WASHINGTON -- To paraphrase a wise, old saying: Where there's sales growth, there's fire. Such is the case for energy drinks, which, in a recent Kraft/CSP Daily News Poll, were dubbed the non-alcohol beverage with the most growth potential for the coming year or two by nearly 50% of the 208 poll respondents.
Now, however, a group of public-health watchdogs is urging the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to pull the rug out from under energy drinks and similar functional products. To that end, the group also has threatened to file a lawsuit against [image-nocss] Coca-Cola and Nestle USA decrying the marketing for its new calorie-burning beverage Enviga.
The nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) testified before the FDA yesterday urging stricter enforcement standards for energy drinks and other so-called functional foods.
The hearing was spurred in part by a CSPI petition in 2002 urging the FDA to tighten regulations and take enforcement action. To view a PowerPoint presentation of CSPI's testimony, click here.
Many so-called functional foods' would be more aptly named dysfunctional foods, said CSPI legal affairs director Bruce Silverglade. Many energy' drinks, for example, primarily consist of water, sugar and caffeine. But the food industry is pressuring the Bush Administration to extend already weak standards for dietary supplement ingredients and label claims to these newfangled products. That approach would make functional foods, a potentially useful idea, about as dependable as 19th-century snake oil.
CSPI testified that some drinkers mistakenly rely on energy drinks to mitigate the effects of alcoholic beverage consumption. Drinkers may experience a placebo effect and dangerously assume that they can drive a car or drink even more alcohol without becoming further inebriated.
CSPI also told the FDA that medicinal herbs don't belong in foods such as iced tea and that snacks with unhealthful amounts of saturated fat are inappropriate mediums for ingredients that purportedly reduce the risk of heart disease.
To ensure safety and effectiveness, companies should be required to notify the FDA before adding novel ingredients to foods for purported health benefits, said CSPI senior staff attorney Ilene Ringel Heller, who also testified. To read Heller's testimony, click here.
Products highlighted by CSPI at the FDA hearing included:
Mars/Masterfoods Cocoa Via candy bars: FDA formally warned the company in May 2006 that the labels on certain of the candy bars illegally claim that the candies could reduce bad LDL cholesterol, noting that the products contain unhealthy amounts of saturated fat, which raises serum cholesterol levels. The company, however, has ignored the FDA's warning and continues to market the products with the same labels, according to CSPI. Rockstar energy drink: The label promises that after drinking the 16-oz. can, one can party like a rockstar. The beverage contains an energy blend of milk thistle (an herb investigated for treating cirrhosis), two forms of caffeine, ginkgo (an herb investigated for improving memory in Alzheimer patients), and taurine, an amino acid. DanActive Immunity dairy drink: This Dannon product claims to help strengthen your body's defenses. But the only actual study conducted on people found that DanActive didn't prevent illness, and 25% of the participants had to cut their dose in half because they suffered bloating, gas and nausea, according to CSPI. Monster Energy drink: The beverage contains five types of added sugars (54g per 16-oz. can, about the same as a Coca-Cola), two sources of caffeine and some natural enzymes and digestive acids. The label states: We went down to the lab and cooked up a double shot of our killer energy brew. It's a wicked mega hit that delivers twice the buzz of a regular energy drink. Tab Energy low-calorie drink: In an effort to remake this 1960s diet cola, Coca-Cola has added guarana extract (a source of caffeine authorized for use in foods only as a flavoring), vegetable juice (for color) and B vitamins. B vitamins convert protein, fat and carbohydrate into energy, but do not provide an energy boost that can be felt by the body. The product also contains the amino acid taurine and L-carnitine, a co-enzyme naturally found in the body. Enviga: This new carbonated drink from a Coca-Cola/Nestle partnership claims that thanks to a combination of caffeine and an antioxidant found in green tea, the product burns more calories than the drink provides and implicitly promotes weight loss. CSPI yesterday notified those companies that it will sue them if they continue to make those claimswhich are based on inconsistent, short-term and industry-funded studies.To that end, CSPI served notice on Coca-Cola and Nestl USA that it will sue them if they continue to market the drink with fraudulent calorie-burning and weight loss claims.
Enviga is bolstered with epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), an antioxidant that occurs in green tea, and caffeine. The companies claim that those substances speed up metabolism and increase energy use. Enviga's Web site and other advertising further claim that there is a calorie-burning effect from a single can, that it is much smarter than fads, quick-fixes, and crash diets, and that it keeps those extra calories from building up.
CSPI said that the evidence that Enviga has even a minor effect is weak and inconsistent at best, and that the claims violate federal food law and state consumer protection laws. Regarding the lawsuit, Coca-Cola spokesperson told CSP Daily News, This is a meritless publicity stunt. We vigorously dispute CSPI's allegations. Let me be clear: Enviga is not a weight-loss product and is never marketed as a weight-loss product. The body of scientific research, including our own clinical study, shows that caffeine and green tea's powerful antioxidant, EGCG, can speed up metabolism and increase energy use.
CSPI's lawsuit would seek an injunction prohibiting the marketing. To read CSPI's complete letter to Coca-Cola and Nestle, click here.
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