Effects of the Red Bull energy drink on cognitive function and mood in healthy young volunteers

The present study compared the cognitive and mood effects of two commercially available products, Red Bull energy drink 250 mL and Red Bull Sugarfree energy drink 250 mL, together with a matching placebo 250 mL. Twenty-four healthy young volunteers took part in a randomised, placebo controlled, doub...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of psychopharmacology (Oxford) Vol. 31; no. 2; p. 211
Main Authors Wesnes, Keith A, Brooker, Helen, Watson, Anthony W, Bal, Wendy, Okello, Edward
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.02.2017
Subjects
Adult
Affect - drug effects
Attention - drug effects
Caffeine - administration & dosage
Cognition - drug effects
Cross-Over Studies
Double-Blind Method
Energy Drinks
Female
Glucose - administration & dosage
Healthy Volunteers
Humans
Male
Memory - drug effects
Vitamins - administration & dosage
Young Adult
attention
CogTrack
computerised cognitive testing
memory
Red Bull Sugarfree
Red Bull
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Summary:The present study compared the cognitive and mood effects of two commercially available products, Red Bull energy drink 250 mL and Red Bull Sugarfree energy drink 250 mL, together with a matching placebo 250 mL. Twenty-four healthy young volunteers took part in a randomised, placebo controlled, double-blind, three-way cross-over study. Cognitive function was assessed using an integrated set of nine computerised tests of attention, working and episodic memory. On each study day the volunteers received a standardised breakfast prior to completing a baseline performance on cognitive tests and mood scales, followed by the consumption of the study drink. The cognitive tests and scales were then re-administered at 30, 60 and 90 min post-dose. Red Bull was found to produce significant improvements over both the Sugarfree version and the placebo drink on two composite scores from the six working and episodic memory tests; one combining the 12 accuracy measures from the six tasks and the other the average speed of correct responses from the working memory and episodic recognition memory tasks. These improvements were in the range of a medium effect size, which reflects a substantial enhancement to memory in young volunteers.
ISSN:1461-7285
DOI:10.1177/0269881116681459