In a study that really shouldn’t be shocking to anyone, the new wave of energy and sports drinks like Monster and Red Bull, are bad for your teeth. In addition to the sugar, they damage tooth enamel, which boosts frequency of cavities and other dental problems. A new study was released in the last month going more into detail, but I think people get it. Oh, and the loss of tooth enamel was also present in the Sugar Free Red Bull and healthier versions of 5 Hour Energy drinks. Damaged tooth enamel won’t naturally grow back or recover, so it is a type of permanent damage.

In case there was still any doubt, energy drinks aren’t healthier than soda, for your teeth or otherwise. The study basically removes all shadow of a doubt that these were in any way good for you. Some people in the American Beverage Association take issue with the study, as it wasn’t tested on humans and it involved a lot more testing of acidic properties. It did however, involve real human teeth in the enamel experiment.
In the study published in General Dentistry, 13 sports drinks and nine energy drinks were tested for their acidity. They tested six drinks for their effects on tooth enamel and found both types caused damage. Energy drinks, however, were twice as bad.

The Study Details

They tested the acidity levels of all 22 drinks. They found the levels of acidity in the drinks vary between brands and between flavors of the same brands.

Gatorade Blue had the highest acidity among sports drinks. Next was Hydr8.

Among the energy drinks with the highest acidity:

• Red Bull Sugarfree
• Monster Assault
• 5-hour Energy
• Von Dutch
• Rockstar

MDX had the lowest acidity of the energy drinks.

Tooth Enamel and Energy Drinks

Enamel samples from extracted human teeth were placed into three sports drinks and three energy drinks.

The sports drinks tested were:

• Gatorade Rain
• Powerade Option
• Propel Grape

The energy drinks tested were:

• Monster Assault
• Red Bull
• 5-Hour Energy

The enamel samples were immersed in the drinks for 15 minutes (simulating someone drinking 4 energy drinks a day). The researchers transferred the enamel to artificial saliva for two hours.

This cycle was repeated four times a day for five days. The beverages were replaced with fresh ones every day. The enamel loss was very notable after five days of exposure.
The average enamel lost with sports drinks was about 1.5%, while the average loss with energy drinks was more than 3%. Jain says she cannot pinpoint what percent of enamel loss would cause problems.

What does this mean for energy drinks?

The truth is, the susceptibility to dental problems depends mostly on personal hygiene, lifestyle, and diet. The second biggest factor is your genetic makeup. On top of that, people don’t typically leave energy drinks sitting in their mouth for fifteen minutes five times a day.
That being said, there is an undeniable cost to your dental health and personal health for excessive use of these sports and energy drinks. The best I can recommend is actually take good care of your mouth and you probably won’t have a lot to worry about for a long time.