Energy drinks are often referred to as “concoctions of sugar, caffeine, and B-vitamins”, but some B-vitamins aren’t considered essential or even relevant to energy levels. Obviously they’re all essential to life, but if the B-vitamins were all members of the Avengers, would you know which B-vitamin is like Hulk and which is more like Hawkeye?
Many vitamins are discovered as “That thingthat keeps (something bad) from happening.” In the case of thiamin, the bad thing is a disease called beriberi.
There are two kinds of beriberi: wet and dry. A diet high in carbohydrates, combined with strenuous physical exertion can use up a significant amount of thiamin, leading to wet beriberi. Insufficient energy from food and inactivity are associated with dry beriberi. Wet beriberi includes an enlarged heart and buildup of excess fluid in intracellular spaces (called “edema”). Dry beriberi includes muscle wasting in addition to impaired sensory, motor, and reflex functions (called “peripheral neuropathy”).
With this book excerpt, you might come to the conclusion that “people are lethargic without thiamin”. While this is true, it’s also misleading.
Thiamin does not give people energy. It’s more of a facilitator than fuel.
Thiamin participates in the metabolism of fat, protein, nucleic acids, and especially carbohydrates. That’s why carbohydrate metabolism is the first to go haywire with thiamin deficiency.
Thiamin is definitely a major player in the B-vitamin Avenger squad, but we’ll get into (the nerdy, biochemical bits on) WHAT THIAMIN DOES next week as we continue our page by page tour through my book on the science of energy drinks and their ingredients.
Sometimes we just want life to be simple. In high school, life was not simple, but at least my schedule was predictable. Each hour was dedicated to a specific subject; a chiming bell was enough to break my To Do list into neat little blocks of time. With graduation season upon us, many will leave their predictable schedules and somewhat-organized world for the unpredictable chaos that comes with adulthood. As a tribute to that unavoidable complexity, this month we review (yet another) energy drink with clean, simple ingredients. If you’re familiar with my mission on GreenEyedGuide.com, you know I love nothing more than busting the energy drink stereotype.
This month’s pick is another “energy drink in disguise” that doesn’t fit the water, juice, tea, or soda category. With 120 milligrams of caffeine per can, it’s undeniably an energy drink but also undoubtedly not “a deadly concoction of caffeine and sugar”.
The Energy Drink of the Month for May 2017 is Zevia Zero Calorie Energy.
Zevia’s new energy drink line
At the time of this post, there were four flavors available: Grapefruit, Kola, Mango/Ginger, and Raspberry/Lime. They all have 120 milligrams of caffeine per can, zero Calories, zero grams of sugar, zero vitamins, zero preservatives (not counting the acids), and nearly identical ingredient lists. As you might’ve guessed from our other Energy Drink of the Month winners, I’m a berry person, so my favorite is Raspberry/Lime.
“Chemically, adding CO2 to water creates carbonic acid, which is tasted by sour-sensing taste cells. Research has suggested that a certain enzyme, carbonic anhydrase, sits on those cells and reacts with the acid to cause carbonated water’s familiar popping sensation. (Fun fact: climbers who take altitude-sickness drugs that block the enzyme, then drink champagne, report the bubbly as having a dishwater-y taste.”
Citric Acid and Tartaric Acid
The Kola flavored Zevia Zero Calorie Energy has tartaric acid and citric acid, whereas the other three just have citric acid. This excellent infographic from our friends at Compound Interest explains the science behind these two popular acids.
Finding a high-quality stevia extract is no simple task. Oh sure, we know what molecule is responsible for the sweetness, but isolating that molecule and delivering it is far more complicated than producing table sugar. Sugar is sugar is sugar, right? But water doesn’t always taste the same, even if it’s just water. The same goes for Stevia. In fact, tasting Stevia samples was one of the tasks I dreaded most while I worked as a product developer for a major supplement company. One bad sample, and you’d be experiencing a bitter metallic aftertaste the rest of the day (or week: See “A Food Science Horror Story”).
It turns out that some people are Stevia Super Tasters so they will get a bitter metallic aftertaste with Stevia when many others would taste only sweetness. This bitter metallic aftertaste is why stevia is often paired with another natural sweetener, erythritol.
