How Much Creatine Is In Bang Energy Drink?
On days when you wake up in the morning and you just know that you’re going to struggle to find the physical and mental energy needed to get through a workout, sometimes a pick-me-up is needed.
For some, this pick-me-up can be a dip in a cold tub, a cold shower, a cup of coffee, a pre-workout supplement, or an energy drink.
In particular, energy drinks over the last several years have grown hugely popular, with the energy drink industry being worth billions.
Whereas there have been energy drinks around for decades, if you’re looking for an energy boost that also happens to improve your physical performance in the gym, Bang could be the solution, thanks in part, to the addition of amino acids and creatine.
Creatine is a staple bodybuilding, strength, and fitness supplement all over the globe, so combining it with an energy drink for fitness purposes was surely a stroke of genius by the guys over at Bang.
But exactly how much creatine is in Bang, what makes it so beneficial, and is Bang as great as the makers claim?
Keep reading for the answer.
What Are Energy Drinks?
First, we need to ensure that you know exactly what energy drinks are.
As the name implies, energy drinks are beverages that have been specially formulated to give those who drink them a temporary boost in energy levels.
As you might have guessed, the primary ingredient in energy drinks is caffeine. Caffeine is a natural stimulant that, when consumed, increases the heart rate and provides a temporary spike in energy levels and mental alertness.
It is primarily found in coffee, though has now been isolated and can be added to supplements, medications, and drinks for people that need to feel more awake and alert.
On top of caffeine, they also often contain glucose sugar, which is the body’s preferred energy source.
To keep calories down however, many energy drinks are now sugar-free, or are at least formulated with less sugar and are sweetened artificially, or with a plant-based sweetener such as xylitol or stevia.
Different energy drink formulas contain different ingredients, though more and more of them are now being enriched with BCAAs (Branch Chain Amino Acids), amino acids, taurine, ginseng, vitamins, minerals, and as is the case with Bang energy drinks, creatine as well.
Why Are Energy Drinks So Popular?
Energy drinks have been popular since they were first created. Back in the 1990s for example, there was one energy drink that ruled the roost, and it is still a giant in the industry today, and that brand is Red Bull.
Red Bull energy drinks spawned a whole host of cheap, knock-off versions, and also proved to be popular with binge drinkers and partygoers because it mixes so well with alcoholic spirits such as vodka and Jagermeister.
As the years ticked by, however, more and more energy drinks started to appear on shelves, in bigger cans, and often with vibrant and colorful branding and logos, clearly designed to appeal to a younger demographic.
We had energy drinks such as Monster, Relentless, and Reign, all popular, so it was only a matter of time before the celebs got involved.
Reign energy drink, for example, sponsors a wide range of strongmen, such as Thor Bjornsson, The Stoltmans, and many more, as well as strongmen contests.
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson decided that his Teremana tequila wasn’t enough and created Zoa energy drinks, whereas Logan Paul and KSI created Prime, which went incredibly viral and had youngsters spending ridiculous amounts of money just for clout on social media.
Bang energy drink proved to be another very popular brand, and with the addition of creatine, it was clear that it was designed to appeal to lifters and fitness fanatics looking to get in shape and get a killer workout in, without turning to a pre-workout supplement.
What Is Bang Energy Drink?
We’ve taken a quick look at energy drinks, and we now know that Bang is one that contains creatine, as well as other unique ingredients.
But what exactly is Bang, and is it just another generic energy drink like the countless others you find out there?
Bang Energy Drink first came onto the market in 2012, and if you’ll pardon the pun, it arrived with a bang. The drink featured a colorful design on the cans, complete with a lowercase ‘b’ in the style of crosshairs from a rifle scope.
Available in over 40 flavors, yep, you read that right, Bang contains caffeine, taurine, B vitamins, amino acids, and now apparently, creatine as well.
Add to this, the fact that it is low in calories and is virtually sugar-free, and you can see why people watching their weight and monitoring their caloric intakes, often choose Bang as their energy drink of choice.
Available globally, Bang is particularly popular in the USA, where it is the third best-selling energy drink currently on the market, behind Red Bull and Monster Energy Drink respectively.
The fitness theme behind Bang is obvious from the get-go, as the owners are VPX Sports, who designed the drink with exercise health, and fitness in mind.
They claim that it can boost mental focus, increase energy levels, increase strength, and increase stamina while reducing exercise-induced fatigue.
You might think that it is the caffeine that takes the credit for these claims, and while that is partially right, it is the addition of creatine, or rather ‘Super Creatine’ that they claim is behind these advancements in energy, strength, and endurance.
What is Bang Supposed To Do?
Other than providing hydration in the form of a sweet and fruity beverage, the makers behind Bang Energy Drink have made several claims about its health benefits and effects.
