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Guarana: Why The Caffeine Alternative is Problematic

Guarana is many times stronger than coffee. Here we explain how the liana plant is cultivated and what is problematic about it from an ecological point of view.

Guarana: A liana-like plant from the rainforest

Growth form: Although the guarana plant is one of the soap tree plants, its growth form is actually not a tree. Guarana is one of the lianas and is more like a shrub, but it can grow up to fifteen meters high.

Development: When the plant is young, guarana has brown, hairy, woody branches. Over time, these become softer and bare, so that they are more and more reminiscent of lianas. The plant has large, oblong to oval leaves that can grow up to 35 cm long. It also has deep red flowers that gradually lighten. At the end remains a capsule-like fruit, three centimeters in diameter, containing small black seeds. When ripe, it opens up and resembles the shape of an eye.

Area: The exotic fruit loves tropical and subtropical climates and is native to the Amazon rainforest. There it grows wild among the diverse other jungle plants. The harvest workers cover five to ten kilometers a day on beaten paths.

Harvest: The harvested fruits are stored in sacks for four to six days. During this time, the shell separates from the seeds and the caffeine content increases to four percent. The seeds are then crushed, sorted by hand, washed and completely separated from the shells. The latter are still used as natural fertilizer.

Then it’s time to wait again: the kernels are dried in the sun until they only contain seven percent moisture. This can take a few hours to days. When they have dried sufficiently, they are freed from dust and dirt using a kind of wind tunnel and then ground into powder.

The main active ingredients in Guarana

The most important ingredient in guarana is caffeine: the caffeine content of guarana powder is between 0.9 and 7.6 percent – and thus significantly higher than the caffeine content of coffee, which only manages 1.2 to 1.3 percent. In addition, caffeine in guarana is much better tolerated by the human body than that in coffee.

These active ingredients make Guarana so effective:
Caffeine: The caffeine in guarana takes about 45 minutes to kick in, but it takes time to reach its full potential, which is why the effects can last up to six hours. This is due to the tannins to which the caffeine in guarana is bound and which have to be broken down little by little.
Tannins: These tannins also kill bacteria and cause the gastrointestinal tract to contract. This has also led to the use of guarana as a diarrhea remedy.
Saponins: The saponins – or soap substances – contained in guarana also have a draining effect, stimulate the kidneys and support the gastrointestinal system. Because of the saponins, guarana also has an antibacterial effect and is used against salmonella and choli bacteria.
Theophylline and theobromine: The theophylline and theobromine contained in guarana also stimulate kidney function, support heart activity and have a stimulating and stimulating effect.

effects of guarana

Specifically, caffeine and thus guarana has the following effects:
It provides energy, wakes you up and increases performance.
Caffeine stimulates kidney activity.
Caffeine stimulates the digestive organs, lungs and liver.
It also improves heart activity by expanding blood vessels.
And brain activity is also increased.
Like all products containing caffeine, guarana can also cause heart palpitations, high blood pressure, nervousness, sleep disorders or tremors. In rarer cases, guarana also harbors an allergy potential or can lead to abdominal pain.
Some Guarana is also praised as a “slimming agent” because it suppresses the feeling of hunger for a while. However, its effect as a diet agent is very controversial.
Other studies have also proven the blood-thinning effect of guarana, which makes it possible to use it as a remedy for thrombosis.
Because of all these effects, guarana is also often used as a remedy for hangovers. In this country it is usually available as a powder or in ready-mixed drinks. Guarana capsules, muesli bars with guarana or guarana chewing gum are also available for purchase.

How to use guarana

How to prepare the energy drink yourself:
Stir 1 teaspoon of powder into 250ml of hot water. Let the drink steep for a moment.

Caution: If you consume more than three to four grams of guarana a day, this can lead to tachycardia or high blood pressure. To be on the safe side, you should also always read the information on the packaging – because the caffeine content of guarana, as I said, varies greatly. Pregnant women and people suffering from high blood pressure should not take Guarana.

