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Do energy shots really work?
Posted: 03.07.2012 at 5:08 PM
Kate Allt

Kate Allt is a news reporter with KTVO

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OTTUMWA, IOWA -- For your Facebook story of the day, you wanted to know more about 5-Hour Energy drinks, and whether or not they are safe.

5-Hour Energy drinks are a dietary supplement, so they are not regulated by the FDA. If they were found to have long-lasting or severe health effects, they would be taken off the market. However, there is still debate on whether the drinks work.

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"They have about the same amount of caffeine as a eight-ounce premium cup of coffee," said Stacey Munson, Dietary Director at Jefferson County Health Center. "So it's going to give you essentially that same caffeine boost, in regard to all the B Vitamins that they have, there's really not going to be a benefit to those B vitamins unless you're deficit in B vitamins already."

As for whether or not they are safe, the recommended daily dosage of caffeine is 200-400mg a day, so one or two of those shots would fall in that safe and moderate zone.

However, the potential risk is with other ingredients. The shots contain 2000 percent of your daily Vitamin B6 intake, and 8000 percent of daily B12. The drinks haven't been on the market very long, so there are not many studies on long-term health effects of a mega vitamin dosage.

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