I’m in a debate with an individual and need your input.
Sometimes, when I’m lagging in terms of energy, I grab a Five Hour Energy. But I don’t like to take it straight for multiple reasons: 1) It makes me too hyper and I crash harder (despite their claims otherwise). 2) I have this potentially unfounded fear that drinking it straight will make me more susceptible to having a heart attack and dying. 3) It tastes gross.
I would never drink a whole bottle in one shot, straight or otherwise. I always do about half a bottle.
What I do is I dilute it in a bottle of water, then I drink the whole bottle of water. This is where my foe and I differ in opinion.
I claim that by diluting the beverage, it has multiple affects: 1) It lessens and plateaus the peak, so it doesn’t make me super hyper, and it also doesn’t make me crash really fast and 2) It extends the length of time that the Five Hour Energy will stimulate me (rather than peaking quickly and declining, I plateau for longer).
He claims that diluting it in the water has no effect whatsoever, since it will still all get digested and absorbed into the body in the same amount of time.
I claim otherwise, positing that by diluting it and giving my body more to digest, it will take longer to be fully processed and absorbed and, as stated above, will last longer.
If you drink the entire bottle at once, just like you would the energy drink, there is no difference. If you actually are only drinking small amount at a time, it will do what you claim. But this wouldn’t be any different from drinking tiny drops of the undiluted drink. All that matters is how long it takes you to consume the entire bottle.
IANAD but I don’t think even completely fluid “food” flows straight through the stomach unimpeded, so gulping diluted vs. undiluted liquids should lead to a delay in absorption. How long I can’t say as my google-fu appears very weak today.
Water goes through the stomach fairly quickly. Since only a fixed - and small - amount can be passed through the pyloric valve into the small intestine at any given time, it does take large volumes more time to go through the system than small volumes.
Even so, a Five Hour Energy drink is all of two ounces. Doubling that to four ounces is a negligible difference. I’m guessing that the perceived change in effect is mostly psychological rather than physiological.
The OP does mention a “whole bottle of water” which I would read to be 16 or 20 oz. That would take quite a bit longer than 2 oz… but still not all that long.
The real problem here is that by adding it to water, you have now homeopathically given the water the ‘memory’ of the energy drink. Subsequently consuming the whole bottle … consuming the whole bottle …
I have no real knowledge, but I’d agree with your friend - unless you are diluting it with a significant amount (16 or 20 oz) of water, it wont make a difference.
Another factor, I’d think, is length of effect. If you consume something in 5 minutes, and it takes effect in 10 minutes, but the effects last for 2 hours - you can dilute the serving size and consume it in 10 minutes. The end result is that you’ll still have nearly 2 hours of full effect. But how true that logic is may depnd on the substance.
I have to say I still can’t tell whether the OP meant he diluted a full bottle of energy drink in a full bottle of water or a half bottle of energy drink in a full bottle of water.
Too many people are using the word “bottle” without qualifying which one they’re refering to.
OK, so you’re taking a much smaller dosage of caffeine and sugar than if you were drinking the undiluted original drink. You’re ingesting half the amount of caffeine and of sugar, and taking longer to ingest it: the kick is lower and it takes longer. So, by my reckoning, you’re right.
If you slam the water back fairly quickly, I would think it would be limited by the amount of time it takes the body to process (absorb) water from the stomach. If it’s something like an ounce a minute, then it would take the body 16+ minutes to absorb a half-liter of water, versus 2 minutes to absorb the 2-ounce energy shot.
So, a bit longer but not dramatically so.
If the OP sips the water over a longer period of time it should blunt the impact of the stuff somewhat, since your body have partially processed the first few sips by the time the next swig comes down.
