What's Actually in Energy Drinks?
- healthystudyhabits
- Nov 15, 2025
- 2 min read
By: Jasmine Xu
Every wonder what's actually in the energy drinks you consume every day? Read more to find out!
How much caffeine is really in one can?
As stated by the 2023 National Library of Medicine's comprehensive review of Energy Drinks, they tend to differ in both caffeine content, which ranges from 50-505 mg, and caffeine concentration, which ranges from 2.5-171 mg (per 28 mL). In comparison, a 170 g cup of brewed coffee contains caffeine concentrations varying between 77 and 150 mg, often making it a healthier alternative (Constantino et al., 2023).
How much sugar is really in one can?
According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, a single 16-oz. container of an energy drink may contain 54 to 62 grams of added sugar, exceeding the maximum amount of added sugars recommended for an entire day (which is 25 grams) (NCCIH, 2018).
What is taurine? Is it safe?
According to the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine, taurine—an amino acid found in abundance in the human brain, retina, heart, and reproductive organs, as well as in meat and seafood—is also a major ingredient in energy drinks (Caine, 2016). It has the power to increase concentration, reaction time, and emotional state (Constantino et al., 2023).
However, as stated by a paper published in the journal Nature, taurine is a key regulator of myeloid cancers such as leukemia (Sharma et al., 2025). Another research team, led by Jeevisha Bajaj, PhD, discovered that taurine is produced by a subset of normal cells in the bone marrow microenvironment, the tissue inside bones where myeloid cancers begin and expand. Leukemia cells are unable to make taurine themselves, so they rely on a taurine transporter (encoded by the SLC6A6 gene) to grab taurine from the bone marrow environment and deliver it to the cancer cells (Orr, 2025).
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