14 DAY TRIAL // For years, energy foods and drinks were muscled up with caffeine, so that consumers could get that well-deserved boost of energy. But now, numerous other substances are beginning to suppress or augment this all-time favorite, thanks to advancements in chemistry.
In the March issue of Food Technology, a magazine published by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), experts take a look at some of the new ingredients that have popped up recently in these products.
Companies looking to provide their consumers with sustained energy benefits are for example starting to utilize slow-digesting carbohydrates, which are released into the body steadily over a prolonged period of time. On many occasions, they can be found in breakfast cereal bars.
These substances do not contain sugar, analysts say. They are instead derived from sucrose, a compound that is absorbed slower in the small intestines, therefore releasing energy at a much slower pace than sugars do.
Also a favorite among producers are botanical chemicals, including ginkgo biloba, ginseng and yerba maté, that are all renowned for providing extra energy from natural sources. Milk thistle is used for the exact same purpose as well.
Interestingly, there seems to be a trend of replacing pure caffeine in some products with green tea, which also contains the chemical, but has some added benefits, such as for example contributing to an enhanced metabolism, fat oxidation and energy expenditure management.
For products destined to enhance exercise endurance, manufacturers are selecting beetroot juice increasingly often, because the stuff is very rich in nitrates, Science Blog reports.
Next in line are chemicals in the vitamin B class, which include vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine), vitamin B-1 and vitamin B-12. The compound helps the body with the breakdown of fats and proteins, and also contributes to breaking down carbohydrates into glucose, which is then used to produce energy.
In energy drinks, an increasingly often-added chemical is taurine, which is in essence an amino-acid. When combined with caffeine, taurine provides an even larger energy boost to consumers. Some researchers suggest that the chemical can help boost the human metabolism too.
A compound used for roughly the same anti-oxidizing effect as green tea is coenzyme Q10, which has also been shown to reduce feelings of fatigue in people carrying out tiresome workload trials.