Red Bull ingredients: what's banned overseas?

About Red Bull

Red Bull is an Austrian energy drink brand and the world's best-selling energy drink by volume, sold in the US since 1997. It contains caffeine, taurine, B vitamins, and sweeteners, sold at grocery chains, convenience stores, and club stores nationwide. Red Bull is banned from sale at Whole Foods for containing artificial flavors, artificial colors, and acesulfame-K.

Common concerns with Red Bull products

Red Bull contains artificial flavors and artificial colors, including Blue 1 in the Sea Blue Edition — it is banned by Whole Foods Market for this reason. Sugar-Free Red Bull uses acesulfame-K and sucralose, both artificial sweeteners linked to metabolic and cardiovascular concerns in research. Red Bull also contains sucrose acetate isobutyrate (SAIB) in some varieties — a food-grade emulsifier that is a modified sugar ester not permitted in many countries. The combination of high caffeine with artificial additives raises concerns for children and adolescents.