing energy levels. And according to our
(23:15):
Alma mater, how stuff works, Caffeine works by blocking the
effects of a dentisine, a brain chemical involved in sleep.
When caffeine blocks adnizine, it causes neurons in the brain
to fire, giving you that that oh so pleasant zippity
dudeout feeling that we're all chasing p pu pew. That's
the sound of neurons fire.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Right. So, when this chemical is blocked, your body in
your brain essentially enter what we would call fight or
flight mode. And that's because the little pew pew pew
signals in your neurds cause your pituitary gland to make adrenaline.
Adrenaline is your number one superpower hormonally, it is your
(24:00):
survival hormone. It's what causes your heart to beat faster,
it makes your liver secrete more sugar into your bloodstream
that gives you an energy high. And then at the
same time, caffeine does help your mood. It rigs your mood.
It gives you dopamine, and that's why we have such
(24:21):
strong associations with a nice cup of coffee or a
little espresso in the morning.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Yeah, but if you're not careful, you can also experience
some of those negative side effects in the form of
a caffeine crash. Caffeine is a stimulant, so well, it
probably won't kill you unless you have some sort of
pre existing heart condition. For example, it does put stress
on your nervous system as a whole, and this stress
can lead to what is often colloquially referred to as
(24:48):
the jitters, a form of anxiety that many of us
feel hours after we've had a little too much caffeine.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Yeah, it can give you the jimmys, the palpitations. So
this is where we see a new player on the
stage touring. So I don't know about you, no MX,
but I first learned about tourine when I was reading
the ingredient label ingredients label on a can of red bull.
(25:18):
I said, okay, caffeine, get it, Vitamin B copy. Try
what is tory?
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Well, we'll tell you. It is a substance an amino
acid to be specific, that occurs naturally in foods that
are high in protein, like chicken or fish. Well, amino
acids are used to synthesize protein. Only nine of them
are absolutely essential for human life, and the Cleveland Clinic
reports that taurine is not one of them. It's it's
(25:48):
the extra one. Yeah, you don't need it? Yeah, do
you want it? Maybe?
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Right? So it sounds useful if you're a young Ben
Bullen reading the back of a can, because you're the
guy who reads ingredient lists for fun. But there is
to your point, Noel, there is very little to suggest
that taurine as an additive helps your body's energy production.
We know it helps with other stuff. Taurine is imperative
(26:16):
to your vision, your digestion, and your nervous system. And
this is where we get to we get to one
of the other big energy rush sources for humanity, glucose.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
I ask glucose not to be confused with gluten. That's
its own thing and probably worthy of an episode on
its own. While we're in the like, yeah, the health,
it's the food science realm, right, and the idea of
of being you know, gluten free, gluten intolerance, celiacs and
all of that. And some of the fads that have
sprung up around that in terms of food marketing. Not
(26:52):
to say that they're all fads, and people definitely have
gluten sensitivity, but it is an interesting topic. We're talking
about glucose. I mean, get out track. It is your
body these main source of energy. It is of course
a type of sugar. So let's just add on to
all these extra chemicals in these energy drinks with a
copious amount of sugar.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, this is a story that's familiar to a lot
of our non American ridiculous historians. One of the main
things that our pals say when they travel to the
US for the first time is, holy crap, why is
everything so sweet? Why does everything have so much sugar
(27:33):
in it? Totally?
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Yeah, even in Japan, and I have not been, and
I'm so jealous of you gooding to go so much,
but one day. But like a lot of their dessert
type foods, even like cheesecakes, are not that sweet. They're
all about kind of a more mild, almost bordering on
savory vibe. And if you go to like Bubble tea
places that are more or less authentic here in the States,
(27:57):
you will have an option to really the tailor the
sweetness and very low sweetness is absolutely an option which
just seems unheard of in American sweet treat culture.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
I can't wait until we all go together. Right. There's
a reason, there's a physical chemical reason that sugar is
so popular, And for our purposes here we need to
quote our friends at the Harvard Medical School. They point
out that brain functions like thinking, memory, and learning are
(28:32):
very closely linked to glucose levels and how efficiently your
brain uses said glucose. So if you don't have enough
glucose in your brain, your little chemical messagers, your neurotransmitters are.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
Not cewan, yeah, not puanepew.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Right, and the communication between your neurons breaks down. So
that's why the added sugar in energy drinks makes you
feel more zip. But he do die in this short term.
