Every day, we’re presented with new brand names with the guarantee that they will work. And that when they do, they will be exactly what we require. Half of the time, they aren’t even close to being as true as the advertising implied.
So, how about Sneak? Is Sneak able to keep its promises? Fortunately, there are some things we can look at to figure it out.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve already bought a Sneak tub or not—understanding these can do you a lot of favors when deciding on your next purchase.
Anyway, the short answer is Sneak does work. It has 200mg of caffeine to keep you awake and boost your energy together with your focus, with other notable ingredients to keep your overall energy levels up.
Let’s look into the ingredients and see whether Sneak Energy is the drink for you.
Contents
Sneak Ingredients
Here’s what you can find in a tub of Sneak:
- L-Tyrosine
- L-Taurine
- Alpha GPC
- Caffeine anhydrous
- Carnitine
- Maltodextrin
- Malic acid
- Natural Flavors
- Sucralose
- Acesulfame Potassium
- Spirulina Powder (food coloring)
- Silicon Dioxide
How Much Caffeine is in Sneak Energy?
Sneak Energy has 200mg per serving.
Caffeine is one of the most important ingredients in an energy drink. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one without it. It’s a stimulant, meaning it’s a type of drug that promotes alertness and hastens bodily functions.
This is pretty much why caffeine is famous for being good for boosting your energy and focus levels.
All forms of caffeine come from coffee beans, which can be found all over the world. Another good source of caffeine in nature would be guarana, an eye-shaped plant from Brazil.
But despite all the perks it offers, it does have side effects. Drinking too much caffeine from any source will leave you more vulnerable to experiencing them.
These side effects are:
- Headaches
- Foul moods
- Anxiety
- Insomnia (difficulty falling/staying asleep)
- Needing the toilet often
- Palpitations (fast heartbeat)
- Twitching (muscle tremors)
According to the FDA, a healthy adult can consume no more than 400mg of caffeine every day. That’s as far as you can go without risking a trip to the emergency room or encountering any of the side effects listed above.
Taurine in Sneak Energy
Taurine is an amino acid that can normally be produced by the body. It can also be found in many foods when it isn’t being used as an ingredient in energy drinks or supplements. Outside of Sneak, you can find taurine in meat, fish, and dairy products.
Taurine is found in the eyes, brain, heart, and muscles. It’s also an important component in many processes and serves many functions in your body.
Taurine’s roles in the body include:
- Maintaining electrolyte count
- Regulating minerals (e.g calcium) can be found in your cells
- Keeping your cells hydrated
- Regulating your immune system
- Making bile salts you can use in digestion
- Regulating antioxidants
Likewise, Taurine has been linked to improved heart health, athletic performance, and a lower risk of diabetes. However, having too much taurine from energy drinks and the like is not a good idea.
Most people are capable of producing enough taurine to suit their needs on their own or with their diets. So it’s actually not necessary to get an additional source in energy drinks. And even if you did have a deficiency, going to the doctor or buying normal supplements from the pharmacy would be a better option.
Vitamins in Sneak Energy
Sneak is loaded with vitamins that can help with your metabolism and improve your energy levels.
There are a lot, so it’d be difficult to list and discuss them individually. But there’s a table that handily summarizes what you can find in a serving of Sneak Energy.
| Name on the can | Common name | Amount (%DV) |
| Ascorbic Acid | Vitamin C | 80mg (89%) |
| Thiamin | Vitamin B1 | 165mcg (14%) |
| Riboflavin | Vitamin B2 | 120mcg (9%) |
| Pyridoxine Hydrochloride | Vitamin B6 | 219mcg (12%) |
| Folate/Folic Acid | Vitamin B9 | 30mcg (13%) |
| Cyanocobalamin | Vitamin B12 | .6mcg (25%) |
| Biotin | Vitamin B7 | 37mcg (123%) |
| Pantothenic Acid | Vitamin B5 | 750mcg (15%) |
Basically, Sneak has a lot of B-vitamins (also known as the B-complex) and Vitamin C.
All of these vitamins are water-soluble, which means that any excess will pass through your system via urine rather than being absorbed. Sneak, on the other hand, has all of these in very small quantities. That is to say, the amount of Sneak in a serving is far less than your daily limit for any of them.
Although they differ in some ways, B-vitamins all help the body’s metabolism. Even when not found in energy drinks, they have been linked to increased energy and focus, as well as other health benefits.
B-vitamins can be found in meat, legumes, vegetables, and seafood. Vitamin C is similar to Vitamin B in that it aids metabolism and can provide you with more energy. It also helps to strengthen the immune system and maintain the health of your skin, cartilage, and bones.
Outside of energy drinks, you can find Vitamin C in fruits and vegetables. The most commonly recognized sources of Vitamin C are citrus fruits.
Does Sneak Contain Food Additives?
Like any other processed drink, Sneak Energy has a lot of food additives in its formula. As expected, most of these are for either sweetening Sneak’s flavor or a preservative.
Artificial Sweeteners
Sneak contains artificial sweeteners. The artificial sweeteners you can find in Sneak are Sucralose and Acesulfame Potassium (Ace-K).
Artificial sweeteners are a kind of sugar substitute many use. People usually use artificial sweeteners to reduce sugar content and sugar intake for reasons varying from managing health conditions (e.g diabetes) to losing weight.
