Street Smart Nutrition: Effects of Energy Drinks & Functional Foods

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/HRLgU)
The label reads "improves brain function."

I don't know if it is sleep deprivation causing a reduction in my brain function or the fact that I'm very trust, either way I reach into the cooler and grab a can of Brain TonIQ (pronounced tonic).

: Image via Wikipedia

The newest energy drink in an ever growing class of $2 miracle in a can products promising increased energy, fat loss, and improved brain function. It is amazing to think that Red Bull used to be the only game in town and before that the only drink you could by which promised anything was Jolt Cola (and that just promised to have 2x the caffeine of Coke - which12 year old Mike Roussell thought was both a scary and cool proposition).

Now there is Red Bull, 5 Hour Energy, 6 Hour Power Energy (apparently the makers of 6 Hour Power Energy took the advice of Harland William's character in There's Something About Mary regarding 7 Minute Abs and applied it to energy drinks, Rock Star, Monster Energy, Full Throttle, Crunk, NOS, and my perennial favorite for long driving trips -the Spike Shooter. While many of the products that I just listed only promise an instant surge of energy, which is easily accomplished by stuffing the can full of sugar and caffeine, more and more products are being placed on store shelves, like Brain TonIQ, that seemingly promise a short term benefit that could only be accomplished via long term consumption.

The great promises of physiological superiority are not limited to the energy drink aisle of your local convenience store or super market. It is a growing trend in functional foods that people like us need to be aware of in order to prevent being sent to the poor house due to our quest for good health without even the consolation of better health (more on that in a minute).

Instant Benefit Through Chronic Use

One of the reasons that energy drinks like Red Bull are so popular is because you get an instant result.

Drink it, get energy.

You feel different after to drink it almost instantly. Due to the miracle of caffeine this is not the placebo effect, you actually have more energy. The problem for food and beverage companies arises when they try to develop products that cannot rely on the instant feedback that caffeine gives in order to convince you, the consumer, that the food or beverage is working.

So with the caffeine angle out the window, the next trick in the tool box is scientific research. Add a bunch of stuff to product that has been shown or theorized to have a benefit in a can or tub, sprinkle on the label some technical jargon, and you're good to go. With the ridiculous popularity of energy drinks Field of Dreams 'formulate it and they will drink' mantra actually works! But I want you to stop and think next time you go to shell out $2 in hopes of thinking more clearly.

Let's look at Brain TonIQ for a minute to illustrate my point. The tag line for this product is "Fuel Your Cranium. Get Thinking Again." So what is in this can that is going to make you start thinking more clearly?

Sugar. Organic Agave Nectar to be exact.

DMAE,

Choline (a classic ingredient in 'brain' drinks),

blue green algae,

eleutherococcus extract (aka Siberian ginseng)

rhodiola rosea

I'm not going to get into the details of the formulation, I just want to point out the flaw in our thinking as consumers. The though process we go through is this. I need to improve my brain function. Brain TonIQ says it will do this. It contains Ginseng and Rhodiola Rosea both should help with this. I'll drink it and be on point for my test/presentation/[insert reason for needing to think better].

The problem with this mentality/thought process is that things like Ginseng, Rhodioloa Rosea, or just about anything except caffeine don't work instantly and don't work after one dose and they may not even have enough of the active ingredient to make a difference.

Not to keeping going at the nice people that make Brain TonIQ (I just happen to have the can in front of me) but, there are 1.8 grams of the proprietary herbal blend with the ingredients that I listed above in each can. Studies looking at the effect of Siberian Ginseng use 1-3 gram per day for up to 12 weeks. So it is important to ask yourself, for any supplement you are taking,

'Is there enough active ingredient in here to make an impact?'

and

'How long do I need to take this to see the effects?'

Functional Foods - Looking Beyond Energy Drinks

As I alluded to this 'now contains [insert hot nutrient of the week]' phenomenon is running rampant in our supermarkets and the end result could be you just paying more but not getting any added benefit. Another example that we can look at is Benecol. Benecol is a butter substitute/margarine product that contains plant stanol esters. Plant stanols/sterols have been shown in several different clinical trials to reduce your cholesterol levels.

1 TBSP of Benecol contains 0.85 grams of stanols. You need at least 2 grams/ day of stanols to get a cholesterol lower effect. This means that you need to take 2-3 TBSP per day to reap the benefit of this product. The company behind Benecol clearly state this on their site but that is the kind of stuff we often ignore and chalk up to the company trying to make us consume more of their products ('rinse and repeat' anyone?).

The take home message here for this article is to not get sucked into purchases because of buzz words or 'Instant Benefit Despite Chronic Use Needed' promises. If you are going to go the route of using functional foods (which I do recommend as they can be beneficial), make sure that you know the usage needed to get the desired effect so that you aren't wasting your money.

I'd love to hear your thoughts?