Energy
Yerba santa extract (SantEnergy Nu)
Yerba santa extract is marketed for energy, but human evidence does not show alertness or performance benefits.
How it counts: Not part of the score
We show it on the label and count it as disclosed, but it never affects Dose, any sub-score or the grade. The basis below explains why.
- Clinical dose
- No established clinical dose
- Safety ceiling
- —
- Evidence
- weak
- Category
- Energy
Evidence summary
Research confidence: low
No reference dose. Yerba santa extract is sold as a caffeine-free energy and metabolism booster, but the 'energizing' evidence comes from a test-tube binding assay and a worm study, not people. The one human trial gave 49 overweight or obese women 400 mg twice a day for 12 weeks: the whole group did not lose significantly more weight than placebo, while women with obesity lost about 2 kg (Mödinger 2021). No trial has measured energy, alertness or performance, and this label's 400 mg is half the daily trial dose.
Research sources
- A Food Supplement with Antioxidative Santa Herba Extract Modulates Energy Metabolism and Contributes to Weight Management (Mödinger et al., J Med Food 2021)(opens in new window)
- Mibelle launches metabolism boosting ingredient for sports nutrition and healthy aging (NutraIngredients 2020)(opens in new window)
Maker's claims: acts on the same adenosine receptor as caffeine, positioned as a caffeine replacement for energy and metabolism; 400 mg dose.