Technical field:

A natural product- based sustainable energy composition simultaneously providing protection against toxic free radicals.

Prior art:

Energy providing compositions that are used to overcome tiredness are based on high caffeine and high sugar content supplemented with high dose vitamin and electrolyte concentrations. These are sold as energy drinks under brand names such as Red Bull, Monster, Rockstar, Powerade, and Gatorade. The drinks or beverages provide instant energy and may facilitate human performance over a limited period of time but with a serious risk of free radical generation and tissue damage.

Summary of the invention:

The invention relates to compositions providing natural product-based sustainable energy in combination with free radical neutralization and method of use thereof.

Detailed description of the preferred embodiments:

Instant energy providing compositions usually contain high concentrations of monomeric sugars such as glucose, fructose and galactose in combination with caffeine and therefore are effective to combat fatigue over a short period of time. The composition of such oral consumables however may have detrimental effects due to overworking tissues and raising toxic free radicals in the body. In order to improve the sustained energy release process, compositions have been suggested such as described in EP 1 712 139 A1 describing the use of glucopyranosyl sugar alcohols or the use of specific plant extracts as claimed in US 8,642,097 Bl. Prior art compositions however solely focus on sustained energy delivery without providing any solution to the problem that metabolically forced tissue activity may lead to dramatic increases of toxic radical production, in particular reactive oxygen species, that may be extremely harmful. Especially up-growing younger people or people with a weak health condition trying to physically improve by consuming energy drinks may become prone to the noxious side effects caused by energy drinks, in particular the production of toxic radicals which affect heart function and ultimately may lead to conditions of cancer , brain damage, faster aging and others. In order to overcome prior art disadvantages, the invention proposes the use of compositions using products that at the same time are energy donors over an extended period of time as well as neutralizing agents of toxic substances, in particular free radicals.

The prolonged and sustained release of energy is obtained through metabolization of the oligomeric form of product into monomers. For this purpose, oligomeric forms of sugars have been described in the prior art. In contrast the invention describes the use of dimers, trimers and oligomers that are no-sugar oligomers but poly-oxyphenols and of which rosmarinic acid is the preferred type. Rosmarinic acid is metabolized into caffeic acid and salvianic acid. The caffeic acid is a polyphenol, a class of micronutrients known for their anti- oxidative properties. Despite of its name, it is unrelated to caffeine. Caffeic acid is claimed to: reduce inflammation, to prevent cancer, to prevent diabetes, to prevent premature aging, to prevent neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson, to potently inhibit amylin amyloidosis ( a suspected disease pathway in the onset of Alzheimer disease), to protect and to attenuate cardiovascular disease, to have anti-microbial activity and to reduce exercise-related fatigue. Additionally it mitigates oxidative diabetes-induced brain damage and protects pancreatic cells from glucolipotoxicity.

Rosmarinic acid is found in plant families such as the Lamiaceae, Bereginaceae and Celestraceae. Therefore, ideally, water-extracts of leaves of plants containing monomers, dimers, trimers and oligomers of Rosmarinic acid constitute an excellent source of sustained energy provider, because of the slow metabolisation into caffeic acid and ( heart, muscles, brain e.g. ) and free radical scavenger protecting tissues from being damaged by toxic radicals.

In one preferred embodiment the Rosmarinic acid is obtained from the dried leaves of a plant known as Celastrus hindsii Benth by extraction from the dried leaves with hot/boiling water to form a water extract or tea. In addition to the monomer and oligomers of Rosmarinic acid, the leaves of this plant also contain Rutin and Lithospermic acid. Rutin is a flavonoid with general anti-oxidant properties and supports blood vessel health. Lithospermic acid is a dimeric form of Rosmarinic acid with higher afinity to silver (Ag ⁺ ) ions.

In another preferred embodiment, the highly concentrated water extract prepared from the dried leaves, containing rosmarinic acid monomers, -dimers, -trimers and oligomers is further concentrated by freeze-drying. Hereto equal volumes of water and compact dried leaves are admixed. The admixture is boiled at the stage where the volume of leaves becomes reduced and the boiling water fraction has a tendency to rise. Next the boiling process is stopped and the admixture left to cool down before being poured through a filter or cloth to separate the solid fraction of boiled leaves from the liquid dark colored extract.

The extract can be stored in a fridge and used as a concentrated liquid extract to prepare a drink or to add to other beverages ( any non-alcoholic as well as alcoholic ) or energy drinks to improve energy delivery over time and to reduce possible risks of tissue injury as may be obtained by consuming regular energy drinks.

In a further embodiment the water extract is being processed as a freeze-dried or hot-sprayed solid form either ready for use to prepare an instant drink by adding a liquid (non-alcoholic as well as alcoholic) or as a solid powder that can be mixed with or added to non-limited list of probiotics, sauces, solid foods, cream, gels, cosmetics, perfumes, ointments, spices, flavoring, seasonings. The freeze-dried extract can be stored with a shelf life of at least 5 years in a dry environment at ambient temperature.