Enviga: Making Nothing Out of Something?

Posted on | February 2, 2007 | Comments Off on Enviga: Making Nothing Out of Something?

I passed a billboard in Manhattan recently that read “Burning calories is now officially delicious.” Enter Enviga, joint venture of Coca-Cola Co. and Nestle. At $1.45 per 12 oz can, it comes with what the marketers say are “negative calories.” How so? Well, it has 5 calories. But they say that a critical ingredient extracted from green tea — EGCG — amplifies the 100 mg of caffeine in the can causing the average 16 to 35 year old to burn an additional 60 to 100 calories per day when they drink three cans of the stuff.

This is just the latest in the “nutrient drink” market, up 240% in the past 5 years and now topping $1 billion annually in the U.S. Tag line for Enviga — “Think Positive, Drink Negative.”

Sound too good to be true? It probably is. Nestle and Coca-Cola have been hit with a lawsuit filed by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) that claims fraudulent marketing. According to David Schardt, a senior nutritionist at CSPI, “There is no clear evidence that what’s in Enviga will help you control your weight. You’d be much better off giving up non-diet soda, which costs nothing to do, or by joining a gym, which is typically less expensive than paying for three cans of Enviga a day.”

What to keep an eye on the situation? BusinessWeek’s Burt Helm is doing the play-by-play. But I haven’t talked to anyone who has actually tried Enviga, and I’m curious about it. What about you?