US troops relied heavily on energy drinks during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and they became the \u201cbeverage of choice<\/em>\u201d for many, according to an army press release.<\/p>\n Now, service members are being warned to avoid consuming more than 200 milligrams of caffeine every four hours, says<\/a> Dr Patricia Deuster, director of the Consortium for Health and Military Performance (CHAMP) at the Uniformed Service University of Health Sciences (USU).<\/p>\n READ MORE: Suicide by soda: Sugary drinks kill 184,000 people a year, study says<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research studied data<\/a> collected in 2010 during \u2018Operation Enduring Freedom\u2019 and found that nearly 45 percent of deployed service members consumed at least one energy drink per day, with nearly 14 percent admitting to drinking three or more daily.<\/p>\n Aside from concern over the excessive amounts of sugar loaded into energy drinks, and the worrying common ingredient \u2018taurine\u2019 – an amino acid found in animal tissue, Deuster says drinking energy drinks to stay awake during shifts often leads to sleep and performance issues.<\/p>\n Read more<\/p>\n “Lack of sleep can impact memory and a service member’s ability to pay attention when it matters most<\/em>,” read<\/a> the release. “Research indicates service members who drank three or more energy drinks each day also had difficulty staying awake during briefings or on guard duty<\/em>.”<\/p>\n Deuster is advising troops to add up the caffeine content in every drink they consume throughout the day, including coffee, soda, and energy drinks: \u201cIf it\u2019s got more than 200 milligrams of caffeine, don\u2019t use it<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n She also warned female service members to be cautious of the 200 mg limit as \u201cwomen get a higher concentration [of caffeine], since they tend to be smaller<\/em>,” she said.<\/p>\n Deuster concluded her warning to service members by encouraging them to stick to \u201cgood old water<\/em>\u201d if they\u2019re looking for a healthy energy drink substitute.<\/p>\n American energy drink \u2018Rip It\u2019, marketed as a cheap, highly-caffeinated, alternative to the similar \u2018Redbull\u2019 and \u2018Monster\u2019 brands, became a key \u2018fuel\u2019 for deployed troops in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople would count ammo, how many bottles of water and how many Rip Its they got<\/em>,\u201d said<\/a> Tim Hsia, an infantry officer who served for six years. He described the beverage as a \u201cmission essential.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE: Lithuania becomes first EU country to ban energy drink sales to teens<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n A regular 8-ounce serving of Rip It contains 26g of sugar and 100mg of caffeine, plus caffeine-infused guarana seed extract. The drink<\/a> comes in 15 different flavors and a sugar-free option, and is described on its website<\/a> as having been \u201ctested on the battlefield<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n US Army Ranger Shane Snell estimated<\/a> at least 99 percent of enlisted men and women had tried Rip It in Iraq, with some, he said, more worried about their energy drink supply than actual food.<\/p>\n “If someone served over there and says they didn’t at least try a Rip It, they’re not being honest with you<\/em>,” said<\/a> Army Staff Sergeant Matthew Riker, who served in Afghanistan in 2010.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Via RT<\/a>. This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" US military health officials have warned energy drink-obsessed troops of the potential dangers of chugging excessive amounts of the highly-caffeinated beverages. US troops relied heavily on energy drinks during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and they became the \u201cbeverage of choice\u201d for many, according to an army press release. Now, service members are being […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":287855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-287854","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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