If you ever had a can of Red Bull energy drink, you must read this. And if you just feel like having one, you cannot ignore this bit of information.
Bizarre claims doing the rounds on the internet have a lot of people suspecting that the energy drink contains sperm from a bull. The source of suspicion is primarily an ingredient found in Red Bull and other similar power drinks. It's taurine.
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In Greek, taur means bull and -ine means something derived or obtained from the preceding word. Taurine (C2H7NO3S) – a byproduct of sulphurous amino acids cysteine and methionine – named for the Latin word taurus, which means ox or bull, as originally taurine was extracted from bull semen and ox bile. In the human body, enough of taurine is the most effective way to reduce stress and control anxiety as it lowers high cortisol levels. It also improves athletic performance and endurance.
Apart from animal tissues, taurine is also found in the human intestine and can be derived from chemical processes. Moreover, to be used in energy drinks and in the case of Red Bull, taurine is synthetically made in laboratories.
Now, it is understandable that the word "taurine" originates from "taurus" and that could have well fuelled people's imagination. However, the twist in the tale came almost a decade back when Longhorn Cattle Company – a Texas, U.S.-based company – claimed that it tested the energy product and found traces of bull sperm in it!
On its website, Red Bull says that its energy drink contains caffeine, taurine, B-group vitamins, sugars and Alpine spring water. About taurine, it says it is found in high concentrations in muscle, brain, heart and blood and that a person weighing 70 kg has approximately 70 gm of taurine distributed throughout his/her body. This means, the human body contains 70 times more taurine than one 250 ml can of Red Bull. Taurine is also contained in different foodstuffs like scallops, fish, poultry and most infant formulae.
Longhorn Cattle Company, which has its slogan as "I shot the bull", is in the business of dining and catering of meat products since 1985.
On the other hand, Red Bull energy drink is sold by Austrian company Red Bull GmbH, which was established in 1987. The company says that its founder Dietrich Mateschitz created the formula of Red Bull energy drink and developed a unique marketing strategy. Today Red Bull is available in more than 169 countries and about five to six billion cans of Red Bull are sold every year.
So, two companies founded in mid-1980s and operating in the same drinking and dining segment, one just wonders if there could be a case of corporate rivalry between them! Or else, how would one make sense of one company located in a different continent (Longhorn Cattle in North America and Red Bull in Europe) accusing the other of a sheer bull of this order? Or could it be a publicity stunt?
Whichever way, it indeed fanned people's fantasies to an extent that Red Bull had to issue an official statement refuting the false claims.
