energy drinks and their ingredients

[victor steinbok]

[guarana  1838-->1819]
[guaranine  1838-->1829]
[Siberian ginseng==Eleutherococcus==Eleuthro  -->all new]
[schisandra   -->new]

Since energy drinks entered the market, all kinds of new shortenings of
"big words" for common ingredients have been entering the lexicon. But one
struck me as, at best, odd. But I'll start the countdown even earlier--and,
in some ways, backwards.

When I first started looking at the "nutritional supplements" market in the
1980s, the first thing that struck me was the presence of "Korean ginseng"
and "Siberian ginseng". Both are endemic to Manchuria and nearly the entire
Russian "Far East" (coastal areas and the Amur basin). And almost any not
instantly lethal herb finds a place in traditional Chinese medicine. But
only one of these is actually "ginseng" (Panax ginseng) and that's the
"Korean" one (which is the same as Chinese ginseng or Manchurian ginseng).
But what had been passed as Siberian ginseng in American markets was
actually Eleutherococcus senticosus, with which I've been familiar as a
tonic ingredient for a very long time (it was the main stimulant in the
Russian "cola" tonic that's been sold under the name "Baikal" since the
1970s; you can find it in most ethnic East European stores, but the
post-Soviet formulation appears to lack the specific ingredient).

Eventually, the FDA stepped in and banned the use of "Siberian ginseng" in
reference to Eleutherococcus. As a result, it virtually disappeared from
the supplement market for a few years. Nonetheless, "Siberian ginseng" was
in use for a long time and it always referred to the non-ginseng
"ginseng"--but it's not in the OED, except in three quotations. In fact, I
am not sure the labeling is prohibited in the EU (and, specifically, in the
UK). Two of the quotes are from the Daily Telegraph for late 2001.

immunomodulatory, adj.

2001    *Daily Tel.* 5 Dec. 24/2   Siberian ginseng (Eleutherococcus
senticosus) is also worth trying for its immunomodulatory action and its
ability to help the body adapt to stress and illness.

Aqua Libra, n.

1989    *Forbes* 25 Dec. 48/1   The smart set in England this season is
drinking Aqua Libra. The pale-gold beverage is a blend of sparkling water,
passion fruit juice and apple juice, seasoned with sesame, sunflower,
melon, tarragon and Siberian ginseng.

olive, n.1: olive leaf

2001    *Daily Tel.* 24 Oct. 24/8   Supplements containing olive leaf,
lapacho, Siberian ginseng or grapeseed extracts may help.


The odd thing about it is that the supplement itself has not been
prohibited--just the "Siberian ginseng" label. So the collapsed market was
a bit of a puzzle. But Eleutherococcus (also not in the OED) did not
disappear for long--it found new life in energy drinks, particularly in the
"natural" ones.

One such product is AriZona (the company behind Arizona Iced Tea) RxEnergy.

AriZona Rx Energy Herbal Tonic

An invigorating blend of green tea, tropical & citrus fruits, panax
ginseng, eleuthero root, guarana, schisandra, and vitamins A, C & E


Similarly, Wiki also abbreviates.

E. senticosus was previously marketed in the United States as *Siberian
Ginseng* because it has similar herbal properties to those of
*Panax*ginseng. However, it belongs to a different genus in the family
Araliaceae,
and it is currently illegal in the United States to market eleuthero as
Siberian Ginseng, since the term "ginseng" is reserved for the *Panax*species.


There is no OED entry for "eleuthero" either--at least, not when it comes
to the plant or plant extract (usually from root). But there is another
eleuthero entry:

 combining form of Greek *ἐλεύθερος* [eleutheros] free:
eleutheromania n. [see
mania n.] mad zeal for freedom.  eˌleutheroˈmaniac adj.  [see maniac adj.and
n.] one possessed by a mad zeal for freedom. Also in botanical compounds,
as   eleutheropetalous adj.  [Greek *πέταλον* [petalon]  leaf] ,
eleutherophyllous adj.  [Greek *ϕύλλον* [phyllon]  leaf] ,
eleutherosepalous adj.  [see sepal n.] having the petals, leaves, sepals,
free, *i.e.* distinct, not cohering.


So the name means "free seed" or "free grain" (the appearance of the plant
is very similar to Panax ginseng, but it is much taller and the ripe fruit
is nearly black to ginseng's red).

Schisandra is also not in the OED, except for one quote.

sportsman, n.

2006    *Yours* 12 Sept. 75/2   But until recently it has been a well kept
secret that Russian astronauts and sportsmen also took extracts from
Schisandra berries to help combat physical and mental stress and maintain
concentration.


Guarana /is/ in the OED, but tops off in 1876, and the description is a bit
outdated as well.

 A Brazilian shrub, *Paullinia sorbilis*; a paste prepared from the seeds
of this shrub, which is used for food and medicine. Also guarana-bread,
guarana-paste.

1838    T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 291   Guaranina. This substance was
discovered by Theod. Martius, in the guarana.
1861    Year-bk. Med. 1860 (New Sydenham Soc.) 459   The author has
employed guarana paste in numerous cases of hemicrania.
1876    J. Harley Royle's Man. Materia Med. (ed. 6) 707   Guarana. The
seeds of this plant furnish the Guarana bread so highly esteemed by the
natives of Brazil.