Caffeine Comparison
The top three best-selling energy drink brands are Red Bull (80 mg caffeine per 8 oz can; 114 mg caffeine per 12 oz can), Monster Energy (160 mg caffeine per 16 oz can), and Rockstar Energy (240 mg caffeine per can, most flavors). Since Zevia Zero Calorie Energy is an “energy drink in disguise” that breaks the energy drink stereotype, it makes more sense to compare its caffeine content to similar products, other healthy alternatives. Below are the caffeine contents listed in the Caffeine Informer database:
“Following a request from the European Commission, the EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on the safety of caffeine, providing advice on caffeine intakes, from all dietary sources that do not give rise to concerns about adverse health effects for the general healthy population and subgroups thereof. Possible interactions between caffeine and other constituents of so-called “energy drinks”, alcohol, p-synephrine and physical exercise should also be addressed. Single doses of caffeine up to 200 mg (about 3 mg/kg bw for a 70-kg adult) do not give rise to safety concerns. The same amount does not give rise to safety concerns when consumed < 2 hours prior to intense physical exercise under normal environmental conditions. … Habitual caffeine consumption up to 400 mg per day does not give rise to safety concerns for non-pregnant adults…”
The 5 Levels of Fatigue is a system I developed during my years of researching energy drinks. The 5 Levels of Fatigue helps people find the product most appropriate for how tired they are, thus minimizing caffeine dependence, toxicity, and tolerance. Anything with more than 200 milligrams caffeine should be saved for more dire energy emergencies like Fatigue Level 4. A product with 100-200 mg caffeine belongs with Fatigue Level 3. Since this product has 125 milligrams of caffeine per can, this product fits Fatigue Level 3. It is a carbonated product, which usually means the caffeine would feel stronger than a non-carbonated equivalent like the caffeinated (still) water from Avitae due to carbonation’s effects on the stomach.
Bottom Line
If you are looking for a strong, sugar-free, artificial-free carbonated energy drink Zevia is a great option. You don’t have to fret about “the dangerous of energy drinks” with this product. Zevia Zero Calorie Energy is simple. Life is complex enough.
Vitamin B (singular) was discovered in 1897 as THE THING that prevented the disease Beriberi. It wasn’t until 1911 that someone discovered THE THING was not ONE vitamin, but a CLUSTER (or a “complex”) of vitamins.
The Book Excerpt of the Week comes from the “B-vitamins” chapter of Part Three: How Do They Work.
The B-vitamins are similar in how they work: almost all off them help enzymes in our body, and those enzymes are like little machines that get important stuff done (like metabolizing things, building DNA, and much more).
In the coming weeks we’ll talk about what each of the B-vitamins do, and how much you should consume (versus how much is in sports supplements and energy drinks).
Stay tuned for next week’s book excerpt as we move page by page through my book on the science of energy drinks.
Get your copy of “Are You a Monster or a Rock Star: A Guide to Energy Drinks- How They Work, Why They Work, How to Use Them Safely” from Amazon and wherever books are sold.
For last week’s Book Excerpt, we reviewed the role of carnitine in the body and how it helps the body’s powerhouse, the Mighty Mitochondria. This week we ask, “How much carnitine is too much?”
With a well-balanced diet, a healthy human body makes enough carnitine to meet demand.
Carnitine supplements have been used in clinical trials for age-related cognitive decline, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s disease. These studies use carnitine in GRAMS and many energy drinks contain carnitine in MILLIGRAMS.
In other words, don’t expect the carnitine amount in energy drinks to MAKE YOU OVERDOSE on carnitine or PREVENT COGNITIVE DECLINE.
The body is pretty effective at getting rid of excess carnitine so consuming too much shouldn’t be a big concern… unless you have an empty stomach. Taruine, carnitine, and B-vitamins can irritate an empty stomach, leading to nausea, light-headedness, and other stomach pains.
Carnitine is another popular energy drink ingredient, but WHAT DOES IT DO? Carnitine is a doorman, a carrier. Carnitine carries fatty acids across the threshold, into the place where they’re metabolized: the mitochondria. The mitochondria is basically where molecules that used to be food are converted to energy.
BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!
Carnitine doesn’t just bring things INTO the mitochondria, it also helps REMOVEWASTE. This is an important job because if waste builds up in the mitochondria, it can slow energy production down.
MY GOODNESS, WHAT DID WE EVER DO WITHOUT THE CARNITINE IN ENERGY DRINKS?!?
Stay tuned for next week’s book excerpt from my book “Are You a Monster or a Rock Star: A Guide to Energy Drinks- How They Work, Why They Work, How to Use Them Safely”
