Demand for energy drinks has steadily increased since they first came onto Western markets in the early 1990s, so we have all assumed that they are a relatively recent addition to the recreational drinks available through Energy Drinks.
Energy based drinks have been around in Japan since 1962, when Taisho Pharmaceuticals released a drink called Lipovitan-D. This drink contained vitamins B1, B2 and B6 as well as niacin and taurine. All ingredients designed to increase concentration and energy. This drink and others like them became extremely popular in Japan, Thailand and Korea, especially among the working-class who needed that boost of energy throught the day.
These drinks were also produced in other countries much earlier than the 1960s. For example, Irn-Bru was Scotlands equivolant in the early nineteen hundreds. Then Lucozade entered the market in nineteen twenty nine for use in the British hospital system, assisting patients in replenishing their lost energies. Whether or not these drinks had similar ingredients to Lipovitan-D is a matter for conjecture, but they were marketed as energy boosters.
The most well known energy drink to hit the Western markets was Red Bull, introduced by an Austrian entrepreneur who had tasted energy drinks on a trip to Thailand. Through a partnership agreement with the Thai manufacturers, Dietrich Mateschitz brought the drink back to Europe, adapted it for Western tastes and began selling it early in the 1990s.
No comments:
Post a Comment