I met Jerrod Libonati purely by chance at my physical therapist's office just before Christmas.

A registered dietitian and owner of FoodStrategies.Info, Jerrod is part of a growing number of health professionals that eschews dietary supplements for healthy eating habits as a means of disease prevention and control. 

Jerrod works with clients to help control their weight, elevated blood sugar, elevated blood cholesterol and a number of other conditions purely through diet. He also gives lectures on a variety of interesting subjects around chronic disease treatment, and provides dietary programs for the correction of a number of health issues.  You can get a good feel for his approach on his wonderful website.

Jerrod does a bit of work with clients at my therapist's office, and there has been a lot of talk recently about energy drinks like Monster, Red Bull, Extreme, etc. and whether or not these energy drinks are really something you want to mess with if you’re going to be engaged in extended periods of exercise (like running distance).  Well, according to Libonati, the drinks are packed not only with caffeine, sugar and Mega B vitamins in quantities 400-500 times in excess of the recommended daily requirements – many of these beverages also contain something called glucoronolactone, which is produced naturally by the body, but occurs in these “energy” drinks at 200 times the recommended dosage.  Glucoronolactone is normally involved in the breakdown of carbohydrates and the regulation of reaction time, memory and fatigue.  LOL - maybe if they had had these guys back when I was in school I never would have started drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes!

It’s important to note that in parts of Europe these drinks have been banned and in Canada, Red Bull must bare a warning label not to mix it with alcohol!  In the US the FDA considers these drinks food and not supplements and so they have not been tested here in the States. (You gotta love it…and they’re marketing this stuff to kids!)

Jerrod says that you are likely to experience an exaggerated heart rate, excess perspiration, dehydration and dizziness following consumption of these drinks…clearly not a great mix with aerobic activity and clearly not a healthy supplement to be used as part of your training routine!

Here’s a recent broadcast on energy drinks that Jerrod recently did for KABC News.  As for me, I’m sticking to slices of banana and a dab of peanut butter on an English muffin for quick energy!

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Tags: energy drinks, red bull, monster, extreme, nutrition, disease, supplements for athletes, food