Processed sugar, however, lacks key vitamins and minerals. And if
we're being super duper honest and square about it, you
(29:13):
can get the same effect from a more complex carbohydrate
without the subsequent energy crash, for sure, like fruits, vegetables,
and grain. Doctor for sure.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
There is also I've been one a bit of a
fitness journey recently and trying to just adjust my diet
in certain ways to kind of help promote muscle growth
and weight loss. And there is something to be said
about limiting even those natural sugars in your diet to
a certain degree in certain periods of your fat loss attempts.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Yeah, exactly. There is such a thing as too much fruit,
and you know, everything in moderation, even moderation. Let's get
back to the lab, as we like to say in
hip hop. By the way, spoiler, folks, Noel and I
are eventually going to work on some hip hop together.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Rick yw We are in the lab, the Rainbow Cave.
I can't wait, Ben, But for now we're gonna pop
back to the Japanese lab that we were hanging out
in earlier.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Yeah. Yeah, So it's Naishow Company, Taishow Pharmaceutical Company. It's
nineteen sixty two. Our buddies, the boffins at Tai Show,
released the first modern energy drink. It's called Lipovitan D.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Of course, this is, of course hearly sexy, sounds a
little a little clinical. But by the nineteen eighties, the beverage,
which was sold in little mini bottles wasn't strong enough.
So Japan known for its ruthless, you know, sleepless business culture.
Salary men, I believe, is a term that gets thrown
around the lot. That type of individual was looking for
(31:02):
a little bit of extra something, something to help them
climb that corporate ladder in order to I mean, gosh
I mentioned the whole lack of work life boundaries here
in America, it is potentially being responsible for energy drink craze,
but in Japan it's even worse. I mean, it is
pathological over there.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Yeah. Yeah, it's a very sensitive issue and there's a
lot of I would say there's a big cultural inertia
toward it. So the idea, simply put, is this, you
have to be at work all the time, even if
you are not really working. Traditionally, you're not supposed to
(31:42):
leave before your boss leaves. And when your boss leaves,
in that competitive corporate environment, you don't get to go
home immediately. You're required to go have a happy hour
that could last for multiple hours, and then you you want.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
To be able to drink your boss under the table,
or at the very least keep up. That's part of
the culture too, and I think we've talked about this.
There was a really interesting photo I guess you could
call it essay kind of thing that I saw online
a few years ago where it was salary men just
passed out because they've missed all the trains and so
they're just like on benches. They literally can't get home
(32:21):
because of exactly the phenomenon that you're describing.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
And then get up and back to work very hungover
at seven in the morning.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
What are you going to smell? Grate?
Speaker 1 (32:31):
You're going to reach for some lipovit and d and
so this has these energy drinks in Japan and this
milieu in the nineteen eighties, they have found a huge demographic, right,
the powerful industry folk of Japan, and now these energy
(32:52):
drinks are getting consumed everywhere. They're being sold in every
convenie or every convenience store, and the companies who were
manufacturing these drinks are paying tons and tons of cash
to us celebrities. We should do an entire ridiculous history
(33:13):
of American celebrities in weird Japanese commercials.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
I love it well. I mean, it was famously kind
of brought to light in the incredible film Lost in Translation,
where Bill Murray was in Japan. It was kind of
like a sort of his career in stalled a little
bit in the States, and so he went to Japan
to do a series of commercials for Suntory whiskey, because
what is it, Make it suntory relaxing times, make it
(33:38):
suntory time. But for this energy drink craze, we saw
the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nicholas Cage, Dennis Hopper, I've
even seen like Andy Warhol, maybe not doing this particular product,
but you would be shocked. Nicholas Cage also does an
incredible series of commercials for Fame, a very popular pachinko
parlor brand. But the aren't Schwarzenegger ones in particular for
(34:02):
this very tiny bottle energy drink. It's called like he
just he says die Joe boy boy, That's what he
says at the end of it. So I don't know
if the drink is called one of those things that
are that's just their catchphrase. But they are bonkers bananas.
He turns into all kinds of weird like a genie,
and it starts juggling these salarymen at a certain point.
Google them you will. You can find a compilation of
(34:24):
all of these and they are a delight because, to
Rend's point, at the time, Americans were never going to
see their favorite movie stars shilling for these Japanese companies.
But with the beautiful thing and often terrifying thing that
is the Internet, we can now enjoy those relics of
the past.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
It is so amazing. I don't want to sound like
a Wiya boo or whatever, but Japanese advertisements, packaging and packaging.