While some of their claims do indeed check out, others have yet to be proven. What we can do, however, is look at some of the claims behind Bang Energy Drink and its supposed health benefits. These include:
- Increase energy levels
- Boost your strength levels
- Increase athletic performance
- Speed up recovery time
- Super creatine crosses the brain-blood barrier much quicker
- Easier to digest
- Increase your cognitive health and function
What Is Creatine?
If you were to ask 100 bodybuilders that took supplements, to name their top 2 supplements in their stacks, 99% of them would likely list: whey protein, and creatine.
Creatine is the second most popular fitness supplement currently on the market today, second only to whey protein concentrate.
It is a very popular supplement that can improve athletic performance, increase energy levels, boost strength levels, and even provide cognitive health benefits as well.
Best of all is the fact that it is naturally occurring.
Creatine is a naturally occurring amino acid found in red meat and is synthesized by the human body.
It functions by boosting the amounts of phosphocreatine found in the muscles, which in turn leads to an increase in adenosine triphosphate, or ATP for short.
Why is this important? Because ATP is used by the cells found in our muscles as an energy source. It is therefore a source of energy for the muscles.
When phosphocreatine levels in the body increase, this allows the body to create more ATP.
More ATP means more energy for our muscles. Cells in our muscles will use it for fuel and can therefore work harder, and more intensely before lactic acid builds up and fatigue sets in.
The harder our muscles can work, the more productive our workouts will become.
This is why creatine helps to build muscle, burn fat, increase strength levels, boost anaerobic capacity, and more besides.
There is also evidence to suggest that creatine can help to improve cognitive health assist with mental focus and boost brain health and function as well.
As Bang Energy Drink contains not only creatine but what they call ‘Super Creatine’ it’s easy to understand why so many lifters and fitness fans use this as their energy drink of choice.
Mixing creatine with pre-workout ingredients is what Bang does!
Hold on, Did You Say ‘Super Creatine?’
No, your eyes do not deceive you, we did just say ‘super creatine’ and that is indeed a listed ingredient found in Bang Energy Drinks.
Now, before we go any further, we need to ensure that you understand that there is no such thing as super creatine, at least, not in a natural sense.
For example, creatine is indeed naturally synthesized by the human body, but the human body cannot produce super creatine because there is no such thing.
If super creatine doesn’t exist then how can Bang Energy Drink list it as an ingredient in their beverage? Well, that’s because they created it.
Patented by the owner of Bang, John Owoc, you may also know this ingredient as Creatyl-l-leucine. This is because it is essentially regular creatine that has been molecularly bonded with l-leucine, which is a potent amino acid that plays a key role in protein synthesis and the formation of muscle tissue.
The idea here is that super creatine helps to promote the production of creatine in the body, which means more ATP, which means more energy for the muscles, and more muscle being built as a result.
Now, that’s all well and good, and as creatine and leucine have both been found to be extremely beneficial for the human body, particularly from a health and fitness perspective, the simple truth of the matter is that “super creatine” as it is known, is not a bioavailable form of creatine and has not been found to increase the amount of creatine in the body.
So, does that mean then, that Bang Energy Drink is a waste of time?
Well, not really.
Creatine is still beneficial, as are leucine B vitamins, and caffeine too. If you do need a pick-me-up before or during training, Bang is a great choice.
The so-called super creatine, however, may not be anywhere near as super, as Bang Energy Drink would have you believe.
How Much Creatine Is In Bang?
Before we go any further, we need to be crystal clear on the fact that there is zero creatine found in Bang Energy Drinks.
But how can that be, considering they market super creatine as one of their primary ingredients? Well, because their super creatine, AKA Creatyl-l-leucine, is not only creatine.
The most common and arguably most effective form of creatine, from an athletic standpoint at least, is creatine monohydrate, and that is NOT the same as super creatine.
Creatyl-l-leucine is a derivative of creatine that is bonded to leucine, but that does not make it a form of creatine in a conventional sense.
So how much super creatine is found in Bang?
Well, because they haven’t listed this on the ingredients, it may be hard to determine this.
However, because the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) requires, by law, for ingredients to be listed in descending order by weight if you look at the label of a can of Bang, you’ll see that compared with other listed ingredients in terms of weight, that there is around 5mg of super creatine found in a can.
Just to add fuel to the fire, Bang was recently subject to a lawsuit from rival company Monster Energy Drink, who alleged that super creatine does not contain any creatine at all. Yikes.
What Makes L-Leucine So Beneficial?
One of the most appealing aspects of Bang Energy Drink is the fact that it contains Leucine and creatine. We’ve looked at creatine, and now, we need to take a look at what makes Leucine so beneficial.
L-leucine is one of three BCAAs, the other two being Valine and Isoleucine. It is an essential amino acid.
This means that the body needs it to function correctly and healthily, but that it cannot naturally produce it like it can with non-essential amino acids. This means that essential amino acids must come from dietary sources.
