Enviga (“the calorie burner”) has been on the shelves for some time.. Backed by the marketing muscle of Coca-cola and Nestle – expect this drink to be heavily advertised.
Enviga is being touted as a “negative calorie” drink – it contains no calories and yet claims to burn calories.
Is there any evidence for this?Coca-cola / Nestle point to a single study of Enviga – undertaken in the University of Lausanne. The full study has still not been published anywhere – yet there is now an abstract up on the enviga site (PDF).
The study tested 31 people aged between 18 and 35. All of the test subjects were in the normal weight range – which seems peculiar when marketing a drink that “burns calories”.
The results were:
…3 servings/day of the test beverage significantly increased in 24-h EE [Energy Expenditure], without any adverse effects on heart rate or blood pressure.
To be precise an increased burn of 106 kilocalories (+/- 31) was experienced.
There are a number of studies around (here and here) that point to increased energy expenditure resulting from green tea catechins (EGCG in particular) and caffeine. However - one cannot be assured of the quality of extract in a supplement or drink.
How Much Enviga Would You Have to Drink?
Let’s just say the Enviga is true to it’s word and the increased energy expenditure actually leads to fat burning. According to Nestle you need to drink 3 cans per day. So, to burn 1 pound of fat (3,500 Calories) you would need to drink 105 bottles of Enviga over 35 days. That amounts to $147 (average $1.40 per can).
Enviga is sweetened with aspartame and ace-k. At 3 cans a day – that’s a lot of aspartame going down the hatch.
This isn’t a weight loss wonder – but simply a stepping stone in a market where carbonated drink sales have been falling.
Here’s an idea that caused my sister to lose weight and I’m going to try it, starting today. Every time she would start to eat something unhealthy, she would tell herself she would get ill.The new thought manner did the job for her!! Maybe it’s self hypnotism or whatever…..
I agree. Weight loss or no weight loss, I love this stuff and cannot find it anywhere in Raleigh or Durham, North Carolina. It was my afternoon pick me up, but now no one carries it anymore. Target, Lowes Foods, Krogers, Harris Teeter, no one. I was really looking forward to trying the new Tropical Pomegranate. Green Tea is (was) my favorite. Help, if anyone knows where I can find it in the Triangle: Raleigh, Durham or Chapel Hill.
Sure theyre marketing themselves as a “weight loss product” But anyone can who actually believes that theyll magically lose 5 pounds from drinking it is kidding themselves. Everyone knows that nothing can help weight loss except eating and working out..not fun duh. I cant believe Enviga is being sued for this. What about all the other fake crap that says they help you lose weight? ie various pills and such.
60-100 calories is NOTHING. Its like half a bag of m&ms or half a cookie. So in all relativity(you eat like 2000 or more calories a day), it doesnt really matter if it actually causes weight loss or not. A cup of coffee or caffeine pills will do the exact same thing.
Anyways, I absolutely love this drink, they just got rid of peach flavor which I was upset about. I like this drink because it supplies you with caffeine but you dont get a crash like you do from coffee. Also, it has little calories in it, so that in itself could facilitate weightloss, or atleast prevent it. Im really glad they have this stuff available on my campus, it has helped me through many-a-tests.
I agree with Aidyn – I love Enviga too, in spite of the marketing being bullshit.
http://www.dominiqueeatsout.com/?p=43
I actually like Enviga. No, I do not believe that it will help me lose weight, but seeing as how I work ten hour days, I NEED something to wake my ass up in the morning! I really am a fan of Sugar Free Red Bull – not that it tastes great, but it helps me wake up and focus on my work – but Enviga is cheaper and ultimately more satisfying.
Their marketing ploy is ridiculous, but they flat out tell you the truth: drinking THREE CANS will burn 60-100 calories extra – that’s nothing. They’re laying it all out there for you; the American populus is just so misinformed and ignorant when it comes to weight loss.
106 Kilocalories = 106,000 calories,,, sounds weird to me
Personally, I like the stuff. Do I expect to get thin from it? No… But it’s tastier than Sugar free Red Bull, costs about the same, maybe a little less, the energy lasts longer and it curbs my appetite. I drink a can in the morning and a can late afternoon to kill cravings.
In that case, why not use something like this?: http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/drinks/6b4f/
I dont know. I bought a 6-pack at Acme for like 6$.
Not much to lose, you know?
IM STUFFED.
I dont know if it is a result of the drink or something else.
Maybe thats just a way of my body rejecting the drink, I dont know…
We shall see.
