Advocare Spark powdered energy drink comes in 10 different flavors, contains 120 mg caffeine, and is sugar-free. It has been growing its customer base over the years but does the scope include those who are on a particular vegan diet?
Fret not because Advocare Spark mainly contains vegan-friendly ingredients. You can have reservations though if you’re an ethical vegan because it’s not fool-proof that each ingredient is tested free of animals.
Each 7g serving contains a plethora of vitamins and minerals to keep you ready to tackle the world.
Let us discuss the nature of Advocare Spark even more and why I consider it a vegan-friendly caffeinated beverage!
Contents
What is a Vegan Diet?
Veganism refers to the elimination of animal products and animal by-products from one’s diet in its most narrow sense.
Plant-based foods are emphasized in this diet, such as vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains, seeds, and beans.
It is strongly recommended that vegans avoid products that serve to promote or benefit animal exploitation. Examples include:
- Clothing made from animals
- The use of animated characters in entertainment
- Testing products on animals
- Making something with the help of animals
Being a vegan involves strong advocacy focused on taking care of animal lives, regardless of whether it is a lifestyle, a practice, or simply a diet to follow.
Let’s see if Advocare Spark includes their content as part of this advocacy.
Advocare Spark Ingredients
Here is the list of ingredients in every serving of Spark energy as posted on their website:
- Copper (as copper glycinate)
- Chromium (as chromium citrate)
- Choline (as bitartrate and citrate)
- L-Tyrosine
- Taurine
- Caffeine
- Vitamin A (as beta-carotene)
- Vitamin B-6 (as pyridoxine HCl)
- Vitamin B-12 (as cyanocobalamin)
- Vitamin C (as ascorbic acid)
- Vitamin E (as d-alpha tocopheryl acetate)
- Thiamine (as HCl)
- Riboflavin
- Niacin (as niacinamide)
- Pantothenic acid (as calcium pantothenate)
- Zinc (as zinc monomethionine)
- Copper (as copper glycinate)
- Chromium (as chromium citrate)
- Choline (as bitartrate and citrate)
- L-Tyrosine
- Taurine
- Caffeine
- Glycine
- L-Carnitine (as tartrate)
- Inositol
- Maltodextrin
- Citric acid
- Sucralose
- Silicon dioxide
Now that we’ve covered the list of ingredients, let’s take a look at their derivatives to determine whether the rest of Advocare Spark is vegan.
Supplements
Your body needs vitamins to function properly. Vitamins are necessary to maintain good health. If you do not consume enough vitamins, you are likely to become malnourished.
Check out this table below for a quick overview of nutrition in each Spark serving.
| Vitamins | Sources | Can it be made vegan? Yes/No |
| Vitamin A | animals, fortified milk | No |
| Vitamin C | plants, animals | Yes |
| Vitamin E | plants, | Yes |
| Thiamin | plants, animals, | Yes |
| Riboflavin | plants, animals, | Yes |
| Niacin | plants, animals, | Yes |
| Vitamin B6 | plants, animals, | Yes |
| Vitamin B12 | animals, fortified plant-based food | Yes |
| Pantothenic Acid | animals, plants | Yes |
Advocare Spark Nutrition Facts
I strongly believe that energy drinks should offer something more than their caffeinated kick. Here is the nutritional label in Spark Energy:
| Nutrient | Amount per serving | % Daily Value |
| Saturated Fat | 0g | 0% |
| Trans Fat | 0g | 0 |
| Cholesterol | 0mg | 0 |
| Sodium | 0mg | 0 |
| Total Carbohydrate | 4g | 1 |
| Sugar | 0g | 0 |
| Protein | 0g | 0 |
| Calcium | 0mg | 0 |
| Iron | 0mg | 0 |
| Vitamin A | 50mcg | 6 |
| Vitamin C | 180mcg | 200 |
Benefits of Spark Vitamins and Minerals
The table shows each and every vitamin and mineral in a glass of Advocare Spark energy supplement. Although it is in powdered form amounting only to 7g, I can say that it really is jam-packed with nutrition to the very last drop!
