Beverages Made with Caffeine & Green Tea Boost Metabolism and Burn Calories

03/01/07 Stung by falling sales and criticism that sugar-sweetened soft drinks raise the risk of obesity, beverage makers are reaching into scientists' laboratories to come up with healthier products -- vitamin waters, sports drinks, fortified juices and now so-called negative-calorie drinks. The drinks -- most notably Celsius and Coca-Cola's and Nestle's Enviga -- promise to boost metabolism and burn calories.

The key ingredients are green tea and caffeine. Celsius' manufacturer says its particular combination will increase metabolism enough to burn up to 77 calories per 12-ounce bottle; Coke states that three 12-ounce cans of Enviga will burn 60 to 100 calories. Snapple has also introduced green tea beverages, with labels that claim they boost metabolism.

"Consumers are looking for some functional benefit," says John Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest, an industry trade publication. "They are saying they want their calories to do something for them."

The effects of the green tea drinks go beyond those of caffeine-laden zero-calorie sodas, the manufacturers of Celsius and Enviga say. An antioxidant found in green tea -- epigallo catechin gallate, or EGCG -- significantly increases metabolism, they say. This, in turn, boosts the body's ability to burn fat.

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