Many consumers consider sugar-free energy drinks to be healthier than their sugar-laden alternatives. Red Bull describes this product line as "Wiiings without sugar," and claims that it "vitalizes body and mind."
But is sugar-free Red Bull bad for you? What's actually used to promote increases to energy? What's used as a sugar alternative? And how does its healthiness compare to original Red Bull?
In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in sugar-free Red Bull to give our take on whether or not it's bad for you.
We'll also compare its healthiness to standard Red Bull, and provide our top clean energy picks.
Ingredient Analysis
The ingredients in sugar-free Red Bull are shown below:
Caffeine is the primary stimulant, and is included at a dose of 80 milligrams (mg).
This is within the safe and effective dosing range, and is slightly less than the caffeine content in one standard cup of coffee.
Taurine is an amino acid that can have stimulatory effects, however, this combination may make sugar-free Red Bull unhealthy for adolescents.
As we documented in our is Bang Energy good for you article, the combination of caffeine and taurine may pose risks to the adolescent brain, according to at least one medical review.
Natural and artificial flavors are what give Red Bull its distinctive taste, and artificial flavoring agents were shown in a 2018 clinical trial to be toxic to animals.
Citric acid (when used as a food additive) is clinically shown to cause significant inflammation in some individuals.
Colors is listed as an ingredient, but the manufacturer fails to clearly disclose which chemical compounds are used to create these colors.
Sucralose and acesulfame K are artificial sweeteners, the latter of which was shown in animal studies to have negative effects on the gut microbiome.
Overall, we consider sugar-free Red Bull to be bad for you, because it contains six active ingredients that we consider to be questionable for adults, and eight active ingredients that we consider to be questionable for adolescents.
Like most food and beverage products, sugar-free Red Bull is likely fine in moderation, when consumed by otherwise healthy adults.
Is Original Red Bull Healthier?
The ingredients in Red Bull Original are shown below:
Many of the ingredients are similar.
The core difference is that sucrose and glucose are caloric sweeteners (both forms of sugar).
We consider Red Bull Sugarfree to be healthier, because as we explained in our is Red Bull good for you article, refined forms of added sugar are arguably worse for metabolic health than non-caloric sweeteners.
This is especially true for overweight and obese individuals.
Red Bull Original has 27 grams (g) of added sugar, which is similar to a Coca-Cola of the same size.
Doctor Discusses Artificial Sweetener Risks
A medical doctor (MD) named Mike Hansen has a video discussing some of the health downsides of artificial sweeteners:
Our Clean Energy Picks
Illuminate Labs Panax Ginseng Extract is our top energy supplement.
Panax ginseng extract has been clinically shown to reduce mental fatigue and reduce physical fatigue, and our supplement is third-party tested to ensure its purity and potency.
Pique Breakfast Black Tea Sticks is our top whole food energy pick.
Black tea consumption is "associated with rapid increases in alertness and information processing capacity" according to a clinical trial, and Pique's tea is organic and comes in convenient stick packs that can be mixed into water, so a teapot or kettle are not needed.
Both of the products recommended in this section are entirely free of ingredients we consider to be unhealthy.
