Hellyeah Healthy

Those new little bottles at the checkout counter promise so much more than five-hour energy. They’re packed with amino acids (same as fish!), herbs (herbal!), and miracle compounds from the Amazon (exotic place-name!). It’s all very “plant-based” and “enlightened”—buzzwords that will help drive the global energy-drink market up to an expected $85 billion over the next six years. They’ll give you energy for sure, mostly thanks to straight-up caffeine—about ten times more per ounce than coffee. But do all the other ingredients make them healthier than a regular energy shot? We analyzed the four most popular ingredients—from the just-trendy to the just-might-work—in these new-gen energy shots.  Guarana People in the Amazon consume the seeds of this fruit when they need an energy surge. They contain four times as much caffeine as coffee beans, but the wake-up effects may be even stronger: “Guarana contains additional bioactive compounds that prelim...