Energy drinks over the last 15 to 20 years
have become one of the most popular beverages
here in the United States.
It's easier for somebody to pop open an energy
drink, then perhaps brew a pot of coffee.
Often times cheaper than going to the store
and buying a cup of coffee.
And as a lot of these energy drinks claim,
they've got more benefits, more nutrients,
more things that help fuel your body.
Or do they?
Joining me now to talk about this as Scott
Hardy from topclassactions.com.
Scott, you've got a great piece up on Top
Class Actions right now about bang energy
drinks and a class action lawsuit against
the makers of bang energy drinks.
Tell us what's happening with, with this one.
Sure.
The bang energy drink class action really
got our attention specifically from our community
manager, Nicole, who's son just wrapped up
boot camp.
So way to go, brother, I'm glad you're out
there and thanks for serving our country.
And he said specifically that you can't go
through base without seeing people drinking
this bang energy drink everywhere you go.
You know these, these young kids are sucking
it down, trying to go ahead and stay amped
up throughout boot camp.
And so it makes sense that it's sold as body
rocking fuel.
And on the label it says that contains creatine,
bcaa's, CoQ10 and that's on the rim and that's
on the nutritional label.
But according to the class action lawsuit,
there's really not much of that actually in
the can itself.
And that's what this class action alleges.
You know, the, the CoQ10, which you, you hear
on commercials for vitamins.
They typically refer to it as the CoQ10.
CoQ10, that little phrase.
But they always market that as something,
this is really good for your body.
You, you totally need this.
You've got to have it.
It's in a lot of supplements.
And so the energy drink maker's say, you know
what, let's, let's start putting some of this
in our drinks.
Let's put some creatine in there because anybody
who has ever spent time in a gym has probably
heard somebody talk about creatine and they
know that, oh, maybe this is going to help
us grow muscles.
And it's not, you know, some of these things
may actually be in these energy drinks, but,
but what these, these suits are alleging is
that they're in, they're in such minuscule
amounts as to be statistically insignificant.
So even if they're there, they wouldn't even
be present in large enough quantities to do
anything of benefit for the body.
Exactly.
As anyone who has gone to the gym and used
creatine powder as a workout supplement, obviously
you can tell I did way back in the day.
No, you can't tell that, but that takes a
lot of creatine powder.
When you're not just drinking, not just putting
a little teaspoon in there.
You're putting a lot of stuff in there to
go ahead and get any benefits of trying to
use something like creatine.
And as you said, this class action alleges
that maybe there are trace amounts of CoQ10
or bcaa's, or creatine in there, but the amount
is so minuscule and there's so little of it
in there that it's, it's, it doesn't actually
matter.
It doesn't actually contribute to your health.
It doesn't make you stronger, bigger, faster.
It's just in there.
Just enough possibly.
So they can put on the label.
But this class action is saying, there's not
even enough of that in there.
So we'll see what happens with bang energy.
If they, maybe as we talked about with other
class actions, maybe they'll say flavored
by creatine and CoQ10, I don't know.
But they shouldn't be claiming these health
benefits when whatever amount they may or
may not have in the can doesn't actually help
you one bit.
And the problem here is that, you know, consumers,
we always have a choice.
We always have an option, you know, energy
drinks essentially are energy drinks.
You know they're going to have the same ingredients,
they're going to have a lot of sugar, and
they're going to have, you know, a decent
amount of caffeine.
I say decent amount because studies have actually
shown that you're going to get more caffeine
and more alertness out of just a regular cup
of coffee.
But it's got the sugar and according to, you
know, the labels, it's got all of these extra
crazy things.
And some of the crazy things or additional
things or nutrients or whatever are different
from brand to brand.
But if your brand is just the same as this
other brand, how are you going to stand out?
And that that's, that's where the companies
make these bad decisions.
You know, let's add trace amounts of creatine
or you know, the bcaa's and then we can market
it as that.
And that's going to set us apart.
And that may also mean we can, we can charge
a few cents more per can than our competition.
If people think they're getting something
better, it's gonna make people choose us instead
of choosing the competition, essentially taking
away their choice and their ability to make
an informed choice about which product they
choose to consume.
And they're always gonna run into problems
when they take away our choice or our ability
to make an informed choice there.
Exactly, and I think with some of the recent
studies that have come out regarding diet
drinks and diet sodas and how if you're drinking
more than two diet sodas a day, you might
be having problems with the increased chance
of heart attack and other issues that people
are trying to move over to what they think
will give them a caffeine burst with some
possible health benefits connected to it,
when in fact that might not be the case at
all.
Absolutely.
If anybody needs any more information about
this issue, you can follow the link in the
description of this video.
Go to topclassactions.com and subscribe to
their newsletter.
It is one of the best resources available
to consumers to stay on top of all the issues
that actually matter in our lives.
Scott Hardy, topclassactions.com, thank you
very much for talking with us.
Thanks Farron, I appreciate your time.