| Beta-Carotene | Promotes good vision and eye health, and it contributes to healthier skin. |
| Ascorbic Acid | Antioxidant that wards off free radicals and control infections. |
| D-alpha Tocopheryl Acetate | Prevents UV rays from damaging the skin and cognitive decline. |
| Thiamine | Prevents diseases such as beriberi, nervous system, brain, and heart complications. |
| Riboflavin | Helps in red blood cell production and the body’s growth phases. |
| Niacin | Functions as a coenzyme and converts fat into energy. It also helps the body create and maintain DNA. |
| Pyridoxine HCl | Aids in anemia, heart disease, or PMS prevention. |
| Cyanocobalamin | Keeps the nervous system healthy, maintains the blood, and boosts energy levels. |
| Pantothenic Acid | Breaks down fat and reduces bad cholesterol levels in the body. Also converts protein and fat into energy. |
| Choline | Enhances muscles and is a crucial nutrient in fetal development and cognitive functions. |
| Zinc | Boosts immune system, wound healing, and decreases inflammation. |
| Copper | Maintains healthy bones and blood vessels. It also helps prevent osteoporosis and heart failure. |
| Chromium | Vital in protein, lipid, and carbohydrate digestion. It also improves insulin sensitivity. |
| L-Tyrosine | Helps clarify mentality during stressful situations and has antidepressant functions. |
| Glycine | Improves sleep quality, promotes collagen production, and protects the heart and liver. |
| L-Carnitine | Responsible for mitochondrial function, burns fat, and helps with weight loss. |
| Taurine | Forms bile salt in the body, regulates the immune system, and supports the central nervous system |
| Inositol | Aids anxiety and blood sugar control, improve PCOS, and blood lipid regulation. |
This is one of the main reasons why Spark Energy is part of my go-to list of beverages. I am fond of energy drinks that have so much more to offer than making me stay up all night.
Check out the healthiest energy drinks in the present market in my opinion.
Caffeine in Advocare Spark
If you follow a vegan diet, you shouldn’t avoid caffeine as it is an absolutely vegan ingredient. Caffeine is obtained from plant sources and is considered safe to consume for vegans.
Caffeine stimulates your central nervous system, helps you learn, solve problems, and make decisions more effectively.
Advocare Spark delivers 120mg of caffeine in a single serving. This is exactly the right amount if you’re looking for an energy drink that can increase your energy without the crash right after.
Personally, I like to take energy drinks that contain caffeine ranging from 50 to 100 mg. I find that if I over exceed my personal limit, I tend to lose sleep over the next few days.
You should be aware of your limits because too much caffeine is not ideal. Here are the more extreme side effects of caffeine overdose:
- Osteoporosis
- Anxiety
- Insomnia
- Highblood pressure
- Bleeding Disorders
- Diarrhea
- Digestive issues
If you’re looking for other low-caffeine energy drinks, I got what you need right here.
Sugar in Advocare Spark
Advocare Spark is sugar-free! However, it does have artificial sweeteners in its formulation to enhance flavor.
Artificial sweeteners in Advocare Spark
The artificial sweetener in Advocare Spark is sucralose. In many products that require sweetening, it’s a very popular additive.
The FDA has deemed it as a ‘non-nutritive ingredient’ since it contains zero calories. In addition to satisfying your sweet tooth, it does not contain any other nutrients.
Due to its 600-fold sweetness level, you only need a small amount of sucralose to match the sweetness of regular sugar.
Since it is non-calorie, it has no harmful effects on your body.
Is Sucralose Vegan?
Sugarcane plants produce sucrose (sugar), which is a source of sucralose. Sucralose is derived from plants.
However, Advocare Spark uses the sucralose brand Splenda, which has been linked to extensive animal testing since 2000.
The process is estimated to have resulted in the deaths of 12,000 animals.