You know, check out ourday episode as well, folks. There's
a technology gap right in advertising in tech. So now
(35:02):
these energy drinks, it's like mid to late eighties verging
into the nineteen nineties. These drinks are mainstream in Japan,
and the manufacturers creating these beverages say, we've got to
think bigger, right, Let's go from addition to multiplication. Let's
go from checkers to chess. Let's distribute our stuff outside
(35:26):
of Japan to other countries in Asia.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
Yeah, but not yet the US because I imagine there
were maybe FDA regulations around it. Not one hundred percent
sure why they weren't able to immediately make that leap,
but someone took advantage of that. A guy named Dietrich
mighta shits, don't titter, don't do it? Okay, that's worthy
of a titter. This is where he got the idea
for Red Bull.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
Yeah, so, our buddy Dietrich is an account executive for
a company that doesn't sell energy drinks. They sell bathroom
products and he has to travel around a lot for
his job. He finds himself in Bangkok in Thailand, and
he tries an energy drink called Kratting Dying and there
(36:14):
were there was nothing like okay. So dietrichs from Austria, right,
and there's nothing like this back home, and so he says,
what this is amazing. We could take Vienna by storm.
And he teams up with the folks who make Crichton
down and he says, we gotta figure out something like
(36:34):
this that we can sell to Europeans. And this is
how Red Bull gets launched in nineteen eighty seven. This
is so wild because we were not to date ourselves
too hard. But all three of us were round in
nineteen eighty seven, and I simply don't remember seeing Red Bull.
When's the first time you saw it?
Speaker 3 (36:56):
I would say in the early two thousands, right late nineties.
As a team and there's a good reason for that
because it was launched in nineteen eighty seven only in
Europe and became a huge favorite among long haul truck
drivers and other blue collar types, very similar to how
it was popularized in Japan, and Red Bull did not
(37:18):
enter into the US markets until nineteen ninety seven. So
all that tracks, and despite some competitors popping up like
Monster and Rockstar, it does still remain the top selling
energy drink in the world because it gives you wings and.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
It's jump in here. I actually was not around in
nineteen eighty seven.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
All right, Max, with the facts.
Speaker 4 (37:41):
That seeking in the phones backs and he's fallen knowledge.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
It's just for you right now here with the facts.
We're just overdue for that, all right, Max. Well you
know what, you didn't miss too much?
Speaker 3 (37:58):
Nah, you did miss Red Bull. It wasn't around then.
But why don't we pop the top drain a can
on this topic? Take us home, Ben, why don't you?
Speaker 1 (38:07):
Ah? Yes, all right, so homeward bound West Virginia, Mountain Mom, etc.
Energy drinks are relatively recent then in the grand scheme
of things, but despite being the newbies, they have become
the second most popular dietary supplement. Amongst the utes of
(38:29):
the world, of the US in particular, the number one
thing is multi vitamins, right, your old flintstone vitamins or
those delightful gummies. I have a problem with gummy gummy vitamins.
I don't have too many addictions anymore, but I'll tell you, man,
a multi vitamin gummy I just I keep eating them.
(38:50):
They're delicious.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
Oh no, you're gonna o d on the d.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
He died as he lived eating multi vitamin gummies. What
a boring funeral speech that would be?
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Or maybe the bee I know, not meaning to be
dirty here, No, Ben, there were worse ways to go out,
you know. Yeah, you're happy.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
We actually I think the statute has passed so we
can tell you that years back we were in conversations
with Red Bull to see about doing some stunts with them.
One of those was going to be a very extreme
version of the old Pine Wood Derby. That was due
(39:31):
to a show called Car Stuff. It didn't happen, but
we also pitched the idea of base jumping and cliff diving.
So Red Bull, if you're hearing this, hit us up.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
Well, you know to that point though, Ben I mean,
Red Bull did kind of keep its relevance, not necessarily
because it was like the only game in town or
maybe even the best tasting energy drink in town, but
a lot of it's marketing focus on kind of hip
stuff and like like X games, sports and all of that,
and then making really interesting internet content and even music
(40:06):
musicians having like Red Bull Academy and stuff like that.
I mean, I gotta give them props because they actually
have put some interesting and useful stuff out into the
world in terms of, yeah, you know, live performances, clinics
about making music, and about extreme sports, so you know.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
And speaking of extreme since we are audio podcast, Noel,
you have pulled up what I hope is an Arnold
Schwarzenegger AD from Japan.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
Yeah, and I just wanted to play the audio to
get us out of this episode. I wish you could
see it, but just do google it. Just type in
Schwartzenegger Japanese energy drink ads and you're gonna hear Arnold
as he is. Let's set the scene. He's he's dressed
as a Japanese salary man. He's talking to his boss.
