It didn't give me wings, but it did give my heart a flutter. I had some with vodka (stupid, I know) in 2000 on a works night out and went into atrial fibrillation the following day. I've had paroxysmal AF ever since, and have never had any more Red Bull.

The BeeGirl stings again; spot on.

An important (probably, based on other exposures I have had to this team's work...) movie debuts in theaters TONIGHT. It will be about a topic that is discussed constantly here, so I am passing it along; got my tickets already.

Here is link to trailer:

http://www.agorafinancial.com/iousa/movietrailer.html 

"The caffeine-loaded beverage, popular with university
students and adrenaline sport fans to give them "wings", caused the
blood to become sticky, a pre-cursor to cardiovascular problems such as stroke".

This is such an oddly written article.  The way it reads, it sounds like
caffeine in the beverage causes "sticky" blood.  Caffeine has
the opposite effect - it actually inhibits blood platelet
clumping.  They don't implicate caffeine directly, but it sure seems like
it's their intent.  They then manage to write several more paragraphs without ever going into detail about the ingredients in this drink that might
actually be causing all this "sticky" blood that they're in an uproar
about.  Thanks for nothing.


Here, I'll tell you what's in Red Bull (from their web site):


Regular:



Carbonated water, sucrose, glucose, sodium citrate, taurine, glucuronolactone,
inositol, niacin, D-pantothenol, pyridoxine HCL, vitamin B12, natural and
artificial flavors, colors, caffeine


Diet:


Carbonated water, sodium citrate, taurine, glucuronolactone,caffeine,
acesulfame k, aspartame, inositol, xanthan gum, niacinamide, calcium
pantothenate, pyridoxine HCL, vitamin B12, natural and artificial flavors,
colors

So it's carbonated, caffeinated, sugar water (like many of the junk beverages out there), with synthetic vitamins and natural and artificial flavors and colors, and the diet version has aspartame.  Can this agglomeration cause cardiac arrest or stroke?  It's a stretch, but then that's never stopped litigation before.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_6_37/ai_n14707904

Saw a video last night - "Something the Lord Made" - & there was a passage in which Alan Rickman's character, Dr. Alfred Blalock (who pioneered open heart surgery - along with Viven Thomas.), is being exhorted to drink less coffee by the Thomas character (played by Mos Def). Rickman's response is that Voltaire drank 300 cups of coffee in one day...but then died the next day.

Could not find a confirmation of the 300 cups, but apparently, 50 to 72 cups a day was his routine. He lived a long time & caffeine apparently fueled, in part, his output. Long live caffeine.....