Food
Colas and soft drinks
Category: Food
Type
Involuntary
Introduction and description
An energy drink is a type of beverage containing stimulant drugs, which is marketed as providing mental or physical stimulation. They may or may not be carbonated, generally contain large amounts of caffeine and other stimulants and many also contain sugar or other sweeteners and herbal extracts. Some energy drinks also contain high vitamin levels, for example, all the following contain vitamin B3
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Monster Energy drink (40 mg per 16 ounces)
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Rockstar Energy (100% in the Super Sours flavors)
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Red Bull Energy Drink (28 mg per 12 ounces)
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Five Hour Energy drink (30 mg per 1.93 ounces)
Soft drinks such as cola, are not marketed as energy drinks, but on the other hand contain similar ingredients, especially caffeine, as such they can be included in this class of products.
And they can produce hallucinations.
Background
The energy drink market became a $5.4 billion market in 2007. The market is currently estimated at over $12.5 Billion, having grown 60% between 2008-2012.
Energy drinks are typically attractive to young people. Approximately 66% percent of its drinkers are between the ages of 13 and 35 years old, with males being approximately 65% of the market.
There is a link between male ADHD and energy drink consumption.
A 2008 statewide Patient Poll conducted by the Pennsylvania Medical Society's Institute for Good Medicine found that: 20% of respondents ages 21–30 had used energy drinks in high school or college to stay awake longer to study or write a paper.
Since 2002, there has been a growing trend for packaging energy drinks in bigger cans. Popular brands such as Red Bull, Hype Energy Drinks and Monster have increased the amount of ounces per can. For example, when Red Bull first came on the U.S. market, it was primarily in 250 mL (8.4 oz.) cans; it now sells cans as big as 600 mL (20 oz.), and Monster now sells a can as big as 32 oz. (946 mL).
From Wikipedia “As with cocaine in Coca-Cola, lithium was widely marketed as one of a number of patent medicine products popular in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, and was the ‘medicinal ingredient’ of a refreshment beverage, 7 Up. Charles Leiper Grigg, who launched his St. Louis-based company The Howdy Corporation in 1920, invented a formula for a lemon-lime soft drink in 1929. The product, originally named "Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda", was launched two weeks before the Wall Street Crash of 1929. It contained lithium citrate [used for manic depressives] and was one of a number of patent medicine products popular in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. The beverage was marketed specifically as a hangover cure. Its name was soon changed to 7 Up; all American beverage makers were forced to remove lithium in 1948."
How it works
Physically
Physically the hallucinations, near death or other interesting experiences obtained from this activity are all due to poisoning. But there are a whole host of other mechanisms at work here all contributing to the effects:
- Amphetamine and stimulants - caffeine is a stimulant which at high doses acts just like any other simulant, see this section for an explanation. The high stimulation may also cause hypertension, heart failure and coronary heart disease over the longer term, it can result in asthma and allergy problems too
- Vitamin supplements - the vitamins added to these drinks is often way over that needed and as such the mechanism by which they add to the effect is the same as that described for vitamin supplements
- Fructose - the high levels of fructose can produce diarrhoea. This leeches out minerals and the consequence is then magnesium deficiency and potassium deficiency. Note that high fructose can also lead eventually to gout
- Hyperglycaemia - the high sugar intake can result in hyperglycaemia and in the longer term diabetes
Logically
This activity works because this overdosing on stimulants and sugar is a threat. You need to have the Model of the Mind open and have read How spiritual experence works.
If we look at this from a logical point of view, what we see is that the Will is being assaulted by a Threat.
The 5 senses along possibly with the nervous system are telling it that it is in danger, that the threat is both real and serious. Thus the Will is being told DO SOMETHING.
But what if it can do nothing? It has searched the Memory for a learnt function to deal with it and finds nothing and the Threat is there now, it has no time to learn. If you do nothing about halting the intake and it gets worse, the messages get louder and louder – THREAT ,THREAT ,THREAT – we are sick captain we don’t want to die, your little cells and organs want to live.
There is little input from the Reasoning function – after all it has been put on hold anyway when we drink these drinks. And the intensity of the messages being sent it from Perceptions tends to overwhelm other input anyway – DO SOMETHING, DO SOMETHING!!! And there comes a point where the Will gives up, exhausted, and lets the Composer take over. The ego has been squashed.
And we get our spiritual experience.
It is unlikely to be a pleasant one, the composer is most likely to try to send us a message that we should stop being so blumin' stupid.
Related observations
Hallucination
- Australian energy drink hallucinations 005574
- Carnitor and Carnitine 018171
- Cola abuse 005573
- Medical report on hallucinations caused by soft drinks 006461