August 22, 2025, 10:45 am | Read time: 3 minutes
It’s rare for “Ökotest” not to give a single good grade. But that’s the case with energy drinks now. The testers can’t recommend a single product. Moreover, many products even contain a banned contaminant. FITBOOK presents the Ökotest findings on energy drinks.
Teenagers especially like to reach for the sweet cans with a caffeine kick when they feel sluggish or tired. But the promised boost in performance and alertness has its pitfalls. The magazine “Ökotest” (Issue 5/25) examined 22 energy drinks—preferably varieties like “classic” or “original”—and delivers a damning verdict: Ten brands are “inadequate,” eight “poor,” and only four are at least “sufficient.” This is not only due to problematic ingredients but also to a banned contaminant in the packaging.
Overview
Manufacturers Max Out Caffeine Limits
What ingredient do buyers expect from energy drinks? Correct: caffeine. And it’s present in considerable amounts. The Fruit Juice and Soft Drink Ordinance sets a maximum content of 320 milligrams per liter of caffeine in caffeinated soft drinks. And all tested products push this limit.1
A 250-milliliter can contains about 80 milligrams of caffeine, equivalent to a cup of coffee. And some cans even come with a volume of 500 milliliters. “Ökotest” refers to studies where teenagers, in individual cases, drank a liter of energy drinks in a short time. The consequences: heart palpitations, shortness of breath, muscle tremors, and changes in the heart’s electrical activity.
The caffeine dose deemed safe by EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) is exceeded once a young person drinks three 250-milliliter cans of energy drinks a day. From the third can onward, it becomes critical.
Who Should Completely Avoid Energy Drinks
If critical symptoms can occur in healthy individuals who are not in a special life situation, it stands to reason that some people should completely avoid them:
- Children
- Pregnant women
- Nursing mothers
- Caffeine-sensitive individuals, such as those with cardiovascular diseases
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A Can Contains More Sugar Than You Should Eat in a Day
More than half of the energy drinks in “Ökotest” delivered more than ten grams of sugar per 100 milliliters. A 250-milliliter can contains roughly eight sugar cubes. This means that just one can of energy drink a day is enough to exceed the WHO (World Health Organization) recommended maximum daily sugar intake. They recommend that free sugars make up no more than ten percent of total energy intake. Five percent is better. For illustration: That’s about six teaspoons of sugar a day.2
In a few drinks, sugar is replaced by sweeteners—which the testers don’t necessarily find better. “We downgrade sweeteners because they can accustom taste buds to sweetness and increase appetite. The WHO even sees indications of increased mortality with regular sweetener consumption,” writes “Ökotest.”
Industrial Chemical in Almost All Products
Twenty of the 22 energy drinks receive point deductions because they contain the chemical Bisphenol-A. According to the testers, it likely comes from the epoxy resins in the can coatings and can leach into the energy drinks. This issue is already known from other canned foods.
“Ökotest” points out that the industrial chemical is said to have hormonal effects on humans and the environment. It is also classified as a reproductive toxic and is discussed in connection with an increased risk of breast cancer, obesity, and behavioral abnormalities in children. To avoid these contaminations, a Bisphenol-A ban for interior and exterior coatings has already been enacted—but with long transition periods, as “Ökotest” criticizes.
with material from dpa