Protein is made up of amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein molecules. We need protein to function, and our bodies also need it to build muscle tissue and repair muscle tissue.
For us to get enough leucine in our diets, however, it needs to come from dietary sources, I.E from whole foods such as meat, fish, eggs, seafood, and some plant-based sources, and supplements.
Some key benefits of leucine include:
- Increased muscle mass
- Promotes protein synthesis
- Boosts the immune system
- Regulates blood sugar levels
- Facilitates the production of HGH
- Promotes weight loss
By bonding creatine with L-leucine, the idea is that you can create a ‘super’ supplement and take regular creatine and convert it into a super supplement.
Whereas ‘super’ creatine does sound like hot air, creatine is beneficial, and so too is leucine.
Is Bang Energy Drink Good For You?
Energy drinks such as Bang have been receiving a lot of press and publicity over the last several years, and have been the topic of many a debate.
A lot of countries have banned the sale of caffeinated energy drinks to people under the age of 18 and for good reason.
Despite energy drinks being marketed as being “healthy” the truth is that they’re not as beneficial or healthy as the makers would have you believe.
Sure, they do contain healthy ingredients such as amino acids, taurine, minerals, and vitamins, but many of them also contain artificial ingredients, flavorings, preservatives, and colors.
On top of that, they also contain excessive amounts of caffeine, which can be dangerous.
Despite Bang containing healthy ingredients, including their super creatine, Bang is not a healthy beverage.
Water is healthy, as are smoothies made with fruits, vegetables, seeds, and other healthy ingredients. Energy drinks are not all that great.
Sure, if you enjoy them in moderation, they can provide various health benefits and healthy ingredients, but in excess, they can be very dangerous.
Bang is sugar-free and is naturally low in calories, but so too are many other energy drinks out there, but you can’t market them as being healthy. If you need an energy boost and are perhaps struggling to wake up in the morning, Bang is useful.
If you want to nourish your body and give it the natural goodness it thrives upon, however, Bang is not ideal as it is, after all, still a generic energy drink.
Does Bang Contain A Lot Of Caffeine?
Do bears poop in the woods?
If you couldn’t tell from our overly sarcastic response, you can probably ascertain that, yes, Bang does indeed contain a lot of caffeine, and that is putting it mildly.
The whole reason why energy drinks call themselves energy drinks in the first place is because they contain caffeine.
Caffeine is a natural stimulant that stimulates the central nervous system and provides a temporary, yet substantial increase in physical and mental energy.
Caffeine not only gives the body more energy, but it also improves brain power and can improve mental clarity, focus, and concentration levels.
Needless to say, in terms of exercise, this is very beneficial. Caffeine can indeed improve cognitive health and athletic performance, but we need to remember that too much can be dangerous.
Too much caffeine can lead to an erratic heartbeat, anxiety, high blood pressure, trouble sleeping, headaches, addiction, and even withdrawal symptoms.
It can also lead to a risk of death, from conditions such as heart attacks, this is why people start looking for low-caffeine pre-workout supplements.
This can give an idea about whether pre-workout breaks a fast or not.
While most energy drinks do contain caffeine as their primary ingredient (for obvious reasons) Bang Energy Drink is a brand with a very high caffeine content.
Bang is one of the strongest energy drinks on the market in terms of caffeine content, with one can (16 oz) containing 300mg of caffeine.
Just for clarity, a typical cup of coffee contains around 100mg of caffeine, and that’s if it has been made strong.
The FDA recommends a maximum of 400mg of caffeine per day, and that’s assuming that you have no blood pressure issues or cardiovascular issues.
Will Bang Improve Your Workouts?
If you have woken up tired, or are lacking sleep and energy, physically and mentally, then Bang will provide some benefits in terms of working out.
Chugging a can of Bang before you hit the gym will provide a temporary increase in energy levels, and will help you get dialed in before training.
If however, you’re drinking Bang because you want to benefit from the so-called ‘super creatine’ found in Bang, then you may be disappointed.
Creatine makes you gain weight, provides strength increases, allows your muscles to work harder, prevents fatigue, and is one of the most beneficial training supplements out there. Bang does not provide these benefits.
If you want the benefits of creatine, go ahead and invest in a pack of creatine monohydrates, which costs very little.
5g of creatine per day and you’ll be all set and will quickly see and feel the benefits.
Final Thoughts:
So, how much creatine is in Bang energy drink?
Well, Bang has no creatine in it, and around 5mg of super creatine, which is not the same thing.
Bang Energy Drink serves as a great energy drink, but it is certainly no substitute for fitness supplements, and it is not the same as using a creatine supplement.
Sure, it’ll give you energy and perk you up, but don’t get sucked in with the whole ‘super creatine’ thing, because it is likely just hot air and overhype.