Energy Drinks Are Bad for You, Bro

The bro you went out with who swears by his vodka Red Bull? He's the worst.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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You haven't exactly been able to pinpoint it, but you've known for some time that energy drinks aren't just bad for your health—there's always been something more sinister about them. Well, a recent study shows that there's a huge correlation between guys who hold stereotypical and/or awful views about masculinity and those who consume energy drinks. So the bro you know who swears by his vodka Red Bull? He's the worst.

Earlier this month a study was published in Health Psychology that established this connection. Around 467 men between the ages of 18 and 62 (with the average being around 23), found at universities and on the Internet, were asked a series of questions. The study found that dudes most likely to believe in ideas like, "A man should prefer watching action movies to reading romantic novels," and "Homosexuals should never marry," were the assholes who reported an affinity for energy drinks.

It makes sense considering that energy drinks can make a person act aggressively or make them believe that their actions don't have consequences. These are behaviors also exhibited by those who tend to glamorize a sort of stereotypical (misogynistic and homophobic) masculinity. If you hold this screwed up ideology, energy drinks evidentially seem like the greatest thing.

"I think the message men are getting is that if you're a young, white heterosexual male, energy drinks are for you," lead study author Ronald Levant, a psychology professor at the University of Akron, told The Huffington Post, who first reported the study's findings. 

Levant also went on to explain that the older males in the study don't seem to have the same inclination for energy drinks. "They no longer wonder whether they're masculine enough, or they wonder less, and they therefore have less need to prove it." 

While the study is limited in that it looks predominantly at young, white heterosexual males, it clearly shows that energy drinks are bad for both your heart and your Heart. 

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