Global energy drink ranking finds major regional differences

By AI, Created 9:15 PM UTC, May 19, 2026, /AGP/ – A German beverage expert’s first objective global energy drink ranking examined products from six continents and found the category is formulated very differently by region. The Six Continents Index also put Europe on top overall and North America last, underscoring how ingredient choices, processing and transparency vary worldwide.

Why it matters: - The Six Continents Index suggests energy drinks are not a single global product category. - Regional differences in sweeteners, sugar, pasteurisation, vitamins and additives point to very different consumer expectations and manufacturing standards. - North America, the world’s largest energy drink market by revenue, ranked last overall among the six continents.

What happened: - Pat Eckert, a German beverage professional and certified water sommelier, led the first objective global ranking of energy drinks. - Eckert and his team spent roughly half a year collecting energy drinks from all six inhabited continents. - The team scored each product using a 36-criteria framework focused on measurable product quality, ingredients, transparency and formulation standards. - The strongest products were sent for laboratory testing and analytical verification. - The project became the Six Continents Index.

The details: - Europe had the highest overall score at the continental level. - Australia and Oceania ranked second. - Asia ranked third. - HELL Energy of Hungary received the highest overall score for objective product quality at the brand level. - 28 BLACK of Germany ranked second at the brand level. - TAKE OFF, also from Germany, ranked third at the brand level. - Europe’s energy drinks were 85.7% pasteurised. - North America’s energy drinks were 12% pasteurised. - South America’s energy drinks were under 1% pasteurised. - Asia’s energy drinks used real sugar in 78.9% of products. - North America’s energy drinks used real sugar in 8% of products. - North America’s energy drinks relied entirely on artificial sweeteners in 84% of products. - Europe’s energy drinks relied entirely on artificial sweeteners in 4.2% of products. - In Asia, Australia, South America and Africa, almost no products relied entirely on artificial sweeteners. - Australian energy drinks averaged 4.2 vitamins per product. - North American energy drinks averaged 2.9 vitamins per product. - Aspartame appeared in 10.5% of products worldwide. - Africa accounted for 43% of the aspartame-containing products in the sample. - BPA-free labelling appeared on only 1.4% of the global sample. - Red Bull was the only energy drink brand found in virtually every market assessed worldwide. - Lipovitan-D, from Japan, was the oldest brand in the study and has been on the market since 1962.

Between the lines: - The findings frame Europe as more focused on pasteurisation and North America as more dependent on artificial sweeteners. - Asia’s higher use of real sugar suggests a distinct formulation preference from North America’s. - The low visibility of BPA-free labelling suggests packaging transparency remains limited in much of the category. - The use of aspartame across the sample, especially in Africa, highlights how global ingredient debates still shape the category. - Eckert’s project is positioned as independent: brands were not notified in advance, did not apply and had no role in the evaluation.

What’s next: - Eckert’s team says further findings, methodology and background information are available on request. - The Six Continents Index is likely to be used as a reference point for comparing energy drink formulation quality across regions. - The project may also push more scrutiny on ingredient transparency, processing choices and global category standards.

The bottom line: - The world’s first global energy drink ranking did more than pick winners. It showed that “energy drink” means very different things depending on where it is made.