There's some charts and graphs on the on the wall,
and it would appear that his boss is giving him
(40:53):
what for because he's not he's not carrying his weight.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Mm hmmm, yeah, that's the.
Speaker 3 (41:29):
Thing that happened. Maybe we should describe He does get
yelled at and bonked on the nose by like his
boss with a pointer stick, at which point he disappears,
almost like a superman transformation, slams this little energy vial
and then becomes like a superpowered Genie type creature, carrying
(41:50):
way too many boxes on his shoulders and bounding across
the tops of cars in heavy traffic.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Yeah. And you can go to any any Japanese convenience
store today and find an entire section of a shelf
which is just different versions of these small tonics and
energy drinks with every imaginable flavor. This is still kind
(42:17):
of catching on. In the United States. There's almost no
federal oversight, which means that the makers of these beverages
don't have to play by the same set of rules
that soda manufacturers have to play by. So this means, logically,
and we don't want to be bummers about this, this
(42:37):
means logically, it's only a matter of time before another
dangerous chemical makes its way into your favorite energy drink.
And I got to be honest, I other than coffee
and maybe five hour energy drinks once in a while,
I can't handle most of the stuff. I have no
(42:58):
idea how our pal Matt Frederick is just shotgun in
monster energy drinks. When I was doing a lot of
stage comedy and sketch and acting, I would drink something
called nas Did you ever hear of that one? N os?
Speaker 3 (43:13):
Mmmmm hmm. That was crazy. I always thought it was
like a drink version of no does remember, yes, like
Trucker speed over the counter type of speed. I do
want to wrap up with a couple of fun facts
that Wren found here at the end. This idea that
the name red bull comes from the fact that taurine
(43:33):
is derived from bull testicles. Not true, Not true. This
is let's just put an end to that one. And
this one I think is helpful for a lot of folks.
And maybe you're like, oh, I can't drink a coffee
after you know, two o'clock or something that will keep
me up all night. It would seem that that is
not the case. Likely a half life of caffeine is
only two to four hours, So if you're having trouble
getting to sleep at night, Chances are it wasn't that
(43:56):
cup of coffee or afternoon DC. That's diet coke to blame.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
Yeah, And if we want to kick one more fact,
let's go to Kathleen E. Miller, who is a big
deal at a place called the Research Institute on Addictions
over at the University of Buffalo. And doctor Miller is
dropping a gem here. This is a fun stat for
you to share at your next party.
Speaker 3 (44:21):
Folks.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
If you report that you have six or more energy
drinks over the course of a month, not a week,
over a month, a month, you are statistically more likely
to also report that you've gotten a fight over the
previous year, that you have sex without a condom, or
that you drive without a seatbelt. Okay, life on.
Speaker 3 (44:45):
The bit of a bit of a correlation between energy
drink consumption and risky behavior.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
Yes, but not necessarily causation. And I appreciate that you
pointed that out. So with that, we are going to
wrap today's episode. We can't wait to hear from you, folks.
Please be safe with your energy drinks and your stimulants.
Remember a lot of times, there's nothing that beats a
(45:12):
good old glass of water. God, we sound old.
Speaker 3 (45:17):
It's true, And I just want to point out one
last thing to that point.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
Ben.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
Coffee, of course and caffeine are diuretics. So if you're
drinking a lot of coffee that is, you need to
almost offset that by drinking water. Would not consider your
coffee intake to be part of that daily water consumption
that we're all shooting for.
Speaker 1 (45:37):
Yeah, one hundred percent, and we are one hundred percent
grateful that you have joined us today. Big thanks to
our super producer, mister Max Williams. Big thanks to Alex
Williams who composed this track in Big thanks reluctantly to
Jonathan Strickland aka the Quister. You know, I'm kind of
(45:58):
mad Adam Nole because he is huge in Japan. He's
in every advertisement for a lot of weird stuff.
Speaker 3 (46:06):
M that's true. That's because he looks like the Buddha.
Speaker 1 (46:10):
Okay, so you've seen the advertisements as well. Big thanks
to Christa Vassiotis Eve's Jeff Coo here in Spirit, Doctor
Rachel Big Spinach, Lance Oh Oh Gosh, aj Bahamas Jacobs.
Please check out his show The Puzzler and if you
dig our show you're gonna love our pals over at
(46:33):
ridiculous crime.
Speaker 3 (46:35):
Oh yeah, the rude Dude's over a ridiculous crime, and
once again he's thanks to ren Renfair Jones for rocking
this incredible research brief for today's episode. We'll see you
next time, folks. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
(46:56):
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
Ridiculous History News
Hosts And Creators
Ben Bowlin
Noel Brown
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.