It’s the 5-hour Energy Hype.
The latest supplement craze that has every deli and Duane Reade in New York City hawking “energy shots” for up to $4 a pop may be nothing more than slightly caffeinated, sour-tasting water.
The small bottles — each one pricier than a tall Starbucks latte — provide only a placebo effect for New Yorkers looking for a pick-me-up, experts said.
Most of the drinks on the market — including the Stacker2 6-Hour Power, Redline 7-Hour Energy Boost, Mr. Energy 8-Hour ENERGY Shot, 10-Hour Power Energy and 25-Hour DMix Energy Pump — claim to be sugar free and only zero to 20 calories.
They target adults “looking to be more productive.” But the energy-slingers really just rely on caffeine content, which most won’t reveal, experts said.
The drink makers are not required to list how much caffeine they contain, nor does the law require them to be FDA approved.
The 25-hour Energy Pump claims to provide about 50 milligrams of “an energizing blend of caffeine and green tea” per serving. That’s less caffeine than in a small cuppa joe.
But most companies refer to caffeine counts as “proprietary trade secrets.” Labels say only that they have “the equivalent caffeine levels of a regular cup of premium coffee.”
“They don’t have to prove safety or efficacy, so you have no idea if what it says on the labels is true,” said NYU nutritionist Marion Nestle. “You have no idea what you’re actually drinking or how much caffeine you’re ingesting. It’s a crap shoot.”
A Stacker2 6-Hour Power spokeswoman retorted: “Listing the caffeine is not necessary. The energy you receive is not just from caffeine, it comes from the proprietary blend as a whole.”
One study conducted for Men’s Health found that 5-hour Energy packed 207 milligrams of caffeine in 2 ounces — about the same as two cups of coffee.
Some users reported no effect from the drink.
“It doesn’t do anything for me,” said Mirian Aguilar, 24, a saleswoman who admitted trying 5-hour Energy when she’s dragging. “A cup of coffee works better.”
The drink labels purport to provide 2,000 percent of the daily dose of vitamin B6 and up to 8,666 percent of vitamin B12 — claims that nutritionists dismissed as bogus at best and harmful at worst.
Too much B6 can lead to nerve damage in the arms and legs, said nutritionist Marissa Lippert.
“Two thousand percent of any nutrient should be a red flag to people,” she said. “If it’s too much for your body to handle, it’s just going to excrete it via your urine.”
Energy shots are the fastest-growing product in the burgeoning stimulant-drink market.
Shot sales reached $1.5 billion in 2010, according to Consumer Edge Research, and are growing 35 percent annually, as compared with a 10 percent growth in energy drinks like Red Bull and Monster. Shots make up 14 percent of the energy-drink market.
5-Hour Energy dominates the shot-drink market with 80 percent.
A legion of copycats have popped up over the past year.
“Imitators are part of the price of success,” said 5-hour Energy spokeswoman Elaine Lutz, who accused some competitors of adding stimulants like ginseng and guarana, caffeinated herbal additives to the drinks.
She said those ingredients can lead to a crash.