The fact that Splenda’s products are plant-derived does not qualify them as a vegan brand since they participate in and even kill thousands of animals during their testing process.
L- Tyrosine in Advocare Spark
It is unclear if Advocare Spark’s L-Tyrosine content is ethically vegan since we do not know where the L-Tyrosine is sourced from.
Among its many benefits, L-Tyrosine helps with memory and counteracts the effects of sleep deprivation, which makes it an excellent ingredient for energy drinks.
Advocare Spark is fortunate to have it.
Although some variations of it are derived from animals, L-Tyrosine is often derived from synthetic or plant sources.
In any case, if you’re vegan mainly for health reasons, the effects are virtually the same regardless of how the animal was raised, so it’s not that big of a deal to you.
L-Carnitine in Advocare Spark
Advocare Spark contains carnitine, which may be beneficial to vegans and vegetarians who have lower levels of carnitine in their bodies.
A popular claim that L-Carnitine helps the body burn fat for energy is not supported by science.
It’s probably best to choose supplements if you’re vegan and want to take care of your carnitine levels rather than relying on energy drinks to supply you with enough.
Calories in Advocare Spark
The calorie count of Advocare Spark is very low, as it contains only 15 calories per serving.
Due to its small calorie count, Advocare Spark is an excellent choice for those watching their weight.
Your body stores calories that were not burned if you consumed them but didn’t burn them up, causing you to gain weight later on. That’s how obesity occurs.
A big amount of calories is never a good idea if you aren’t active enough to burn them off.
Is Advocare Spark Vegan?
There is no vegan version of Advocare Spark. The brand doesn’t claim to be one either and has clearly stated this on the website.
The tables above can be used to see that a few of their ingredients cannot be deemed vegan due to the fact that they are derived from animals alone or the creation process involves cruelty to animals.
A majority of Advocare Spark’s ingredients are available in plants, making them vegan with the exception of vitamin A and taurine.
In this video below, you can see what happens to your body if you transition to a vegan diet:
Can AdvoCare Spark cause kidney stones?
Advocare’s Spark energy drink has been linked to a rare kind of kidney stone. If you drink Advocare in moderation and don’t already have a medical issue, you won’t have any serious problems, just as with any other kind of energy drink.
With this in mind, you should see your doctor before making any changes to your prescription or health routine.
Does Spark have creatine?
Multi-nutrient supplement AdvoCare-Spark energy contains ergogenic aids including creatine and caffeine. There’s also the Advocare Spark energy drink, which markets itself as a special combination of 20 vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that act synergistically to improve one’s mood and stamina.
Vitamins and minerals, such as the B-complex vitamins, are also essential to maintaining a healthy body and mind. All indications are that things will continue to move well.
Can you lose weight with spark?
Energy drinks like Advocare Spark have gained popularity as a rapid solution to losing weight, but there is no scientific proof to back this claim. The kind of improvements you want to achieve, including sustained energy and weight management, may be more easily attained if you focus on the long term rather than on fast solutions.
However, your metabolism may benefit from some of the substances included in energy drinks. Caffeine in them boosts your metabolism and makes you feel more energized. The amino acid taurine is sometimes present in them. Increased metabolic rate and fat loss are possible benefits of taurine. Increased metabolic rate and fat loss are possible benefits of taurine.”
Alternatives to Spark Energy Drink
Here are other energy drink brands aside from Advocare Spark:
Other noteworthy mentions
Conclusion
Advocare Spark is not 100% vegan-friendly because some of its ingredients have unknown origins. That being said, you can still drink it if you consider yourself a vegan for the health benefits.
Ethical vegans should steer clear of this drink as the sugar alternative is known to be tested on animals. Aside from this, several ingredients are also lacking information about its sources.
Since I am not on a vegan diet, I consume Advocare Spark when the craving calls. I just watch out for the caffeine content.
Although not high on the caffeine scale compared to other brands, its still best to watch your consumption when it comes to energy drinks in general.