InfoPlease/RHUD 1997 is more up to date, mentioning caffeine content and
including the second listing:

2. a drink containing extract of guarana seed.


Even 1913 Webster's has an entry that mentions a drink (although,
obviously, not the modern, carbonated variety).

 Gua"ra*na` (?), n. [Pg.] (Med.) A preparation from the seeds of Paullinia
sorbilis, a woody climber of Brazil, used in making an astringent drink,
and also in the cure of headache.


1911 Britannica is a bit more extensive (for obvious reasons ;-) ).

GUARANA (so called from the Guaranis, an aboriginal American tribe), the
plant Paullinia Cupana (or P. sorbilis) of the natural order Sapindaceae,
indigenous to the north and west of Brazil. It has a smooth erect stem;
large pinnate alternate leaves, composed of 5 oblong-oval leaflets; narrow
panicles of short-stalked flowers; and ovoid or pyriform fruit about as
large as a grape, and containing usually one seed only, which is shaped
like a minute horse-chestnut. What is commonly known as guarana, guarana
bread or Brazilian cocoa, is prepared from the seeds as follows. In October
and November, at which time they become ripe, the seeds are removed from
their capsules and sun-dried, so as to admit of the ready removal by hand
of the white aril; they are next ground in a stone mortar or deep dish of
hard sandstone; the powder, moistened by the addition of a small quantity
of water, or by exposure to the dews, is then made into a paste with a
certain proportion of whole or broken seeds, and worked up sometimes into
balls, but usually into rolls not unlike German sausages, 5 to 8 in. in
length, and 1 2 to 16 oz. in weight. After drying by artificial or solar
heat, the guarana is packed between broad leaves in sacks or baskets. Thus
prepared, it is of extreme hardness, and has a brown hue, a bitter
astringent taste, and an odour faintly resembling that of roasted coffee.
An inferior kind, softer and of a lighter colour, is manufactured by
admixture of cocoa or cassava. Rasped or grated into sugar and water,
guarana forms a beverage largely consumed in S. America. Its manufacture,
originally confined to the Mauhes Indians, has spread into various parts of
Brazil.
The properties of guarana as a nervous stimulant and restorative are due to
the presence of what was originally described as a new principle and termed
guaranine, but is now known to be identical with caffeine or theine.
Besides this substance, which is stated to exist in it in the form of
tannate, guarana yields on analysis the glucoside saponin, with tannin,
starch, gum, three volatile oils, and an acrid green fixed oil (Fournier,
Journ. de Pharm. vol. xxxix., 1861, p. 291).


All contemporary sources identify Guarana as P. cupana, not P. sorbilis, as
listed in OED, Webster's 1913 and earlier scientific publications (some,
such as 1911 Britannica, mention both Latin names).

I can improve the date on guarana.

http://goo.gl/RplZv
History of Brazil. By Robert Southey. Part 3. London: 1819
Chapter 44. p. 728

The Bishop therefore found only three hundred inhabitants, White and
Indian, and that number was likely to diminish. [J. de Coimbra 4.361;
Casal. 2.343] Otherwise the town would have flourished, for the White
settlers were men of some capital: tobacco and coffee grew there well, and
the place was convenient for establishing magazines of salted fish,
tortoise oil, and *guarana, **.* . a preparation invented by a tribe upon
the Madeira, called the Maues. It is named from a parasite plant, bearing
an almond, in a black shell. The almond is roasted, pounded, and then made
into cakes or sticks, which are dried by smoke, and rasped for use upon the
rough tongue of a fish called Piraunicis. A table-spoonful of this powder
is taken in half a *canada *of water, sweetened or not, according to the
taste of the drinker. It is a bitter, and is thought to be an approved
remedy for many diseases ; but it is taken to excess throughout Para, many
persons drinking it at all hours, and then it is said to injure the
stomach, and induce insomnulence and other evils. [Ribeiro. MS.; Casal.
2.314-318]


Also antedating guaranine (1838-->1829)

http://goo.gl/a9HaI
A New Supplement to the Pharmacopoeias of London, Edinburgh, Dublin and
Paris; Forming a Complete Dispensatory and Conspectus; Including the New
French Medicines and Poisons; With Symptoms, Treatment, and Tests. By J.
Rennie. London: 1829
p. 169

Guaranine. /New/. A vegetable principle discovered in the fruit of
/Paulinia Sorbilis/ by M. Martins. It is white, crystalline, and bitter,
and precipitates the aqueous solution of nitrate of silver, &c. (Kastner.)


Obviously, this is not the earliest reference, but it's an open question as
to whether there are earlier ones in /English/.

"Guarana" thus refers to several things--the vine from which the seeds are
collected; the seeds themselves; the processed seeds--either as paste or
hard "bricks" or these bricks shaved into powder; the extract produced from
these seeds or from the powder; drink made directly from the powder or from
extract; soft drink that contains the extract as a flavoring ingredient.
Guarana also is the geographical designation, a river, indigenous tribes
that live in the area, etc. None of these appear in the OED (or most other
dictionaries), although similar designations are listed for other
geographical areas and objects.

    VS-)

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