E-sports

Beverage makers are also increasingly targeting the massive e-sports market, usually with nootropics .

The likes of G-Fuel 22 have become mainstays among gamers, and Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Red Bull, and others are prominent and regular sponsors of e-sports events, but well-targeted offerings with appropriate science backing are less common.

As US-based Gamer Diet owner Casey Thomas opined in a recent Natural Products Insider e-sports report: “At a bare minimum, data supporting a brand’s choice for an ingredient should come from healthy, young individuals. E-sports players can trust the connection much easier. Stop citing clinical conditions.” 23

Nutrients in this space include MCTs, DHA omega-3, lutein, CBD, ginseng, L-theanine, L-tyrosine, phosphatidylserine (PS), pine bark extract, rhodiola, and B vitamins.

UK firm Brite 24 – founded two years ago by a professional swimmer and a chemical engineer – makes much of its scientific credentials, boasting that its Liquid Focus drinks are “based on research by leading neuroscientists, made with nature’s superfoods”.

The science is, however, generic to the key ingredients here: caffeine and L-theanine sourced from organic matcha, guarana, and guayusa, and which the firm says delivers “better focus and productivity”.

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