Terryorisms

Celsius Rising? June 11, 2006

TCS Daily – Celsius Rising?
The new soda comes in three flavours – cola, lemon and lime and ginger ale. It was launched in 2005 when it won the Beverage Industry’s Best New Product award for an energy drink also scientifically proven to actively burn our calories. In other words, drinking Celsius burns more calories than the drink itself contains.

Celsius contains a thermogenic blend. The process of thermogenesis (thermo: heat, genesis, creation) has, of course, been understood for some time. Thermogenetic agents stimulate the natural resting metabolic rate (RMR) that raises body temperature – which causes the body to burn additional calories.

Retailing for around $1.99 per 12-ounce bottle, Celsius, depending on the flavour, contains between five and ten calories. Janice Haley, vice president of Elite FX, Inc., which developed Celsius, says, “It naturally raises your metabolism by 12 percent over a three- to four-hour period. The net effect of this is that the 5 – 10 calories is more than ‘eaten up’ as the body burns between 67 to 72 calories.”

Knowledge about negative calorie food effects is nothing new. We already know that a 25-calorie piece of broccolli (100 grams) burns 80 calories resulting in a net loss of 55 calories. And there are a wide variety of fat-burning food recipes in existence.

While the development of another obesity-combating food — for the first time in liquid form — can ostensibly be welcomed, the jury is still out on the long-term effect on the body. Both the ability of RMR stimulators to continue to aid weight loss at a sustained rate and the long-term effects of thermogenetic agents on the body, have yet to be assessed.

But if Celsius, and the new generation of fat-burning drinks it is likely to spawn, tempts us to cancel our daily walk, jog or gym class beware, the marketing may not tell the whole science story. Even Elite FX’s marketing states Celsius ought not to be consumed by children under 12 and the elderly. Three bottles a day is also the limit for adult consumers. It is, after all, an energy-infusing drink containing 200 milligrams of caffeine – about the same as two cups of coffee.

It seems premature to discard the golden rule of common sense that a controlled diet — perhaps in conjunction with negative-calorie food and drinks — and daily exercise are together still the best recipe in the battle against rising obesity. Even with the advent of thermogenetic drinks the maxim no pain, no gain still holds.