You’re young. Hip. And thirsty.

Do you grab a water? Iced tea? Maybe a soda?

Oh, puh-leeze.

More likely, you grab a Red Bull, a Vitamin Water or a Moxie – Moxie energy drink, that is.

“It’s amazing the number of these we sell in the morning with breakfast,” said Jeff Leadbetter, who owns and buys for the four Leadbetters convenience stores in the Greater Bangor market. “Older people drink coffee. Younger people drink energy drinks. … It’s climbing every year, and there’s new products coming out every month.”

For Leadbetter, soda still outsells energy drinks and fitness waters two to 1, but a new generation of energy drinks and enhanced waters is edging into soft drink sales, both nationwide and locally, and teens and twentysomethings are driving the trend.

Some want a jolt of caffeine and taurine (an amino acid) so they can party all night. Others might just want a thirst-quencher after a long field hockey practice. Still others want to sip like the rapper 50 Cent, and since Cristal may be out of their budget – and age range – Formula 50 Vitamin Water is the next best thing. And though the phenomenon is hardly new, it may be new to you – it’s called “getting crunked” and the cocktail of choice is a mixture of Red Bull and vodka.

But the question remains: are these drinks healthy?

“Red Bull cocktails? That’s kind of scary,” said Mary Ellen Camire, a professor in the department of food science and nutrition at the University of Maine. “A lot of these products are out there saying things that they don’t really have the science to back up.”

It’s a throwback to the 1800s, when sodas were more often than not a carbonated, sugar-enriched version of popular medicines. Moxie, developed by a doctor, was touted as a cure-all, while Coca-Cola, developed by a pharmacist, was advertised as a nerve tonic.

That said, today’s beverage makers aren’t exactly selling snake oil. A study by the psychology department at the University of the West of England in Bristol found a significant improvement in aerobic endurance and anaerobic performance, as well as significant improvements in mental performance among subjects who drank Red Bull vs. those who drank a placebo. The researchers attributed the effects to the combination of ingredients, mainly taurine and caffeine.

“Caffeine will do many of the same things,” said Camire, who also is a health consultant for Men’s Health magazine. “But it looks like there’s some kind of synergy of the ingredients.”

Synergy is straightforward, but “energy” can mean different things to different people. Sometimes, the term simply means “sugar” or “caffeine.” Tab Energy, whose target market is women, contains four main ingredients: guarana, extracted from a tropical berry with effects similar to caffeine; the amino acid taurine; ginseng, a natural stimulant that is rumored to help people deal with stress; and carnitine, a nutrient that is touted as both a weight-loss supplement and an athletic performance enhancer.

The blend of the ingredients is key because certain vitamins and nutrients either help or hinder the effects of others. For example, B vitamins help the body use sugar to perform better.

“It’s easy when you’re using these fortified drinks to get things out of balance,” Camire said.

An easy way to stay in balance is to know what you’re drinking.

“Read your labels,” Paige Raymond, the customer service manager at Gold’s Gym in Bangor, recommends. “And if you’re sensitive to anything thermogenic, I’d say stay away.”

Thermogenic compounds such as ephedra, caffeine and bitter orange, generate heat and are purported to help the body burn fat. If you’re trying to lose weight, then it’s even more important to read the labels. It could mean the difference between a low-cal energy boost and a soda dressed up as a health drink.

On a recent afternoon at Gold’s, Raymond picked up a can of Rumba, a juice-based energy drink, and pointed to the Nutrition Facts label on the back. Rumba has 28 grams of carbohydrate and 120 calories per serving, but there are two servings in a can.

“Most people aren’t going to drink half a can,” she said.

At Gold’s, customers who are looking for a boost are more likely to choose a protein shake such as Avocare Spark or a product such as ABB’s diet Turbo Tea, which gives a pre-workout burst of energy. Take Geoff Braden for instance. The young pilot from Houston, Texas, was working out at Gold’s during a stopover in Bangor. On his way to the weight room, he picked up a shake. He said he doesn’t normally drink the mass-market energy drinks, but sometimes he’ll have a Turbo Tea.

“I’ll work out or run, then my roommate will show up and want to play basketball, so I’ll down one of these and I’m able to play basketball at the same level,” Braden explained.

Still, of all the available options, the most popular at Gold’s is water.

“A lot of this has come in the last year and a half,” Travis York, Gold’s general manager, said as he gestured toward the vitamin-enhanced SoBe Life Water. “You can see a swing. The sodas are going out and I’ve tripled my flavored waters. It’s nice to see the health consciousness. I think if it increases people’s consumption of noncaloric or low-caloric items, that’s great.”

Some products, such as the new “Light ‘n Fit,” are basically flavored water sweetened with Splenda. Others, such as SoBe Life Water or Glaceau’s Vitamin Water, are enhanced with a blend of vitamins tailored to the drinker’s needs. One Vitamin Water product, Revive, claims to make the morning after a long night out a little easier to bear. Another, Formula 50, has 50 percent of the recommended daily dose of a handful of vitamins. But is it hype or health?

“Your body will sense what it needs and expel the rest,” Camire said. “If you’re eating a moderate diet or taking a multivitamin, then they’re not going to have a significant effect.”

The bottom line, whether people choose Red Bull or Gatorade, is performance. People want to win, whether they’re playing a round of golf with their friends or running a marathon. Depending on the level of intensity, how hard an athlete has trained, and how much she sweats, an electrolyte drink such as Gatorade could help. Drinks that are loaded with sugar could add to the dehydration. And “energy” drinks may or may not give them the boost they need to cross the finish line.

“It’s still an imperfect science in terms of the individual,” Camire said. “We don’t know.”

The one thing retailers know is that energy drinks and enhanced waters are gaining in popularity every year.

“Believe it,” Leadbettter said. “The Mountain Dews, Cokes, Pepsis, that’s an older generation. The younger people, they’re all drinking energy drinks.”

Kristen Andresen can be reached at 990-8287 and kandresen@bangordailynews.net.

Energy drinks

Usually sold in a can, these beverages may get their energy from sugar and caffeine, as well as the amino acid taurine. Be sure to read the label.

Vitamin waters

Enhanced with vitamins, these flavored waters come in a rainbow of colors and combinations. Your body will absorb what it needs and expel the rest, but a multivitamin is cheaper.

Fitness water

Flavored water sweetened with Splenda. Great if you don’t like the taste of water. But fit? Not so much.

Oxygenated water

Doesn’t H2O already imply oxygen? Yes, but this has a much higher concentration of dissolved oxygen.

Electrolyte beverages

Sure, they’ll rehydrate you, but only athletes who expend a lot of energy and sweat will truly benefit from these beverages.