Maker's of Enviga sued for false advertising

  • The Center for Science in the Public Interest filed suit Tuesday against Coca-Cola and Nestle, alleging the companies are making fraudulent claims for it's new drink Enviga.

    The drink is labeled as a "calorie burner," and marketed as a weight loss aid. The watchdog agency called Enviga a highly caffeinated and over-priced diet soda.

    The Connecticut attorney general is investigating the drink, saying the marketing might amount to "voodoo nutrition."

    CBS4's Medical Editor Dr. Dave Hnida said the manufacturers claim the product just isn't low calorie, or no calorie, but negative calorie. This means drink a can, and you'll burn calories without lifting a finger.

    Enviga has EGCG, which is a green tea extract that is supposed to help speed metabolism. It also contains caffeine, which slightly speeds metabolism.

    There was only one study done on this product, funded and done by the company. It looked at 31 physically fit, lean people for a total of three days.

    Other studies show in rats the equivalent of eight cups of green tea possibly speeds metabolism. It is unclear if it does the same in humans.

    The company suggests drinking three cans a day. At three cans, the average calorie burn in the study was 50 calories total. Each can costs about $1.50. That calculates up to $315 a pound if it actually does work. Dr. Dave Hnida said same amount of calories can be burned for free by walking slowly for about 17 minutes.

    I should have counted the hours before this happened because I knew it would.
  • Quote: Good for them. I hate when people make bogus claims like that and can't back it up with solid research

    We all know that ECGC and caffeine do help to speed metabolism and you can lose a little bit of weight by drinking tea, but not in the amounts they say.

    With the money they're spending to buy those drinks, they should just buy some high-quality tea or organic food or something. I would say spend it to go to a gym, but we all know that would be too hard for most people
    What's sad is they throw these products out there at a pretty hefty price (in more ways than one) so they can prey on people desperate to lose weight. Because they know people will by this junk. There was a thread about it here not too long ago and my first reaction was, "Come on, people don't actually BELIEVE this crap, do they?"

    Sadly, yes, they do.

    If people want to drink this stuff to help speed metabolism, whatever. But there are easier and much cheaper ways to do it.

    Shame on them for preying on us with this crud. I'm considering not even buying Coke products anymore.
  • I figured that stuff was too good to be true. I saw it advertised in one of my fitness magazines. I will however, admit to indulging in a sugar free Red Bull once or twice a week for the energy kick.. lol. But I'd never count on it as a dietary supplement.
  • Yay for exploiting the American consumer's obsessive desire to expend no effort and get great results...aka laziness.