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On the topic of nutrition labels

UltimanecatUltimanecat Registered User regular
edited November 2008 in Help / Advice Forum
I'm a fan of energy drinks - I don't drink them for fun but they give me a little kick to help me get started on my 5 mile runs (and if I get any semi-typical H/A indignation about it I will quite assuredly go insane).

Obviously the common active ingredient in all of these things is caffeine. However, I've been buying some lately that have separate listings for caffeine, tea, yerba mate, and guarana extracts. Being the knowledgeable chap that I am about this stuff, I know that the latter three of those ingredients all themselves contain caffeine.

So, since they're listed separately on the nutrition label (with amounts per serving in mg), I don't know if their cumulative caffeine content is added to the actual caffeine listing, or if they are indeed separate and if I should figure that the drink contains even more caffeine than is listed.

Anyone know anything about this? Is the listing for caffeine a statement of how much pure caffeine was added, or is it the sum total of all caffeine-containing ingredients in the drink?

SteamID : same as my PA forum name
Ultimanecat on

Posts

  • ceresceres When the last moon is cast over the last star of morning And the future has past without even a last desperate warningRegistered User, Moderator Mod Emeritus
    edited November 2008
    If you want to be really sure, switch to something without all that stuff. As I understand, that sort of natural mumbo gumbo is not very well regulated by the FDA. If you really want the caffeine, just drink something with straight caffeine in it.

    Of course from your post you probably already know that you shouldn't be drinking the caffeine for this purpose anyway, so I'll spare you the 'quit drinking that shit before you exercise period' routine.

    ceres on
    And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
  • UltimanecatUltimanecat Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Eh, the energy drinks do contain a few other random things that may or may not do something (I've used cheap ones that really are just caffeine supplements and it's not very helpful). I suppose I could just pop some no-doze and B-vitamins before running, but the energy drinks make it much more convenient.

    And like I was alluding to, caffeine is relatively safe and increases endurance, which is pretty much why I use it. Any admonitions or statements otherwise are anecdotal and, more importantly, I don't care.

    Ultimanecat on
    SteamID : same as my PA forum name
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