Optimum Nutrition’s Essential Amino Energy Drink contains 100mg of caffeine in each serving extracted from Coffee Beans or Tea Leaves, 5000mg of amino acids, and 5-10 calories per serving with no sugar. It boosts energy through caffeine and recovers muscles with the support of the said amino acids.
Looking past through how they advertised the beverage, does it actually work? Is it effective?
To get straight to the point: Tt’s definitely effective, and it does work. 100mg of caffeine is a huge amount for one serving, and amino acids are known for boosting one’s execution in physical activities and for supporting muscles.
However, those two ingredients aren’t the only ones helping its effectiveness. Keep reading this article in order to learn more about the Optimum Nutrition Essential Amino Energy Drink.
Let’s get started…
Essential Amino Energy Drink’s Ingredients
Before you intake anything like energy drinks, we must always check the ingredients to know what goes into it. This way, you’ll become much aware of what you consume.
The following are the contents inside the Essential Amino Energy Drink (6 stick pack in Blue Raspberry flavor):
- Sodium
- Amino-Blend
- Caffeine
- Green Tea Leaf Extract
- Green Coffee Bean Extract
- Citric Acid
- Natural and Artificial Flavor
- Malic Acid
- Tartaric Acid
- Silicon Dioxide
- Calcium Silicate
- Sucralose
- Gum Blend
- Sunflower and/or Soy Lecithin
- Blue 2
- Inulin
All of these ingredients may be found on a can of the energy drink or behind the packets of the powdered versions of it.
The list may differ from one flavor to another. You may contact the Optimum Nutrition manufacturer to see the ingredients on the other flavors as well.
Essential Amino Energy Drink’s Nutrition Facts
Other than the ingredients, we should be familiar with the nutritional value of Optimum Nutrition’s Essential Amino Energy drink.
The table below shows the supplement facts of Essential Amino Energy (per 2 scoops):
| Ingredients | % Daily Value |
| Calories | 10 |
| Total Carbohydrate | 2000mg |
| Amino-Blend | 5000mg |
| Energy Blend Caffeine | 100mg |
The amino-blend contains these ingredients:
- Micronized Taurine
- Micronized L-Glutamine
- Micronized L-Arginine
- Micronized L-Leucine
- CarnoSyn Beta-Alanine
- Micronized Citrulline
- Micronized L-Isoleucine
- Micronized L-Valine
- Micronized L-Tyrosine
- Micronized L-Histidine
- Micronized L-Lysine
- Micronized L-Phenylalanine
- Micronized L Threonine
- Micronized L-Methionine
Now that these ingredients were specified, let us see two of the other ingredients in the Essential Amino Energy Drink.
Caffeine Content of Essential Amino Energy
The amount of caffeine in Optimum Nutrition’s Amino Energy drink is 100mg per serving. This is a quarter of the caffeine limit, which is 400mg.
Although 100mg seems like a heavy amount of caffeine, it’s definitely on the average amount if you compare it to other known energy drinks.
| Energy Drink | Caffeine Content |
| Essential Amino Energy Drink | 100mg |
| Monster | 160mg |
| Red Bull | 80mg |
If you want to boost your energy, studies have proven that 100mg of caffeine can achieve those results.
It’s worth mentioning that caffeine will stay in one’s system for five hours. Once ingested, half the amount of the said stimulant will be circulating in their body.
For Optimum Nutrition’s Essential Amino Energy case, that’s 50mg of caffeine for five hours.
Other than increasing your energy, there are a ton of other great benefits caffeine can do to you, such as:
- Burning Fat
- Improving Physical Performance
- Providing Essential Nutrients
- Lowering Risks of Type 2 Diabetes
- Protecting Against Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia
- Lowering the Risk of Parkinson’s disease
However, despite the good effects, there will always be negative effects as well if precautionary measures aren’t taken:
- Anxiety
- Insomnia
- Digestive Issues
- Muscle Breakdown
- Addiction
- High Blood Pressure
- Fast Heart Rates
- Fatigue
- Frequent Urination and Urgency
It’s important to know our limits when consuming products like energy drinks. Moderation ensures that we get the best.
Sugar Content of Essential Amino Energy
The Optimum Nutrition Essential Amino Energy drink contains 0mg of sugar. In other words, the beverage is sugar-free.
Instead of using sugar, they use sucralose as an artificial sweetener.
Although it’s advertised as something better for your wellbeing, I think it’s safe to say that there are side effects that can affect your health, particularly:
- Diabetes
- Higher Risks of Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Crohn’s Disease
- Leaky Guts
- Generated Toxic Compounds when Heated
- Weight Gain
Artificial sweeteners may have these risks, but if you’re trying to find an alternative to sugar for your drinks, then this will be the way to go.
What Is The Role Of Amino Acids In Essential Amino Energy?
Amino acids essentially help with breaking down food, repairing body tissues, and growing.
In Essential Amino Energy Drink’s “Amino-Blend”, there are about 14 amino acids mixed in. A few of those in the list have very interesting effects on your body:
Taurine
Taurine plays a huge role in one’s metabolism. This amino acid supports breaking down nutrients from the food or drinks you intake.