In energy drinks, using artificial sweeteners sometimes makes sugar unnecessary. Many energy drink brands use artificial sweeteners to flavor their products so they can be sugar-free.
Examples of brands that do this include:
- G Fuel (cans and powder)
- 3D
- Sneak
- Raze
And many more!
You can have an energy drink that’s both tasty and has a much smaller chance of giving you a crash. After all, you’ll only be dealing with the caffeine if there isn’t any sugar to give you another reason to crash.
Despite what the label might make you think, artificial sweeteners are often several hundred times sweeter than sugar. They’re also considered calorie-free products, which means they contribute 5 or fewer calories overall.
Sucralose is an artificial sweetener that’s made from sucrose (sugar). It’s synthesized in a lab through a process that involves replacing three hydrogen-oxygen groups with chlorine atoms.
The result is an artificial sweetener that’s 600 times sweeter than sugar. This process results in sucralose having a chemical structure that prevents it from being absorbed during digestion. Instead, it goes out with your urine.
Acesulfame Potassium is a similar substance to sucralose. Ace-K is made in a lab by combining acetoacetic acid with Potassium. However, Ace-K has a bitter aftertaste in spite of being 200 times sweeter than sugar.
This is why manufacturers usually mix it with another artificial sweetener (like sucralose) when using it to flavor a product.
As of the writing, both sucralose and Ace-K are considered safe to consume by the FDA.
Maltodextrin
Maltodextrin is a starchy powder that’s used for a lot of things. These include being used as a preservative, thickening agent, and artificial sweetener.
It has no nutritional value, but provides energy quickly and is easy to digest. This is why it often appears as an ingredient in energy drinks.
Maltodextrin is derived from grain, as the name implies. It’s made specifically from the starch that can be derived from plants. Although it’s typically made from grains such as wheat, barley, and rye, it’s gluten-free due to the processing the grains go through.
Supplements in Sneak
Sneak’s formula includes ingredients other than caffeine and taurine to increase its effectiveness. Many of these are considered to boost your energy or focus in some way.
Here are some of the supplements you can find in Sneak Energy:
Tyrosine
Tyrosine is an amino acid associated with increased focus, alertness, and attention. It can be either made in the body or taken through foods like cheese, meat, and fish.
It’s also important in the production of many important substances, including some neurotransmitters.
Here’s a table to sum it all up:
| Chemical | Function |
| Adrenaline | Prepares the body for fight-or-flight responses in times of stress. |
| Noradrenaline | Prepares the body for fight-or-flight responses in times of stress. |
| Thyroid hormones | Regulate metabolism. Produced in the thyroid |
| Dopamine | Involved in memory and motor skills. Regulates pleasure center of the brain |
| Melanin | Pigment. Decides your skin, eyes, and hair colors |
L-Carnitine
L-Carnitine (also known as levocarnitine) is an amino acid that boosts cognitive functions and energy production. Like Tyrosine, it can be either produced in the body or found in supplements.
To be more specific on how it gives you energy, it helps your body break down fats for energy. That allows your body to make use of the energy it has stored up and consistently support your activities.
Alpha GPC
Alpha GPC is a supplement that gives you more Acetylcholine.
Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter that’s important for memory and learning. As of right now, we know that taking supplements that increase its presence in the body helps Alzheimer’s patients. However, there isn’t enough evidence to say Alpha GPC benefits healthy people too.
How Does Sneak Give You Energy?
As mentioned, Sneak gives you energy through caffeine.
Caffeine works by blocking adenosine. Adenosine is a substance your body produces to promote sleepiness and tiredness throughout the day.
This makes caffeine great for keeping you awake through tedious tasks and giving you the energy you need to perform. However, this is also responsible for caffeine’s ability to rob you of sleep if you aren’t used to it or drank too much.
How Long Does Sneak Last?
Sneak can last for 4-6 hours after consumption.
This is confirmed by Sneak’s official website, on their FAQ page. It also says you’ll typically feel the effects in 10 minutes. These answers line up well with how long it takes for caffeine to kick in and its half-life.
Caffeine’s half-life refers to when the amount of caffeine in your bloodstream is half of what it originally was. Usually, it takes 3-6 hours for caffeine to reach its half-life.
From there, the amount you have in your body slowly goes down until it’s completely gone from your system. That’s more than enough time to get things done in most cases.
Just be careful not to drink Sneak too late in the day if you don’t want to lose sleep. Depending on your tolerance, caffeine from a serving you had at 4 pm might still be there when you try to sleep at 10.
Conclusion
Yes, Sneak does work. It has 200mg of caffeine and some vitamins and amino acids that can boost your energy and focus.
In my opinion, Sneak sounds exactly like the sort of thing you can turn to when you need to study. Besides the ever-famous caffeine, it has other substances that can add to your focus.
Having said that, I don’t recommend students below the age of 18 drink this. The caffeine levels on Sneak are way beyond what a minor can safely consume. And frankly, no test or bit of homework is more important than your health and well-being.
I’d also advise against drinking this if you’re pregnant or sensitive to caffeine for similar reasons.
If you’re curious about what Sneak’s flavors are like, here’s a reviewer who also did a taste test.