too many words by laura lemay

red bull: not actually bad for you

…it only tastes like it.

Retrospectacle neuroscience blog analyzes the contents of red bull{.broken_link} and their effects on the brain and concludes that:

Red Bull’s “wings” seem to be a largely benign mixture of the stimulants caffiene and sugar (although no more than regular soda or coffee), as well as surprisingly encouraging (if not 100% substantiated) effects from taurine. While it seems doubtful that it truly enhances mental ability or stamina any more than soda or coffee might, the truly intriguing benefits (reduced obesity and hyertension) of taurine supplementation aren’t even part of Red Bull’s advertising schema.

While I was finding the permalink for this red bull post, I also stumbled across Shelley’s discussion on eating contests{.broken_link}, specifically the world record breaking hot dog eating contest{.broken_link} that happened over this last holiday weekend. In this post I learned the special facts that “Competitive eaters are not allowed to vomit during the competition, at least if the vomit leaves the mouth” (uhhhh…right, ew) and that the world record for mayonnaise eating is 4 32-ounce bowls in 8 minutes.