Guarana from an ecological point of view

Like many products from warmer climates, guarana has to travel long distances before it reaches German supermarkets. In contrast to coffee, however, guarana is not cultivated in monocultural plantations, but extracted from its natural environment.

If you don’t want to do without guarana, you should consume it in moderation and pay attention to the organic and fair trade seal when buying it. Such excellent products were grown under fair social and ecological conditions.

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Food

Acrylamide: Why The Substance is Problematic

Acrylamide is found in many foods and is considered potentially carcinogenic. We’ll tell you what you need to know about acrylamide and how to avoid it.

Acrylamide forms when high-carbohydrate foods are heated to high temperatures, especially above 180 degrees Celsius. The substance is created through the interaction of sugars contained in carbohydrates and the amino acid asparagine. This is found in cereals and potatoes, among other things.

Which foods contain a lot of acrylamide?

Baked, fried or roasted foods that contain a lot of carbohydrates and little water are particularly high in acrylamide. According to the consumer center, high acrylamide levels were found in these foods, among others:

Potato products: chips, fries, croquettes, fried potatoes
Pastries: toast, crispbread, cookies, gingerbread (especially those containing staghorn salt)
Coffee, especially instant coffee
toasted nuts and cereals

How harmful is acrylamide?

According to a report by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the intake of acrylamide through food potentially increases the risk of cancer. This applies to all age groups, but especially to children, since they quickly absorb relatively large amounts of acrylamide due to their low body weight.

So far, there are no human studies that can prove the increased risk of cancer. However, various animal experiments have shown that the substance glycidamide – a major metabolite of acrylamide – can cause gene mutations and promote the development of tumors.

What you can do to avoid acrylamide

It is not yet possible to say exactly what quantity of acrylamide is harmful to health. Accordingly, it makes sense if you try to consume as little of it as possible. Here are some tips on how to avoid acrylamide:
Try to eat the above foods high in acrylamide in moderation.
Prepare carbohydrate-rich foods such as potatoes or rice gently: no acrylamide is produced during cooking, stewing or steaming.
If you want to bake, roast or roast potato products, do this at the lowest possible temperatures (maximum 200 degrees in the oven or 180 degrees with convection) and as briefly as possible. Turn the food so it doesn’t get too dark – a light brown is enough. The browner the crust, the higher the acrylamide content.
When preparing fries in the fryer, you should make sure that the temperature stays below 170 degrees. Use enough oil, preheat the fryer and only cook small batches at a time. Otherwise the cooking time will be longer.
Don’t store potatoes in the fridge. The low temperatures increase the sugar content, which later promotes the formation of acrylamide during preparation.
The consumer center advises breakfast cereals that do not consist of toasted ingredients to avoid acrylamide. Put together your own muesli, for example, from fresh oats and other unroasted grains.

Reduce acrylamide when baking

Acrylamide is also formed when cereal products are baked. With these tips from a study by the University of Hohenheim, you can reduce the formation of acrylamide when baking:
Since yeast breaks down the protein asparagine and sugar, both of which are responsible for the formation of acrylamide, you should allow longer rising times for your yeast dough (about 2 hours).
You should not flour your baked goods on the outside, as the acrylamide forms in the freshly applied flour.
You should bake your baked goods at lower temperatures, between 160°C and 170°C, as the acrylamide content will probably rise sharply above 170° Celsius.
Because most acrylamide is found in browned crusts on baked goods, avoid dark browning.

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Food

Exotic Fruits: Not Only the Climate Balance is Problematic

Exotic fruits are part of the standard range of every supermarket. Here’s why you should avoid the sweet tropical fruits.

You can buy pineapple, mango and Co. at relatively low prices in almost every German supermarket and discounter. A central ecological problem of the exotic fruits is obvious: the plants come from tropical areas. Accordingly, the fruits are grown in distant countries and imported to Germany. They have to cover long transport routes and consequently have a bad ecological balance.

