Seidl R, Peyrl A, Nicham R, Hauser E
Department of Pediatrics, University of Vienna, Austria.
Amino Acids. 2000;19(3-4):635-42. doi: 10.1007/s007260070013.
Caffeine- and taurine-containing drinks have been on the European market for about a decade, and research on the individual constituents of these drinks indicates an improvement in cognitive performance resulting from consumption of such drinks. In this double-blind, placebo-controlled study using 10 graduate students, we obtained the P300 components of event-related potential (ERP) waveforms following an auditory oddball paradigm, measured motor reaction time, and applied the d2 test for the assessment of attention. Status of mood was assessed by the "Basler-Befindlichkeitsbogen" questionnaire, a standard test for evaluation of feelings of well-being. Measurements were made at night, prior to and starting one hour after consumption of energy drink ingredients or placebo. At the end of the experiment (midnight), P300 latency and motor reaction time were significantly longer compared with baseline measurements in the placebo group, but were unchanged in the energy drink group. In the test system for evaluating feelings of well-being, total scores, vitality scores and social extrovertedness scores were significantly decreased in the placebo group but not in the energy drink group. The findings clearly indicate that the mixture of three key ingredients of Red Bull Energy Drink used in the study (caffeine, taurine, glucuronolactone) have positive effects upon human mental performance and mood. These effects may be mediated by the action of caffeine on purinergic (adenosinergic) receptors and taurine modulation of receptors. As half of the study cohort were non-caffeine users, the described effects cannot be explained in terms of the restoration of plasma caffeine levels to normal following caffeine withdrawal.
含咖啡因和牛磺酸的饮料已在欧洲市场销售约十年，对这些饮料中各成分的研究表明，饮用此类饮料可改善认知表现。在这项使用10名研究生的双盲、安慰剂对照研究中，我们采用听觉Oddball范式获取了事件相关电位（ERP）波形的P300成分，测量了运动反应时间，并应用d2测试评估注意力。情绪状态通过“巴塞尔情绪问卷”进行评估，这是一种评估幸福感的标准测试。测量在夜间进行，在饮用能量饮料成分或安慰剂之前以及饮用后一小时开始。在实验结束时（午夜），与安慰剂组的基线测量相比，安慰剂组的P300潜伏期和运动反应时间显著延长，而能量饮料组则无变化。在评估幸福感的测试系统中，安慰剂组的总分、活力得分和社交外向性得分显著降低，而能量饮料组则未降低。研究结果清楚地表明，本研究中使用的红牛能量饮料的三种关键成分（咖啡因、牛磺酸、葡萄糖醛酸内酯）的混合物对人类心理表现和情绪有积极影响。这些作用可能是由咖啡因对嘌呤能（腺苷能）受体的作用以及牛磺酸对受体的调节介导的。由于研究队列中有一半是非咖啡因使用者，所述效果不能用咖啡因戒断后血浆咖啡因水平恢复正常来解释。