It also lessens the risks of seizures and helps control tense muscles. The protein is responsible for this drink’s muscle recovery.
L-Glutamine
L-Glutamine helps in making proteins in your system. It aids a lot with your intestinal health and immune system. On top of that, this helps a lot in gaining muscles to support your exercise.
Citrulline
Next on the list is Citrulline, which benefits in increasing your blood flow. To further this, the ingredient benefits muscle stimulation as well.
These three parts of the amino-blend in Optimum Nutrition’s Essential Amino Energy drink prove that there are ingredients in it that help the said muscle recovery effect advertised by the manufacturer.
If you want to learn more about amino acids, I recommend you watch this video:
Does Essential Amino Energy Drink Actually Work?
The Optimum Nutrition’s Essential Amino Energy Drink does work due to its ingredients.
100mg of caffeine is enough to get you through heavy activities and workload.
On top of this, the amino acids that the beverage contains help in terms of energy boost, muscle support, and weight loss.
Because of these ingredients, I do recommend it for those who are doing workouts and sports.
However, it’ll definitely work better if it’s consumed responsibly and moderately, just like any other energy drink.
The Benefits and Side-Effects of Essential Amino Energy
After foreseeing the ingredients, nutritional value, and the major components that make up the Essential Amino Energy drink, we can say that there are a ton of good benefits you can obtain from drinking it.
To sum up the benefits of the said beverage, here’s a list for you to review:
- Weight Loss
- Better Physical Performance
- Muscle Support
- Improved Blood Flow
- Lowers Risks of Getting Diseases
Being healthy and consuming Essential Amino Energy will ensure its benefits. In addition to this, try having a balanced and healthy diet since amino acids aid in breaking down the nutrients you consume.
Alongside these benefits, I think we must take into consideration the side effects that may occur when drinking this:
However, these side effects will only occur if you don’t take care of your body and consume the energy drink without moderation at all. That’s why we should always be conscious of whatever we intake to avoid the side effects.
Although I have broken down the components of this energy drink and its effects on people, it’s still best to consult your doctors or medical professionals.
Is Essential Amino Energy Good For You?
We can say that Optimum Nutrition’s Essential Amino Energy Drink is good for you, with moderation taken.
The Amino-Blend provides up to 14 amino acids with health benefits, so it’s safe to say this drink is most likely good for you.
Above this, its caffeine level compared to other brands of energy drinks is on average. It’s also far from the maximum caffeine limit for a healthy adult to consume, but be mindful that your health differs from others.
What Happens When You Drink Essential Amino Energy?
The expected outcome when drinking Essential Amino Energy includes an energy boost and a quicker recovery for your muscles.
The amino blend of the drink supports your muscles, and it also helps in terms of balancing and improving muscle proteins after workouts. The metabolism in your body will be aided as well with the amino acids breaking down proteins you intake.
You should expect an energy and adrenaline boost with this caffeine. Remember that this substance breaks down after 4-6 hours, so don’t drink this before sleeping unless you want to stay awake.
Can You Drink Essential Amino Energy Drink Every Day?
You can drink Essential Amino Energy Drink every day. However, I would suggest that you drink only once at max a day.
Since the drink has 100mg of caffeine and the maximum level is 400mg, it’s best to keep it below the threshold for drinking it.
However, it still depends on how good or bad your caffeine tolerance is. There’s also a possibility that you’ll become dependent on caffeine when you intake it very often.
What Does Essential Amino Energy Drink Taste Like?
Optimum Nutrition Essential Amino Energy Drink has a lot of flavors.
Due to its amino acids and artificial sweeteners, it tastes sweet. Depending on the flavor you chose, it will taste fruity and sour at the same time.
On top of this, the amino-blend has the amino acid L-Glutamine, which according to studies, has a bitter-sweet taste. However, other amino acids like arginine, histidine, isoleucine, methionine, leucine, tyrosine, valine, and phenylalanine have bitter tastes.
Essential Amino Energy Drink Flavors
Optimum Nutrition’s Essential Amino Energy Drink has 15 different flavors in total:
- Blue Raspberry
- Blue Lemonade
- Blueberry Mojito
- Concord Grape
- Cotton Candy
- Fruit Fusion
- Green Apple
- Juice Strawberry
- Lemon Lime
- Orange
- Peach Lemonade
- Pineapple
- Strawberry Lime
- Watermelon
- Wild Berry
Alternatives To Essential Amino Energy
If you’re interested in trying energy drinks similar to Optimum Nutrition Essential Amino Energy, you can try:
In Conclusion
Optimum Nutrition’s Essential Amino Energy Drink serves its purpose, and it does work due to the nutrients packed into the beverage. Because of that, I will give it a 9 out of 10.
The energy drink provides the nutrients and energy you need to finish high-intensity work. However, always consume in moderation. I suggest you keep that in mind whenever you think of drinking more than what’s recommended.
Despite knowing how the energy drink works, it still depends on us and on our health to how it will react to our bodies.
If your tolerance for caffeine fits this amino acid-induced beverage, then it will most likely have a great effect on you.
With the answers laid out and specifics explained, go grab a serving of Optimum Nutrition’s Essential Amino Energy. Drink and enjoy.
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