Conscious Consumer - No Sale

Enviga

One of the central tenets behind cultivating conscious choice is having accurate information. Marketers play creatively with information all the time. Case in point - a new green tea beverage which is about to be launched by Coca-Cola and Nestle that's claiming it could help with weight loss based on company-funded researched. This study found that drinking about three cans of Enviga daily boosted metabolism by about 100 calories. "When consumed regularly as part of a healthy diet and exercise regime, such a beverage may provide added benefits to help in weight control," the team concluded.

But what the advertising copy doesn't tell you is the experiment lasted just three days and involved 32 people, a sampling that scientists consider small. All participants were either lean or of normal weight. Whether Enviga would have the same effect on overweight or obese people is not known.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a consumer advocacy group, is challenging Coca-Cola and Nestle with a lawsuit over claims that Enviga acts as a calorie-burning and weight-loss product. The group claims that if Coca-Cola and Nestle stop marketing the product as a calorie-burner, they would drop litigation. The beverage makers responded that they have deliberately avoided claims that Enviga is a weight-loss product and that there exists independent research to substantiate the effects of the product.

Enviga is supplemented with calcium and caffeine. It has five calories per can, according to its makers. It provides 90 milligrams of green tea extract, known as epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), as well as caffeine and 20 percent of the daily value for calcium. That's the combination that is "proven to burn calories," its makers say on their Web site.

How many calories? That's under debate. There's limited research on the calorie-burning effects of EGCG and caffeine. There's also little, if anything, to show that consuming these substances translates into actual weight loss, since most studies have been small and short-term.

Make your dollar count. Vote at the cash register. Misleading advertising leads to unhealthy choices for individuals and our planet.

Healthier Alternatives:

Green tea isn't always low-calorie . A grande Starbucks Blackberry Green Tea Frappuccino Blended Creme Whip has 560 calories and 15 grams of fat. Better choice: a large mug of green tea with a dab of honey and lemon. Calories: 20 to 30, depending on how much honey you use.

Sip unsweetened fruit juice. Limit to four ounces per day. Want more? Stretch those four ounces by adding sparkling water.

Drink water, not sports drinks, for workouts. Unless you exercise for an hour or more, you don't need to replace sodium and other electrolytes lost through sweating.

 

 

OP