Celsius has a wide variety of flavors. Photo: usacoffeeathome.com

While Celsius has been a popular energy drink for a couple years, it has come to the attention of its users that it can cause serious damage to their health and even career. Celsius is considered to be one of the most widely used energy drinks on the market right now, but it is basically banned in the NCAA. This has brought up the question of why now? 

Even though Celsius was originally established in 2005, over the past couple of years, the energy drink has become extremely popular not only for its flavor, but also for its caffeine content. They constantly advertise the healthy benefits and lifestyle with the drink. Celsius claims, “Celsius embodies a healthy lifestyle and inspires you to live a fit and active life. We help fuel your body so you can stay motivated and push past your goals.” There is a wide variety of flavors and different types of drinks. Celsius tries to separate themselves from other energy drinks by advertising their drinks as healthier. Celsius said, “‌We’re‌ ‌different‌ ‌from‌ ‌other‌ ‌energy‌ ‌drinks‌ ‌because‌ ‌we‌ ‌focus‌ ‌on‌ ‌movement. ‌ ‌When‌ ‌combined‌ ‌with‌ ‌exercise, ‌ ‌our‌ ‌formula‌ ‌is‌ ‌clinically‌ ‌proven‌ ‌to‌ ‌boost‌ ‌your‌ ‌metabolism‌ ‌and‌ ‌help‌ ‌you‌ ‌burn‌ ‌body‌ ‌fat. ‌ ‌Made‌ ‌with‌ ‌only‌ ‌the‌ ‌best‌ ‌ingredients, ‌ ‌Celsius has‌ ‌no‌ ‌artificial‌ ‌preservatives‌ ‌or‌ ‌flavors, ‌ ‌no‌ ‌aspartame‌ ‌or‌ ‌high‌ ‌fructose‌ ‌corn‌ ‌syrup, ‌ ‌and‌ ‌it’s‌ ‌very‌ ‌low‌ ‌in‌ ‌sodium‌ ‌and‌ ‌contains‌ ‌only‌ ‌10‌ ‌calories.”. ‌ ‌But many people consume the drink and are unaware of the contents that could be dangerous to their health.

This knowledge is not new and in 2003, the NCAA established a list of drug classes for their student athletes, which included stimulants. They declared that athletes are not allowed to have a caffeine concentration larger than 15 micrograms per milliliter in their body. To put this into perspective, the limit would be reached if an average sized man drank five cups of coffee in a few hours. For a drug test to be positive for an athlete, they would have to consume around 500 mg of caffeine in a 24-hour period.

The NCAA also performed a study on the contents of Celsius drinks. It proved that there are many illegal performance stimulants in the test. Celsius drinks have the illegal banned stimulants of ginseng, guarana, L-carnitine and taurine. These ingredients are not only considered banned by the NCAA but also the National Olympic committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency. 

Along with these ingredients, each Celsius contains around 200mg of caffeine, so even if caffeine is not restricted in the NCAA, enough of it could cause a positive drug test. The Food and Drug Administration said, “For healthy adults, the FDA has cited 400 milligrams a day — that’s about four or five cups of coffee — as an amount not generally associated with dangerous, negative effects.” Drinking over 400 mg of caffeine could potentially lead to serious conditions like heart and kidney problems, anxiety, paranoia and more. Energy drinks have a reputation for containing loads of caffeine, sugar and other stimulants. The caffeine only increases the blood pressure, irregular heart beat, insomnia and anxiety which could be potentially dangerous to someone. The caffeine in these energy drinks also causes a risk of dehydration during exercise.

While all of the controversy surrounding Celsius and its effects is occurring, people are coming out on TikTok and other social media platforms to share their experiences. There are many videos about the damaging effects they have experienced on their livers and hearts. Celsius has not issued or admitted any statement to support these claims.

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