We all want beverages that taste good and aren't too unhealthy, but there are those who subscribe to the philosophy of drinking only healthy drinks. For most people however they're in between: craving something with flavor while also wanting something satisfying enough to not make you feel like crap later on after indulging into your favorite beverage.
Part of making a great product is crafting it so both extremes can enjoy it; one end tends toward purity (those enjoying solely based off pure refreshment), whereas another more extreme position would rather have nothing at all if they doesn’t absolutely LOVE everything about it. For most of us however, we’re in the middle. We all want to eat and drink a little bit better, but we don’t want to be punished with an awful taste for doing it.
Nowadays, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to find this harmony of taste and health within the energy drink market. The majority of energy drinks contain ridiculously high amounts of sugar and the sugar-free options are overloaded with artificial sweeteners that are extremely controversial when it comes to health. At Rowdy, we believe you shouldn’t settle for the artificial aftertaste of sweeteners that make you concerned about your health. We believe that you should expect more from other brands. In this day and age all energy drink brands have the ability to make their beverages much more natural and healthier without compromising how it tastes by implementing natural sweeteners. Yet, this concept of health without the punishment remains unadopted by leading brands.
That’s where we come in.
Rowdy Energy's proprietary sweetener system is what allows us to offer significantly reduced and zero sugar products without that really annoying aftertaste that is common among a lot of energy drinks. Our unique blend of natural sweeteners includes Allulose, Erythritol, Monk Fruit, and Stevia. By melding these four sweeteners together, this collective blend helps balance out the sometimes polarizing sensory profiles that people dislike when consuming them individually. Also, they are not metabolized by the body in the same way that traditional white cane sugar is metabolized. Instead, they pass through our digestive system and are excreted through urine in an almost entirely unprocessed state. Due to our bodies inability to break down these sweeteners, they do not create an insulin spike when they enter our blood stream – making them safe for people with diabetes. Let’s get into the science and learn how these four sweeteners provide great taste without sacrificing your well-being.
Erythritol
Erythritol is one of the most common sugar substitutes used today. It can be found in a lot of different products like baked goods, sugar free gum, sports drinks, and lozenges. But what really is erythritol? It is a carbohydrate classified as a sugar alcohol. Also known as polyols, sugar alcohols are neither sugar nor alcohol. They get their name because part of their chemical structure resembles sugar and the other part resembles alcohol. Erythritol is not absorbed by the body and as a result acts like a mild dietary fiber. Although it is classified as a carbohydrate, it does not contribute to net carbs. It is about 60 to 80 percent as sweet as sucrose. Erythritol is naturally occurring in ripe fruit and is produced via fermentation. It is one of the only natural sugar alcohols.
Allulose
Allulose is a simple sugar. These types of sugars are also called monosaccharides because they are made up of a single unit of carbohydrate. It’s labeled as a rare sugar because it is found naturally in small amounts in dried fruits like figs, raisins, and jackfruit. Compared to sucrose, allulose is about 70% as sweet and contains nearly 90% fewer calories. A unique feature of allulose is that it does not have to be a part of the total and added sugar counts on nutrition labels. This is possible because of its low-calorie count and unique way of digesting in the body that is vastly different from normal sugar.
Monk Fruit
Monk Fruit is a tiny fruit grown in South East Asia. The sweetener is extracted by removing the seeds and skin, crushing it, and collecting the juice. Monk Fruit sweeteners are usually only used in small amounts to achieve a similar sweetness to sugar because they are 150 – 200 times sweeter. Monk Fruit sweeteners contain zero sugar and zero calories with no side-effects. Often times brands underestimate the power of concentrated Monk Fruit and use too much, resulting in an overwhelming aftertaste. When combining all four of these sweeteners, we are able to mitigate any polarizing sensory and taste from just one of them.
Stevia
Stevia is a plant typically grown in South America and Asia. Its extract offers a sweetener that is low in carbohydrates and is 200-300 times sweeter than sugar. There are many different types of the stevia sweeteners based on different components in the stevia plant and many different ways of processing it. At Rowdy Energy, we use a certain type of stevia called Reb D. This particular extract of the stevia plant offers a clean, sugar-like taste that is zero calories. In fact, Reb D is such a high-quality grade sweetener that we pay up to 8x more per gram than lower grades and common types of stevia.