Energy drinks do... give you ATP

Do chemical compounds in energy drinks increase heart rates?

Aim: To investigate the effect of energy drinks on heart rates before and after physical activity

Hypothesis:

After the consumption of an energy drink (Red Bull), the heart rate will increase before and after physical activity due to more ATP being produced by caffeine

Variables

DAY 1: WITHOUT THE ENERGY DRINK

Resting:

1) In a calm environment, participant #1 sits down on a chair in a relaxed position and rests his left arm on the table

2) Attach the heart monitor in his left wrist. Make sure the monitor is positioned correctly

4) Once the heart monitor has began measuring the BPM, start the stop watch

3) Once the heart monitor has measured the BPM (beats per minute), record on a spreadsheet.

4) Using the stop watch, attach the monitor once again onto the participant after 5 minutes.

5) Repeat steps 1-4 for 60 minutes. Make sure the participant stays relaxed and sitting on the chair throughout the whole trial

6) Repeat steps 1-5 for participants #2 and #3

7) Repeat steps 1-6 for 2 more trials for each participant

Physical Activity (Running):

1)Before Participant #1 begins to run, make sure that he is holding the phone with the app "Runtastic" so assure that he is running with the speed of 5.2 km per hour throughout the trial.

2) Once the participant begins to run, start the stop watch.

3) After 2 minutes, participant #1 stop running. Immediately attach a heart monitor to measure his BPM

4) Record the results.

5) Measure the participant's bpm every 2 minutes for 32 minutes and record the results

6) Repeat steps 1-5 for participants #2 and #3

7) Repeat steps 1-6 for two more trials

DAY 2: WITH THE ENERGY DRINK

Resting:

1) In a calm environment, participant #1 sits down on a chair in a relaxed position

2) The participant drinks 250 ml of red bull

3) Once he has finished drinking, attach the heart monitor in his left wrist. Make sure the monitor is positioned correctly

4) Once the heart monitor has began measuring the BPM, start the stop watch

5) Once the heart monitor has measured the BPM (beats per minute), record on a spreadsheet.

6) Using the stop watch, attach the monitor once again onto the participant after 5 minutes.

7) Repeat steps 1-6 for 60 minutes. Make sure the participant stays relaxed and sitting on the chair throughout the whole trial

8) Repeat steps 1-7 for participants #2 and #3

9) Repeat steps 1-8 for 2 more trials for each participant

Physical Activity (Running):

1)Drink 250 ml of redbull. Before Participant #1 begins to run, make sure that he is holding the phone with the app "Runtastic" so assure that he is running with the speed of 5.2 km per hour throughout the trial.

2) Once the participant begins to run, start the stop watch.

3) After 2 minutes, participant #1 stop running. Immediately attach a heart monitor to measure his BPM

4) Record the results.

5) Measure the participant's bmp every 2 minutes for 32 minutes and record the results

6) Repeat steps 1-5 for participants #2 and #3

7) Repeat steps 1-6 for two more trials

Biometric profile of Subjects:

Comparitive Data

• Humidity
• Temperature
• Diet
• Fitness level

Conclusion

Our hypothesis was accepted, the consumption of an energy drink (Red Bull) causes an increase of heart rate when resting and during physical activity. In addition, we concluded that it takes longer for the heart rate to return to normal after physical activity, with the energy drink, this is shown in graph 2, where it takes around 32 minutes for the heart rate to return to normal. In contrast, after physical activity without an energy drink it takes about 20 minutes. This is due to the excess amount of ATP being produced in the body by the caffeine. Even at resting, the heart rate with an energy drink is higher (although the difference is not as great, as it is with after exercise), this is shown in graph 1. However, the heart rates during resting fluctuate, which is highlighted by the linear line, which shows that their is no real trend. To contrast, after physical exercise the heart rates do not fluctuate apart from 10 minutes. The linear line, shows that their is a trend as the points are closer or on the line.

