研究揭示：喝运动饮料无益健康

    这可能是那一类会让很多人说“纯属废话”的研究。加州大学伯克利分校（University of California at Berkeley）的研究人员得出结论：能量饮料以及所谓的“运动饮料”，其实与含糖软饮料一样不健康，甚至更不健康，尽管它们的宣传语可不是这么说的。

    我们许多人都对这一点心知肚明，但饮料业长期以来通过营销，成功地让公众——尤其是年轻消费者相信，这些饮料虽然含有糖分、咖啡因和其他有问题的成分，但实际上对你有好处。

    不过，情况近来似乎发生了改变。随着越来越多的人意识到喝维他命水起不到和吃蔬菜沙拉同样的效果，此类饮料的销量增速开始放缓。对其他人来说，这些研究结果看起来像是“废话”，但无论如何，能够引用指标，将饮料厂商的营销语与实际情况进行对比，还是很有用的。百事公司（PepsiCo）的佳得乐（Gatorade）和可口可乐（Coca-Cola）的动乐（Powerade）都号称能够提高运动表现，而类似红牛（Red Bull）和怪物高能饮料（Monster）也以激发能量为噱头，而它们实际上能做到的，只是让你紧张和魂不守舍一段时间，最终不可避免地累倒。

    委托进行此次研究的加利福尼亚公共健康倡议中心（California Center for Public Health Advocacy）表示，这些产品带着“健康光环”，但它们存在着不少已知的，以及可能尚未被发现的副作用。

    加州大学伯克利分校阿特金斯体重和健康中心（Atkins Center for Weight and Health）的研究人员发现，最受市场欢迎的饮料中有21种，其成分包含糖、咖啡因和钠。此外，其中许多饮料包含银杏萃取物、瓜拉那、牛磺酸和生姜提取物。这些成分中，只有最后一种被美国国家卫生研究院（National Institutes of Health）认定为“可能安全”。

    研究报告的第一作者帕特里夏•克劳福德在公众电台节目“加利福尼亚报道”（The California Report）中表示，对这些添加剂的研究上的空白“非常麻烦”。她认为，这类饮料对儿童和年轻人这些主要消费者的可能影响仍然不为人所知，这点尤其令人担忧。

    今年5月，市场调查机构欧睿国际（Euromonitor International）的报告显示，功能和运动饮料在2013年的销量涨幅为4%，比起前一年的9%有所减少。欧睿预计在2013年至2018年，这类饮料的销量只会上涨12%，较之2008年至2013年的23%涨幅有了显著下降。市场观察家得出结论：“在接下来几年中，随着人们越来越关注健康和安全问题，这类饮料的要增加销量将会越来越难。”欧睿表示，这类饮料增加销量困难的另一个原因是其他可供选择的饮料，如果汁、茶和瓶装水也开始抢占市场。

    这种趋势也许可以解释美国饮料协会（American Beverage Association）的发言人克里斯托弗•金德勒斯伯格的严厉回应。后者在加利福尼亚报道中声称，伯克利分校的研究实际上是“危言耸听，企图制造恐慌情绪”。（财富中文网）

    译者：严匡正

    This is one of those studies that make a lot of people go “well, duh!” Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley have concluded that energy drinks and “sports drinks” are as unhealthy as sugary soft drinks, and in some cases even moreso, despite claims that seem to be to the contrary.

    While many of us already knew this, the beverage industry’s marketing has succeeded for years in convincing the public — especially younger consumers — that these beverages are in fact good for you, despite being loaded with sugar, caffeine, and other problematic ingredients.

    That seems to be changing lately, though. Sales growth has slowed as awareness of the fact that, for example, drinking Vitaminwater isn’t the same as eating a salad, has grown. For the rest of us whose reactions to studies like this might be “duh,” it’s nevertheless helpful to be able to cite metrics, and to compare the marketing claims of beverage makers to reality. Sports drinks like PepsiCo’s Gatorade brands and Coca-Cola’s Powerade line are touted as enhancing athletic performance, while energy drinks like Red Bull and Monster are sold as just that — energy-boosters, when all they really do is make you nervous and distracted for a while before the inevitable crash.

    The products are sold with a “health halo,” according to the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, which commissioned the study, despite having several known and potentially several unknown ill-effects.

    The researchers at UC Berkeley’s Atkins Center for Weight and Health found that 21 of the most popular drinks in the category contain high levels of sugar, caffeine, and sodium. Plus, many of them contain gingko biloba, guarana, taurine, and ginger extract. Only the latter one is defined as “likely safe” by the National Institutes of Health.

    Patricia Crawford, the study’s lead author, told the public-radio show The California Report that the lack of research into several of those additives was “troubling.” She cited as particularly worrisome the minimal knowledge of the possible effects on the children and teenagers who make up a big chunk of the market for the beverages.

    In May, Euromonitor International reported that sales of energy and sports drinks grew in 2013 by 4%, considerably slower than the 9% growth the year before. Euromonitor predicts volume growth of just 12% from 2013 to 2018, considerably lower than the 23% growth the segment enjoyed from 2008 to 2013. “It will be more difficult to grow sales in the years ahead … as concerns about health and safety have risen,” the market-watcher concluded. Another factor is the proliferation of other alternative beverages such as juice drinks, prepared teas, and bottled water, according to Euromonitor.

    Such trends might help explain the harsh response of Christopher Gindlesperger, a spokesman with the American Beverage Association, who told The California Report that the Berkeley study amounted to “spin and attempted fear mongering.”