Guarana
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In this Article
In this Article
Guarana is derived from the seeds of a South American tree. Because it’s high in caffeine, guarana has become a popular energy supplement.
Why do people take guarana?
Researchers once believed that the active ingredient of guarana was a chemical specific to the plant -- guaranine. But they later discovered that it was just caffeine. Guarana has among the highest concentrations of caffeine in any plant. It may contain up to 3.6% to 5.8% caffeine by weight. Coffee only has up to 2%.
Coffee and other caffeinated beverages seem to increase alertness when consumed throughout the day. Caffeine can improve mental performance and alertness in sleep-deprived people, and guarana would logically have the same effect.
Experts have not studied guarana extensively. So far, studies have not found that guarana is helpful for improving cognitive ability or mood. Some people use guarana to boost athletic or sexual performance. But there’s no evidence to back this up.
There’s some evidence that guarana – when used along with other supplements – may promote weight loss. It’s uncertain if the guarana specifically was responsible. Because caffeine is a stimulant that has been shown to improve mood and aid weight loss, guarana may very well also have these effects. As a weight loss supplement, caffeine may work best when combined with the polyphenol compounds in green tea. Combining guarana with polyphenols may have a similar effect. The safety of using guarana for weight loss is unknown.
Some believe that the effects of guarana are less intense and longer-lasting than caffeine. Studies have not established this.
How much guarana should you take?
There is no standard dose of guarana. For energy, some people use between 200 to 800 milligrams a day. Ask your doctor for advice.
Can you get guarana naturally from foods?
Besides the guarana seed itself, there are no natural food sources of guarana. It has become a common additive to some foods and drinks.
What are the risks of taking guarana?
- Side effects. The side effects of guarana are generally the same as the side effects of caffeine. They include sleep problems, anxiety, restlessness, upset stomach, and quickened heartbeat. Long-term use of caffeine may result in tolerance and psychological dependence.
- Risks. High doses of caffeine may raise the risk of increased heart rate, breast disease, and high blood pressure. An overdose of caffeine can cause seizures and convulsions. Talk to your doctor before using guarana if you have high blood pressure, anxiety disorders, glaucoma, osteoporosis, heart problems, bleeding disorders, diabetes, kidney problems, or liver disease. At least one death has been reported in a young woman with mitral valve prolapse who consumed a guarana containing drink. People with MVP should speak to their doctor before using guarana.
- Interactions. If you take any medications regularly, talk to your doctor before you start using guarana supplements. They could interact with medicines like some antidepressants, lithium, sedatives, and blood thinners. Don’t use guarana along with other stimulants, whether they’re medications, supplements, or street drugs. To avoid excessive caffeine intake, be careful when taking guarana along with other foods and supplements that contain caffeine, such as coffee and sodas.
Given the lack of evidence about its safety -- and because of its high caffeine content -- guarana is not recommended for children or for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding.
Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database web site: “Guarana.”
Natural Standard Patient Monograph: “Guarana.”
Duke, J. CRC Handbook of Medicinal Herbs, CRC Press, 1985.
Cannon, M. The Medical Journal of Australia, 2001.
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Guarana
Common names: Guarana also is known as guarana paste or gum, Brazilian cocoa, and Zoom.
ÒÒ . Ethno or other evidence of efficacy.
● . Little exposure or very minor concerns.
What is Guarana?
Guarana is the dried paste made from the crushed seeds of P. cupana or P. sorbilis, a woody perennial shrub native to Brazil and other regions of the Amazon. It bears orange-yellow fruits that contain up to 3 seeds each. The seeds are collected and dry-roasted over fire. The kernels are ground to a paste with cassava and molded into cylindrical sticks, which are then sun-dried. Today, the most common forms of guarana include syrups, extracts, and distillates used as flavorings and a source of caffeine by the soft drink industry. Guarana also is used as an ingredient in herbal weight loss preparations usually in combination with ephedra.
What is it used for?
Guarana has played an important role in the Amazonian Indians' society. It often is taken during periods of fasting to improve tolerance of dietary restrictions. In certain regions, the extract is believed to be an aphrodisiac and to protect from malaria and dysentery. In 1840, caffeine was identified as guarana's principal constituent. In the 19th century, guarana became popular as a stimulating drink in France. In 1880 it was introduced as an official drug in the US Pharmacopeia, where it remained listed until 1910. Guarana is used by Brazilian Indians in a stimulating beverage used like tea or coffee. It sometimes is mixed with alcohol to prepare a more intoxicating beverage. The stems, leaves, and roots of guarana are used as a fish-killing drug in Central and South America.
Guarana contains caffeine, a stimulant. By comparison, coffee beans contain about 1-2% caffeine and the dried leaves of guarana contain from 1-4% caffeine.
Natural diet aids, which rely on daily doses of guarana, have been advertised in the lay press. Guarana occasionally is combined with glucomannan in natural weight loss tablets. The advertisements indicate that the ingredients in guarana have the same chemical makeup as caffeine and cocaine, but can be used for weight reduction without any of the side effects of these drugs. This is not entirely correct. Guarana does not contain cocaine, and may have serious side effects for some people.
