People often take energy boosters to enhance physical and mental energy to cope with their daily activities. Energy boosters increase your energy on a cellular level. They have benefits for both the body and mind. If you want to keep stress and fatigue at bay, try supplementing with energy boosters. They contain adaptogenic herbs, stimulants, essential nutrients, and amino acids which help you achieve your fitness goals and boost your long-term health.
There are different formulas on the market which support your daily energy needs. Energy boosters come in different forms such as drinks, capsules, and tablets. You can opt for the most convenient form which meets your daily needs. However, energy boosters might also have certain unwanted side effects. Let’s find out about Energy Boosters’ Pros and Cons in this review.
Table of Contents
Energy Boosters Pros
PRO: Energy boosters may provide additional health benefits
Increasing cell energy production benefits all of the tissues in the body. This may promote repair of some tissues, too. In addition, energy boosters help reduce fatigue. Moreover, stimulant-free energy boosters often target the mitochondria to increase the energy of your cells. This helps maintain optimum muscle efficiency and more ATP energy molecules.
In addition, due to this mode of action of energy increase, energy boosters provide the following benefits:
- Enhance cognitive function and alertness
- Improve physical strength and endurance
- Increase work capacity
PRO: Energy boosters promote anabolism
Energy boosters improve energy metabolism. If you are a bodybuilder, athlete, or just an active person, you probably want to maintain optimum muscle anabolism. Energy boosters increase anabolic hormones to promote muscle growth. In addition, maintaining muscle anabolism keeps muscle breakdown (catabolism) at bay. If you are taking pre-workout or post-workout supplements, energy boosters can augment their effects, too.
PRO: Energy boosters provide some essential vitamins and minerals
Your body needs essential nutrients to function properly. In addition, key nutrients play vital roles in the different biochemical processes in your body. There are essential vitamins which play huge roles in overall energy production, such as B vitamins. Energy boosters often provide adequate amounts of B vitamins to keep your energy levels up. The body also absorbs essential vitamins and minerals easily because it recognizes them as food.
You can enhance your overall health with the intake of energy boosters because of the essential vitamins and minerals that they often provide. You just have to choose the right energy booster formula to get the most benefits out of it. To further boost your vitamin and mineral arsenal, try a potent multivitamin such as Performance Lab Whole-Food Multi.
PRO: Some essential amino acids are provided by energy boosters
Energy boosters provide essential amino acids for optimum health. Even though the body manufactures some of these amino acids for the formation of protein, the production of some amino acids in your body declines when you are stressed or tired.
On that note, the intake of essential amino acids in energy boosters benefits your overall health. In addition, amino acids help ward off muscle catabolism (breakdown), so you can maintain your lean body mass even during the times of stress— which leads into our next testosterone booster pro.
PRO: Energy boosters often contain adaptogenic herbs
To further help you cope with stress, some energy booster formulas have already included adaptogenic herbs in their stack. These herbs protect you from stress on a cellular level. In addition, adaptogenic herbs also act as antioxidants. This makes the entire energy booster even more beneficial for you. Adaptogenic herbs are beneficial for both your body and mind which are often exposed to stress. The most common adaptogenic herbs found in energy boosters are:
- Eleuthero root
- Panax ginseng root
- Rhodiola rosea
- Maca
PRO: Intake of energy boosters is completely legal
Energy boosters aren’t drugs. In fact, the federal government considers them as dietary supplements, food, or beverages. There are different natural energy booster formulas which make use of highly-absorbable ingredients which the body processes as food. Also, you don’t need a doctor’s prescription to purchase energy boosters. You can easily obtain them over the counter at your local pharmacy or grocery store.
PRO: Energy boosters may help burn fat
Energy boosters often have thermogenic properties which they share with fat burners. If you are trying to lose fat, then some energy booster formulas are more beneficial for you. Thermogenic ingredients help you maintain peak energy levels while supporting fat loss.
Athletes and bodybuilders are often after fat-burning properties of dietary supplements. The reason: it is always more beneficial for your body to have more muscle than fat. In addition, losing fat helps you become more fit and active. Once you lose fat, it also lowers the health risk factors which have ties to obesity. Here is a list of thermogenic ingredients which you can find in energy boosters:
- Caffeine (you can also find caffeine in many pre-workout supplements)
- Yohimbe extract
- Satsuma mandarin components
Energy Boosters Cons
CON: Energy boosters may contain stimulants which have certain side effects
Energy boosters often contain stimulants to provide immediate effects. However, stimulants may produce certain side effects. Caffeine is the most common stimulant which you can find in many energy boosters. Even though there are stim-free energy boosters, you might prefer the caffeinated ones because of the effects that you experience shortly after ingestion. Here are the most common side effects of energy boosters, due to the presence of stimulants, specifically caffeine:
- Jitters
- Nausea
- Gastric discomfort
- Elevated heart rate and blood pressure
- Sleep problems
- Caffeine crash
- Restlessness
- Renal effects
CON: Some energy boosters contain “dirty ingredients”
Most dietary supplements often contain fillers, synthetic ingredients, and additives. However, in most energy boosters, these inactive ingredients often make a supplement “dirty.” The reason: manufacturers taint them with unnecessary synthetics. These ingredients aren’t beneficial for your health and oftentimes they aren’t detrimental, either.
However, with long-term use, these ingredients just add up to the synthetics that your body has to detoxify. Some of these “dirty ingredients” may even increase free radicals in your body which, in turn, causes oxidative stress in your cells. In addition, these inactive ingredients are often just artificial flavors and food colorings which aren’t necessary, especially in supplements which are in capsules. Here are the common additives which you can find in some energy boosters:
- Talc
- FD&C Red No. 40
- Sucralose (Splenda)
- Ace-K
- Potassium sorbate
CON: Energy boosters might contain shady ingredient blends
Energy booster manufacturers don’t always disclose the forms and dosages of the ingredients in energy boosters. Some brands even present their ingredients in proprietary blends which hide the individual dosages of their ingredients. In energy boosters, proprietary blends are often shady mixtures because they may contain unlisted ingredients. Energy boosters are unregulated supplements, so companies can get away with these shady ingredients. Make sure to go for bodybuilding supplements with 100 percent transparency – they divulge all of their ingredient amounts.
CON: Some energy boosters are pricey
If a supplement is effective, you can’t expect it to come cheap. The same goes for energy boosters. Even though energy boosters aren’t ideal for consistent long-term use, short-term usage can also be pricey. Regular intake of energy boosters isn’t necessary if you are living a healthy lifestyle. They are beneficial only when you feel you need an extra energy boost. Some energy boosters might be pricey, but if they are safe and effective, they are probably worth your money.
Conclusion on Energy Boosters Pros and Cons
Energy boosters are relatively safe and well-tolerated. Their benefits clearly outweigh the cons. Moreover, you can steer clear of most of the side effects of energy boosters if you opt for a stim-free version.
Just be cautious when choosing an energy booster: some formulas contain shady proprietary blends which might be risky for your health. You should not consider formulas which have unlisted ingredients at all cost. These formulas are probably unsafe and the ingredients they hid might even be illicit. There is no reason to hide energy booster ingredients because they are supposedly natural and safe. As long as you pick the right supplement, you can reap the benefits of energy boosters.
If you need help in choosing the right energy booster, you can check our Best Energy Supplements 2018 review. This provides you useful and important information about the ingredients and modes of action of energy boosters available on the market today. It even contains a list of the Best 5 energy supplements that we recommend.
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