The CO2 emissions caused by transport get into the atmosphere and continue to drive global warming there. But the contribution to the climate crisis is not the only downside of tropical fruits.

Exotic fruits: list

The following types of fruit are among the best-known tropical fruits that you will find in German supermarkets:

Acai
acerola
pineapple
avocado
bananas
dates
figs
goji berries
pomegranate
guava
jackfruit
persimmon
prickly pear
star fruit / carambola
kiwi
lychee
mango
mangosteen
papaya
Passion Fruit / Maracuja
Pitaya / dragon fruit
Tamarillo / Tree Tomato
tamarind

Exotic fruits: monocultures and pesticides

Farmers grow many exotic fruits in monocultures. This not only damages the structure of the soil, but also makes the plants more susceptible to pests. Farmers are therefore increasingly relying on chemical-synthetic pesticides. Many of these pesticides are suspected of being carcinogenic. Occupational health and safety measures are often neglected.

Machines sometimes still spray the environmental toxins when workers are still in the field. In doing so, you regularly come into direct contact with the harmful substance. And even without direct skin contact, there can be health consequences: according to Deutschland Funk Kultur, harmful pesticides are regularly sprayed in large quantities on pineapple plantations in Cartagena, a port city in Costa Rica. As a result, students in a school near the plantations regularly complained of headaches, skin rashes, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting.

Scientists confirmed that the pesticides were not only found on the plantation itself, but also in dust, hair from livestock and human saliva, among other things, and could be detected.

Rainstorms also ensure that pesticides are flushed from the plantations into water bodies. There they harm animals and plants and ultimately contaminate the groundwater. In communities around the plantations, it is therefore extremely dangerous to health to drink water from the tap.

It is not uncommon for rainforest areas to be cleared for plantations or sensitive ecosystems to be invaded. This promotes the extinction of species, as many animal and plant species lose their habitat.

Tropical fruits: working conditions on plantations

In addition to a lack of occupational safety, there are other labor and human rights violations on tropical fruit plantations. According to an Oxfam report reporting on the cultivation of bananas and pineapples in Ecuador and Costa Rica,…

Employers deliberately do not inform their workers about their rights.
some employees do not receive a copy of their employment contract.
workers have to work up to twelve hours at a time on the plantation to receive the daily minimum wage, which actually applies to an eight-hour day.
pregnancy is often a reason for dismissal without notice.
Employees usually have no social security.
immigrants who do not yet have their own apartment and work in the fields have to live together in a very small space.
Employers do not offer medical care in the event of pesticide poisoning or work-related accidents.

Exotic fruits at cheap prices

Precarious working conditions, environmental toxins, deforestation and long transport routes are behind the relatively inexpensive exotic fruits in European supermarkets. Or in short: exploited people and an exploited nature.

According to Oxfam, German supermarkets should take responsibility for these abuses. After all, it is the German corporations that want to keep lowering the price from suppliers in order to be able to score points with customers with cheap prices. Farmers in the country of origin have to bow to this aggressive price policy.

You can do that!

In order not to support the abuses surrounding the cultivation of exotic fruits, you as a consumer can use:in your purchasing power:

It is best if you eat tropical fruits in moderation. For a good ecological balance, you should prefer regional and seasonal fruit varieties. You can find out which fruit is available when from German cultivation in our seasonal calendar.
Pay attention to organic certified goods when buying! In this way you can be sure that farmers have avoided chemical-synthetic pesticides during cultivation. Seals with particularly strict requirements are Demeter and Naturland.
When buying, also look for trustworthy seals that guarantee compliance with ecological and social standards. You should not only pay attention to the organic, but also to the Fairtrade seal.
Fruits with the Rainforest Alliance seal are also subject to far-reaching social and ecological requirements. Although the seal with the green frog cannot quite keep up with the strict Fairtrade seal or the EU organic seal, it still stands for high social and ecological standards.

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