The appetite suppressant effect is related to the caffeine content. The energy that guarana tablets are reported to give also is due to caffeine. This stimulating effect is so widely recognized that 1 guarana product was marketed as “Zoom.” Numerous investigational studies have shown the ability of the sympathetic stimulant ephedrine, when coupled with caffeine, to have a synergistic effect on increasing metabolic rates with subsequent increased energy expenditure (thermogenesis), and to have fat reducing (lipolytic) effects. These effects have resulted in a statistically significant weight loss in animal and human trials when combined with diet.
Guarana has been used as a natural energizer, cognitive stimulant, flavoring for beverages, and as a component in natural weight loss products. However, it cannot be recommended as a natural energizer or weight loss aid because of its potential serious side effects.
What is the recommended dosage?
Guarana paste is used as a stimulant at a dose of 1 g, usually dissolved in water or juice. The caffeine content is between 3.6% and 5.8%.
How safe is it?
Contraindicated in pregnancy and lactation. Use with caution in people with cardiovascular disease.
Documented low birth weight, birth defects, and premature birth. Avoid use.
Because of its caffeine content, guarana potentially may interact with lithium, theophylline, and clozapine.
Excessive nervousness, insomnia, and other health risks in patients sensitive to caffeine.
Research reveals little or no information regarding adverse reactions with the use of this product. Given its high tannin content, excessive use may lead to an increased risk of cancer of the oropharynx.
- Guarana. Review of Natural Products. factsandcomparisons4.0 [online]. 2006. Available from Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. Accessed April 16, 2007.
Copyright © 2009 Wolters Kluwer Health
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The Truth About Guarana
Bombastically named energy drinks such as Full Throttle, Monster, Red Bull and Rockstar all contain the herbal supplement guarana. The compound is also found in over-the-counter weight loss products, and it's been marketed as an aphrodisiac. What is guarana, and does it have any physiological effects?
Guarana is a South American fruit that looks like suspiciously like an eyeball, with a fleshy white fruit that surrounds dark brown seeds. These seeds are about the size of coffee beans, but they contain more than twice as much caffeine. As a supplement, guarana is considered "generally recognized as safe" by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The guarana vine originated in the Amazon basin, where local people have long taken advantage of its stimulating properties. A 17th century Jesuit missionary noted that guarana gave members of an Amazon tribe "so much energy, that when hunting, they could go from one day to the next without feeling hungry." Brazilian soft drinks have included guarana since 1909, but it only became widely used in the United States recently, when energy drinks gained explosive popularity.
Very generally speaking, whenever you see both guarana and caffeine on an ingredients list, you can read guarana as even more caffeine. Additionally, however, guarana contains tiny amounts of theophylline and theobromine (the later is chemical that makes chocolate poisonous to dogs and cats), which are similar to caffeine, although they exert subtly different effects on the body.
Guarana also contains molecules called tannins, which some say causes the caffeine in guarana to release slowly, producing a long-lasting energy plateau. (Tannins are found in some wines, where they bring a woody flavor.) The fact that guarana's doesn't readily dissolve in water also supposedly contributes to its long-lasting effects, but no one has conclusively shown that the body processes guarana-derived caffeine differently than the caffeine found in coffee beans or tea leaves.
The caffeine that humans seek in guarana serves a very different purpose in the wild: it's a natural insecticide that keeps plant-eating bugs at bay. Still, hungry birds can digest the fleshy, caffeine-free fruit, but the caffeine-rich seeds pass unscathed through their digestive tracts, often landing in a new location, helping give rise to a new generation of guarana plants.
Pass it on: Guarana is a potent source of caffeine; avoid it before bedtime.
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N-R-G Nature's Raw Guarana Tea
Get recharged with this uplifting tea blend of guarana, orange pekoe and lemon peel. Caffeine increases mental alertness and provides a gentle pick-me-up. For optimum experience, mix a a little less than ½ teaspoon with 8 ounces of water.
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N-R-G Nature's Raw Guarana Tea
This uplifting instant tea contains caffeine from guarana and orange pekoe which reduces fatigue and increases focus.
Mix a a little less than ½ teaspoon with 8 fl. oz. of hot or cold water.
Protein Bars give you a protein boost and satisfy hunger. These delicious snacks support your weight management and healthy, active lifestyle goals.
© Herbalife International of America, Inc. No reproduction in whole or in part without written permission. All Rights Reserved. All trademarks and product images exhibited on this site, unless otherwise indicated, are the property of Herbalife International, Inc.
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Product Catalog
N-R-G Nature's Raw Guarana Tablets
Get recharged with the benefits of guarana in a convenient tablet. Guarana, an ancient Amazonian seed contains caffeine, which increases mental alertness and provides a gentle pick-me-up.*
Key Benefits
- Provides a gentle boost*
- Reduces fatigue*
- Increases mental alertness and concentration*
N-R-G Nature's Raw Guarana Tablets
This dietary supplement contains caffeine from guarana which reduces fatigue and increases focus.*
Take one tablet up to four times per day.
