Conquer post-lunch drowsiness with a botanical buzz

An Israeli entrepreneur has developed a drink he claims will end the infamous post-lunch dip that leaves many sleepy, less alert and unproductive.

This annoying tiredness is actually the result of a natural phenomenon that helps the body regulate the sleep-wake cycle, known as the circadian rhythm.

When darkness falls, the body’s biological clock instructs cells to slow down, increasing the hormone melatonin and reducing body temperature, all processes that promote sleep.

Startup InnoBev says WakeUp! formula – a syrup that is a blend of botanical ingredients – will wake you up naturally in minutes and banish feelings of tiredness for hours.

The formula includes elderberry (which may support the immune system), guarana (which contains natural stimulants such as caffeine which improve alertness, concentration and cognition), ginkgo biloba (which is associated with increased brain function and circulation blood) and carob, which is used as a natural sweetener and has little effect on blood sugar levels.

It is now being sold as a new carbonated drink called BioLift, and the syrup itself (made in Valencia, Spain) is already being tested by home food, snack and beverage companies in cereals, bars, drinks, dairy products and supplements.

“We started out by trying to address the changing physiological parameters in the body,” InnoBev CEO and co-founder Eli Faraggi tells NoCamels. “But along the way we also stumbled upon a new mechanism of action.

He explains that locust beans contain myo-inositol, which by itself does nothing, but when combined with the other functional ingredients in the extract, it acts as a neurotransmitter a chemical messenger that helps regulate body functions such as concentration, cycles of sleep and mood.

The company says its patented combination, which took 12 years to develop, has been validated in six clinical trials led by Prof. Giora Pillar, head of the pediatric sleep laboratory at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, northern Haifa. Israel, and head of the sleep clinic in the Haifa district of Clalit Medicine, the country’s largest health care organization.

The formula itself was created by product development specialist Eitan Granot and a team from an Israeli flavor and ingredient manufacturer Frutarom. The ingredients used in the botanical blend come from the American food processing company ADM.

Ditch the coffee

In the company’s first clinical study, 30 participants who ingested the formula after lunchtime experienced greater ability to concentrate and better performance than those who drank coffee. This was analyzed through reliable tests of concentration and short-term memory as well as a subjective assessment of their alertness and ability to concentrate.

The effects of the InnoBevs formula lasted even after two hours, while the effects of the coffee had already begun to wear off.

And in the second clinical study, 95 participants drank WakeUp! for 30 consecutive days to test long-term consumption tolerance. There were no major changes, and in fact, participants’ concentration actually improved from day one to day 31, as well as decreased blood pressure levels during the course of the study.

There are many nootropic drinks – drinks infused with medicinal substances that work to improve thinking, learning and memory (such as caffeine or other ingredients like ginseng or L-theanine) – on the market today.

More Labs, a Los Angeles-based functional beverage company, has developed Liquid Focus, a concentrated shot that contains nootropic ingredients like ginseng and huperzia serrata extract, as well as 150mg of caffeine. The average cup of coffee contains 95 mg of caffeine, by comparison, and a can of BioLift contains 10 mg.

Faraggi says BioLift has many advantages over other nootropic drinks and supplements, calling it the first drink in its class that doesn’t rely on caffeine to help the consumer feel alert. Furthermore, he says, it is the only company of its kind that has conducted six clinical studies on its product, and it is the only one that can integrate its product (the syrup) into various applications.

And most importantly — aside from being invented in Israel — is its immediate effect, he says.

Faraggi says he was inspired to found the company when he discovered that fatigue actually results in a loss of $136 billion a year to the U.S. workforce alone.

Since InnoBev was founded in 2010, it has won numerous awards, including Best Functional Drink at Drinktec Germany, an annual summit for the beverage and liquid food industry, in 2013. And in 2017, BioLift was a finalist for Product of the Year for the World Beverage Innovation Awards. The company has raised approximately $6 million in funding from Shiff Group Investments.

Today, hospitals across the United States order the BioLift for their medical staff and SpaceX buys it for its employees, Faraggi says.

And as for Faraggi himself:

“Me, my rabbi, my children, my parents… We drink it every day.