Graph 3 highlights the difference in heart rates after physical activity with and without the energy drink. The average heart rate of the subjects without the energy drink was at 135 bpm, whereas the average heart rate for the subjects with the energy drink was at 161 bpm. That is a significant difference of 26 bpm. We can conclude from our data in graph 1, the best time for a person to drink a redbull is 20 minutes before physical activity as that is when the highest average heart rate was.

Evaluation

Through the course of the investigation we observed that:

• Subjects heart rates do have a difference after consuming Red Bull compared to without consuming it. This is clearly shown on the graph too as evidence to our hypothesis which proves to be true.
• The subjects were restless after consuming the drinks and their heart rates also took a longer time to decrease back to normal.
• Side effects were shown on different indivduals which suggests that side effects vary between different people. The side effects include: tremor, dizziness, fatigue after the effects of the drink wore off and difficulty sleeping.

- Since the amount of sleep and food intake influence our sports performance, participants should make sure to have the same amount of sleep and food intake before each experiment

- Data on resting heart rates were inaccurate as participants did not stay stable throughout the trial; walking, laughing, moving and talking affects the heart rate. No action and communication should be done by the participants to assure accurate data

- Drinking 4 red bulls in one day should be avoided as it can cause serious side effects to the participants.

-For every subsequent trial, the energy from the prior trial might have not passed yet. Therefore, it could make trial 2 and 3 inaccurate, as there would be more energy (from caffeine) present in the body.There should be 1 trial per day; if not, the 2nd trial should be done 2 hours after the 1st red bull is drank.

LIMITATIONS:

• BMI range or fitness level were on the healthy range, therefore we cannot generalize the data to higher or lower ranges of the BMI scale (Underweight to Extremely Obese)
• Physiological processes such as metabolism cannot be controlled as different individuals have different processing rates.
• A possible limitation would include the weather as we cannot control it, but thankfully it was dry and sunny on both days when we conducted it/ During the experiment the weather was an extreme concern as the surface would be slippery and if there was a vast difference in temperature in the two days of our investigation, it may have a direct effect to our data.

$20+

Friday, May 16th, 2014

Vol XCIII, No. 311

IMPROVEMENTS:

Background research

Controlled

Independent

Dependent

• Presence or absence of Red Bull (Energy Drink)

• Heart Rate (BPM) (Before and after
• Physical activity with and Without the energy drink) for the heart rate to return back to normal (rest)

• Track (Running surface)
• The intake of Redbull (250ml per trial)
• Time set at 2 minutes per trial for physical activity (Jogging)
• Time interval for recording heart rate which is set at every 2 minutes for 32minutes
• Time of rest between each trial
• Pace of Jogging (5.2 km/h)
• Type of energy drink: Red Bull

The chemical compounds in Red Bull have effects on the cell in different ways. Red Bull contains caffeine, citric acid, sucrose, glucose, and pantothenic acid (Vitamin B). These are the major sources that would affect the physiological processes in the human body. Caffeine is a modified purine, which acts as an anti catalyst to the enzyme called cyclic phosphodiesterase (CPD). CPD's role is to block the production of cyclic adenosine monoposphate (CAM), which is produced by epinephrine. Hence, as caffeine restricts the production of CPD, there is more CAM production. The increased amount of Cyclic adenosine monoposphate (CAM) diffuses through the cell and activates an enzyme called kinase, which produces ATP (energy). To summarize, the caffeine in redbull will increase the amount of ATP. ATP effects the contraction and relaxation of muscle, ultimately increasing the heart rate.

Caffeine

Heart rate immediately after run without and with energy drink

Method

Materials

CPD

Normal pathway

CAM

- x 1Stop Watch

- x 3 Heart Monitor

- x 1 Thermometer

- x 1Hygrometer (Humidity)

- x 12 Red Bull (250 ml)

- x1 Runtastic App on the smartphone(Running Pace)

Kinase

ATP

Time

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60

Evidence of Method

Factors that affect our data

Heart Rates