Herbal Tea Concentrate contains caffeine which jump-starts your metabolism and provides a boost to help you feel revitalized. For optimum experience, mix a a little more than ½ teaspoon with 8 ounces of water. This refreshing, low-calorie tea is available in a variety of flavors.
© Herbalife International of America, Inc. No reproduction in whole or in part without written permission. All Rights Reserved. All trademarks and product images exhibited on this site, unless otherwise indicated, are the property of Herbalife International, Inc.
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Yerba Mate
Yerba Mate has the “strength of coffee, the health benefits of tea, and the euphoria of chocolate" all in one beverage. Of the six commonly used stimulants in the world: coffee, tea, kola nut, cocoa and guarana, yerba mate triumphs as the most balanced, delivering both energy and nutrition.
Yerba mate (yer-bah mah-tay) is made from the naturally caffeinated and nourishing leaves of the celebrated South American rainforest holly tree (Ilex paraguariensis). For centuries, South America’s Aché Guayakí tribe have sipped yerba mate from a traditional mate gourd for its rejuvenative effects. These rainforest people find tremendous invigoration, focus, and nourishment in yerba mate.
The leaves of the rainforest mate tree naturally contain 24 vitamins and minerals, 15 amino acids, abundant antioxidants. In fact, The Pasteur Institute and the Paris Scientific society in 1964 concluded "it is difficult to find a plant in any area of the world equal to mate in nutritional value" and that yerba mate contains "practically all of the vitamins necessary to sustain life."
Yerba mate contains caffeine, theophylline, and theobromine, well-known stimulants also found in tea, coffee and chocolate. The caffeine content varies between that of green tea and coffee. Unlike tea, yerba mate has a low tannin content so it can be strong like coffee with out becoming extremely bitter. Unlike coffee, yerba mate is not oily and acid forming, so it is less likely to cause stomach acid and jitters.
Click any image to view: Call us: 888-GUAYAKI Website Development & Hosting by SMS Masterminds. By Shane Starling 18-Dec-2012 - Last updated on 18-Dec-2012 at 13:11 GMT Responding to a submission from NutriLinks via Cypriat authorities, EFSA’s Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) said the green tea-guarana (Paullinia cupana Kunth) blend was not proven to “help to burn fat”. The dossier was not strong as it referenced only one study, but even that used only the Kuntze green tea extract and not guarana “EFSA noted that the food constituent used in this study was not complying with the characterisation of the food for which the claim was requested,” wrote the NDA. “The Panel considers that no conclusions can be drawn from this study for the scientific substantiation of a health claim on the combination of Paullinia cupana Kunth (guarana) and Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze (green tea) extracts.” It therefore rejected the application. The opinion can be found here. More article 13.5 rejections The NDA has since Friday issued nine article 13.5, proprietary and emerging science rejections under the EU nutrition and health claims regulation (NHCR). They included another for NutriLinks linking Vitis vinifera L. seeds extract and, “maintenance of normal venous blood flow.” There the NDA rejected two human intervention studies – one for lacking detail; the other for using a foodstuff that did not match that of the claim. That rejection can be found here. Vitis vinifera seeds were also rejected for decreasing swollen legs and ‘draining the body in the case of water accumulation'. Two more NutriLinks submissions linking krill and joint health were turned down, along with one associating lycopene, vitamin E, lutein and selenium with tanning. Another submission via Belgium from United Arab Emirates firm Actina sought to associate a kidney bean, olive and rosemary extract blend called OXY 280, with weight loss. One randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study investigated the effect of OXY 280 vs placebo on body weight, BMI, and waist, hip and thigh circumferences in 60 overweight subjects. In critiquing the study, the NDA said the study nor the applicant upon specific request did not clarify the usual diet of participants at baseline or during the study. In addition, “The Panel notes that the results of between-group comparisons with respect to changes in the outcome variables assessed in the study were not provided in the application or upon EFSA’s request.” “The Panel considers that the data as analysed do not allow the evaluation of the effect of the food constituent on changes in body weight relative to the placebo, and that no conclusions can be drawn from this study for the scientific substantiation of the claim.” Other rejections included Roxlor Nutra’s submission that a sheep wool keratin supplement called Cynatine could maintain normal joint mobility. The latest batch of opinionscome as the NHCR general function, article 13.1 health claim register of 222 approved and about 1700 non-approved register became enforceable on Friday. To see EFSA health claims unit head, Dr Juliane Kleiner, define the agency’s approach to health claims click here. Copyright - Unless otherwise stated all contents of this web site are © 2018 - William Reed Business Media Ltd - All Rights Reserved - Full details for the use of materials on this site can be found in the Terms & Conditions Chemical Resources (CHERESO) | 05-Feb-2018 | Data Sheet Urinary problems like frequency, dribbling are common among men above 40. Prosman is a natural, clinically evaluated and patented ingredient for the management. Sabinsa: our innovation is your answer® | 15-Jan-2018 | Technical / White Paper Increased knowledge and awareness of natural products has in turn increased their global demand. This well documented paper highlights various examples. 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