In a way though, I almost hope it doesnt work..
Think about it… You get hooked on enviga.. Then maybe stop liking it or stop buying it… And then ur metabolism plunges.
Id say its unhealthy to drink 3aday. :-l
i function better with the sweeteners that are bad for me. i tried stevia and it tastes fine BUT a few hours later i had raised itchy flesh colored welts on my face. didnt use stevia and they went away. the next week used stevia and within hours the welts were back. tested it several times with the same results so i am back to using nutrasweet and sweet & low!
-Cat pee meets cotton candy- is a very accurate description; but MAN it gets your ass going at 5 AM when it’s your only opportunity to hop on the elliptical trainer! Hi, my name is Jo, and I’m a sugar-free red bull addict… The thing is, pretty much ALL of these low calorie energy drinks have poisonous sweeteners and taste like crap- but we keep buying them; so they’re gonna keep coming out with NEW and BETTER marketing ploys for us suckers. And for the record, I LOVE plain green tea! It does the same thing, but my brain can’t seem to boil water at that wee hour.
Not going to lie, I’m a bit of an energy drink fiend. Tab Energy (5 calories a can!) is my current fix. It wakes me right up when I need it, and tastes much better than sugar-free Red Bull (which, in my opinion, tastes like cat pee meets cotton candy).
Gimmick? Oh, hell yes. But I’ll be trying a can of this trash before I knock it, not going to lie
Ingredients in Enviga are very similar to Diet Coke:
Enviga
Carbonated water, calcium lactate, concentrated green tea from tea leaves, citric acid, phosphoric acid, potassium sorbate and potassium benzoate, natural flavors, aspartame, caffeine.
Diet Coke
Carbonated water, Caramel Color, Aspartame, Phosphoric acid, Potassium benzoate, Natural flavors. Citric acid, Caffeine.
Hmmm, very interesting. I’ll take it all into careful consideration.
For what it is, why don’t you just mix extra strong green tea that you brew yourself with diet Mountain Dew? Seems like that’s all this stuff is. Even if it does burn calories, I can’t believe it’d burn enough to offset the unhealthy lifestyle habits of the people that are most likely buying it (the very overweight population). It’s very sad that Coca-Cola is preying on people that want to believe that this drink will help them lose weight.
Guys, I Tell You, Don’t drink this stuff. Why should I drink this chemical laden junk that you shouldn’t put in your body? Aspartame and Ace-K are poisonous sweeteners that we now know can cause determintal effects in your body.
Drink green tea instead. Better yet, put stevia or xylithol in your green tea. Stay away from artificial sweeteners.
Coca cola cannot get healthy even if it goes in for tea tactics. Isn’t it better to drink green tea instead?
I used to drink Red Bull all the time – but it had a ton of calories and it got expensive.
It seems as though Coca Cola is cashing into this energy drink market, but trying to market it as a healthy alternative by using words like “calorie free” and “tea.” I’m not buying it (no pun intended).
Oh yeah, Enviga is not zero-calorie. Each can has 5 calories.
The problems with drinks like this is while they do burn minimal amount of calories from caffeine. Caffeine makes some people hungrier so they eat more to compensate any burn.
I also wonder like was stated why they didn’t test people who need to loose weight?
I drink “Crystal Clear” flavored water. it tastes really sweet so you think you’re getting spoiled. it contains no calories as well and because it is water it keeps me hydrated, thus keeping me alive, thus burning calories. when you think about it any thing you consume that is calorie free will cause caloric burning. (couldn’t think of better wording)
PEOPLE ARE SO GULIBLE!!!- it makes me sad:(
It’s currently available here in NY. I tried the Berry flavor. I don’t like it too much, but that’s because it has a slight Green Tea taste, and I don’t really like Green Tea in the first place. But it is cheaper than Red Bull (which is about $1.60 wholesale, $2-3 bucks individual). Also, in regards to caffeine and metabolism, I think I read somewhere that your body gets used to the caffeine after a few days, so the metabolism effects wear off after that.
I might drink this- not for weight loss, and not 3 cans a day, but I like energy drinks and if it’s low in calories itself, it might be a nice change from sugarfree Red Bull. I’ll have to try it and see if it tastes okay.
HaHaHa!! Good one!!
Dr.J, good point. Imagine how many calories one can burn by walking home with 105 bottles of Enviga.
Carrying all that money you will save by not buying this stuff to the bank will probably burn more calories!
Where does 100mg of caffeine come from? Does it all come from only 90mg of green tea?