Hey, sport. Need some energy?

Energy. Your body is made of it — matter is after all 'frozen' energy — so how is it that everyone is always seeking more? Nevertheless, that's the way of it, and ingredients that can promise an energy boost, whether for athletes or office workers, have a promising future ahead. Supplements in this category range from those providing a direct energy boost (read: caffeine and calories) to ones promising a more efficient energy burn during exercise or those that promote a faster, more efficient recovery.

Caffeine, certainly the tastiest energy-boosting ingredient in the book when it comes housed in its Starbucks cup, has continued its dominance, especially now that ephedra is off the shelves. Time was, the world's first professional endurance athletes, Tour de France cyclists, made their own pre-race functional beverages with an espresso and a quick snort of red wine.

Caffeine, often formulated as green tea extract to piggyback on tea's antioxidant benefits and positive consumer associations, is the key active ingredient in a plethora of energy shots, gels, stick packs, gummies and even some bars. But if you're peddling just caffeine you might as well get in line at Starbucks (full disclosure: we own no stock, but there is a shop just down the block). Fortunately, there is an ammo box full of ingredients backed with good science to help formulators hit the energy bull's eye.

Editor's Picks: Caffeine: Can't argue with what works, can you? Ribose: Smooth energy delivery helped put Olympic speed skater Katherine Reutter on the podium. Whey: Recovery is the new name of the game in the sports world. Whey will get you there. It's also the tastiest protein to incorporate into your satiety portfolio.

Drink up!
Beverages still dominate this market sector, with consumers putting more stock in an energy benefit from a beverage than they are willing to do for other functional claims. And there's history here, too: Gatorade, the granddaddy of energy drinks, is in its fifth decade on the market.

Among the ingredients making a splash in energy beverages is Bioenergy's D-Ribose, an ingredient made from glucose syrup via fermentation. D-Ribose boosts the body's level of ATP, a key compound in the cell's energy pathway, so it helps the body mobilize its energy reserves more efficiently, rather than just pouring fuel on the fire in the form of carbohydrates or stimulants.

"What we can provide (formulators) is point of difference if they're looking for an energy that is a natural energy and is not caffeine," said Kathy Lund, BioEnergy's marketing director.

"We have quite a few energy drinks. We're in a Vitamin Water. We're in Full Throttle and we're in GoFast. We're in a host of other natural nutraceutical-type beverages and we're in a lot of supplements.

"I think in the beverage area there's a lot of space there," Lund said. "We're looking at expanding the opportunities within the world of recovery and endurance. A combination with an antioxidant-type product would be fabulous."

But the company is not averse to a possible pairing with caffeine.

"We looked at what does caffeine do in the body and what does ribose do. Caffeine is a stimulant, and it races the heart. Ribose modulates the heart rate," she said.

Also on the podium
L-carnitine is a molecule that is part of the cell's fat-metabolism pathway. Lonza, based in Switzerland, offers a branded L-carnitine ingredient called Carnipure and cites studies that showed increased VO2 max for athletes during exercise and decreased muscle soreness after a workout. Lonza's studies also indicate that Carnipure inhibits the buildup of lactic acid, delaying fatigue during a prolonged workout or event.

Other ingredients in the recovery sector include National Enzyme's BioCore Edge, which boosts the bioavailability of protein, and Powergrape, a red-grape ingredient from Naturex whose antioxidant properties help recovery and performance.