I came to the same conclusion as well. Moreover, I was somewhat successful in healing post-viral CFS/ME using the therapy targeted at mitochondria with large doses of B1 and B3 vitamins [1].
Its worth noting that 80% of those the develop post viral conditions just recover, we don't know why. It is unlikely your intervention is the reason you recovered, the majority of people do even if they do nothing at all. We do know that those that rest and stay below their energy budget have a better chance but that is about it, nothing else has shown efficacy.
Intervention was only applied to people who did not recover by themselves. But almost all of them recovered after intervention which leads me to believe that we are onto something here.
Nope. They do not contain the key element - vitamin B1 which is also called thiamine. Instead, they do contain large doses of caffeine which is known to abruptly inhibit thiamine absorption in the body leading to mitochondrial ETC inhibition when a person has deficit.
Then comes sugar - those drinks contain too much of it causing the unneeded insulin spikes. Sugar free variants are even worse - they (esp. aspartame) cause the insulin spikes as well but lead to insulin resistance progression much faster [1]. By the way, Insulin resistance and hyperlipidemia are hallmark signs of mitochondrial dysfunction.
Yes, they do contain some 10-20 mg of B3 (nicotinamide) and that's it. Not enough for the treatment; other key elements are missing.
That's why people with CFS/ME condition do not feel better after energy drinks, usually they feel even worse.
So the energy drinks should contain B1 or be taken with B1, is that what you say? If they don't already have B1, why is it so given the other vitamin B? Could it be for a good reason?
About insulin resistance, Monster contains sucralose and acetasulfame. It's not clear if the effect reported with aspartame also happen with these. Still, a super interesting thing to check - one of the many reasons I love HN!
I guess they do not include B1 because caffeine blocks its absorption anyway. Which is bad.
It is better to have B1 in everything that involves energy instead of caffeine. But B1 will hardly be noticed by the general public while caffeine is addictive for many. Energy drink producers clearly maximize for profits and not for health.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29138006