Research suggests that energy drink formulations, in addition to increasing energy utilization, may also improve mood, enhance physical endurance, reduce mental fatigue, and increase reaction time. It is claimed that energy drinks can offer an increased energy boost related to their ingredient profile of caffeine, taurine, herbal extracts, and vitamins. The targeted demographic group is teenagers, young adults, 18 to 34 y old although expansion into nontraditional markets is also occurring. The consumption of energy drinks is rapidly increasing, as demonstrated by their large market growth.

It was concluded that Red Bull® had the highest amount of caffeine and Sting® had the lowest. With respect to a 12 oz can and using peak area, it was found that Red Bull® had a caffeine content of 63.91 mg, Full Throttle® 53.25 mg and Sting® 17.75 mg. With respect to a 12 oz can and using peak height, it was found that Red Bull® had a caffeine content of 88.76 mg, Full Throttle® 78.11 mg and Sting® 42.60 mg.

For quantitative purposes, serial dilution of the caffeine standard gave a R2 value of 0.999 and the retention time of 2.7 ± 0.2 minutes. These were analyzed alongside a caffeine standard stock solution of concentration 0.205 mg/mL by use of a HPLC-UV/Vis Detector at the wavelength of 254 nm, a Peco reversed-phase C18 column, a mobile phase 80:20 (v/v) of water: methanol and a pump flow rate of 1mL/min. Caffeine was extracted from three different brands of energy drinks: Red Bull®, Full Throttle® and Sting®. This study sought to determine the amount of caffeine present in popular energy drinks, using reverse phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).

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