Highly promoted energy drinks and Lance Armstrong

Yes, Lance Armstrong is back.  And along with it is pandering for sponsorship that in this case is coming from a product he’s currently advertising called FRS. 

The promotion is geared at how this product helps you fight fatigue.  The advertising claim is that it is “healthy energy”. 

If you read the data on the company web site you get a different picture, and one that makes me wonder about Armstrong’s knowledge of ingredients.  After all, he is a cancer survivor, right? 

This is where the hair on the back of my neck starts standing up. 

Armstrong, the cancer survivor, has his Livestrong organization.  I’d compare those yellow bracelets with pink ribbons in terms of what really gets done for people with cancer.  And, you’ll find not very much if you take a hard look at the little done for prevention or finding that elusive cure. 

Now, as Armstrong says, following the ad man’s script, no more fatigue because of FRS.

The key person behind FSR comes from the beverage industry.  PepsiCo, in this case, based in verdant and bucolic Rye, New York, where I have had the opportunity to walk the halls and grounds of this corporate campus. Remember, the beverage industry is a big promoter of the toxic artificial sweeteners and is heavy on benzoic acid that reacts negatively with citric acid components of soft drinks. 

I’ve written a few items about energy drinks over the last couple of years.  I’m adding this new one because of a need to give you more information on what might not be so good about FSR. 

Quercetin is the big focus in this product. 

In nature, quercetin is a plant pigment found in many foods such as onions, apples, berries, tea, grapes and red wine. The average U.S. adult eating a normal, healthy diet consumes about 25 to 50 milligrams of quercetin a day.  Quercetin is soluble in alcohol, which helps explain the health-promoting effects of red wine. Red wine contains quercetin and other flavonoids that are made bioavailable to the body by the alcohol in the wine.

Quercetin, the predominant flavonoid in the human diet, has been unobtainable as a practical dietary supplement due to poor absorption (dihydrate). In fruits and vegetables, quercetin is bound to sugars that make it absorbable. Water-soluble quercetin concentrates the key flavonoid benefit of fruit and vegetable consumption into a convenient, absorbable form. Absorbability helps to bridge the hundreds of studies documenting the health-promoting effects of quercetin from the Petri dish to the vitamin shelf.

Quercetin dihydrate is commonly used in supplements. According to the Merck Index, "quercetin dihydrate is practically insoluble in water." This means that ingesting most quercetin supplements does not provide a meaningful quantity to the cells where it exerts its multiple beneficial effects.   

Quercetin is classified as a flavonoid which in general terms means that it is anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory, and can be helpful for you in a number of situations.  Generally it is thought of when allergy is present as it has been shown to inhibit histamine release. 

Quercetin may help reduce illness but does not seem to exhibit immune perturbations after intensive exercise. 

A number of its actions make it a potential anti-cancer agent, often used for prostate cancer, including cell cycle regulation, interaction with type II estrogen binding sites, and tyrosine kinase inhibition. It also seems to show benefit for vision care, anti-thrombolic effects and other cardiovascular effects. 

As far as mitochondrial benefit, it is more likely than not a direct benefit of quercetin but and indirect effect that comes from its anti-inflammatory response, allowing for some slight muscle cell recovery, secondary to the overall impact on the cardiovascular system. Research determined that quercetin preserved mitochondrial function in heart cells, and that mitochondrial function correlated with cardiac function. This enabled the mitochondria-the tiny cellular "engines" that metabolize carbohydrates and fats into energy using oxygen-to regenerate ATP (cellular energy) following ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Quercetin appears to be associated with little toxicity when administered orally or intravenously.

Another component of FSR is green tea extract.  To give another example, using cancer as the model; it is well known that tea, particularly green tea, possesses a very potent antioxidant action (far greater than that of vitamin E, and far greater than that of most fruits and vegetables). Most well designed population studies however have failed to find the same reduction in the risk of cancer among higher green tea drinkers as higher consumers of fruits and veggies, despite the huge difference in anti-oxidant activity.  In some studies green tea is linked with pancreatic cancer.  It is also promotes a tendency to cool the body which may contribute to the cancer phenomenon.

Advertised as a “healthy alternative to energy drinks” FSR uses an array of ingredients depending on which of its several product types you choose. 

Most servings show about 250- 325 mg. of quercetin.  The type of quercetin is not noted in any product literature.

The soft chews contain sugar, corn syrup, natural* and artificial flavor, palm oil, soy lecithin, quercetin, ascorbic acid, carnauba wax, corn starch, glycerin, dl-alpha tocopherol acetate, citric acid, carrageenan, green tea extract, niacinamide, mono and triglycerides, caffeine, sucralose, calcium silicate, yellow lake # 6, vitamin A palmitate, pyridoxine HCl, thiamin HCl, riboflavin, and cyanocobalamin. (* Some ingredients stated as ‘natural flavor’ may be synthetic and toxic).

Other products contain polydextrose, gum arabic, acesulfame K, ginseng panax, ginkgo, locust bean gum, inulin, cane sugar (some listed as organic), grape juice concentrate, and others, plus red # 40.

Inulin is a carbohydrate and may not be indicated for people on the specific carbohydrate diet.  The source is not noted.

Caffeine and stimulant herbs are among the ingredients used.

Carrageenan is a toxic thickener. While it is derived from seaweed it becomes toxic in the processing.  Locust bean gum, corn starch, gum arabic are commonly used as thickeners.

The ascorbic acid and citric acid may come from corn that may be GMO or corn grown with atrazine which is highly carcinogenic.  Sugar (source not noted and may be GMO beet sugar), can sugar, corn syrup and grape juice concentrate make these products heavy on the sugar side; sugar suppresses the immune system.

The indication is that the vitamin added ingredients are all synthetic.  The dl form of alpha tocopherol is known to be at least half as effective as natural vitamin E.  Most of the vitamins listed do help with energy but in synthetic form may be irritants to some users and are most often found to be less effective than natural or bio-active forms of the vitamins.

Yellow #6 and Red #40 are food coloring agents known to be associated with brain allergy, and may be toxic and potentially carcinogenic.  Lake coloring refers to those containing aluminum which is associated with the plaque formations in Alzheimer’s.

And saving the best for last, there is no less the addition of sucralose (Splenda) and acesulfame potassium (K).  Read more on these not so safe artificial sweeteners first developed as pesticides here or throughout other of my BLOG posts.

My challenge is to Lance Armstrong is to have him come forward and explain why he is supporting a product that has so many ingredients that are antithetic to his Livestrong organization and his own health.

I’d also like to have him try ADVENTURX which offers more and contains no toxic ingredients.

And perhaps Maigread would like to know as well. 

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author, Gayle Eversole.