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Is Reign Energy Drink Vegan? (And More)

Reign has become quite the popular energy drink, especially among gym-goers. It’s low in calories, has zero fat, zero added sugars and. But is it vegan as well?

While not a major concern for a lot of people, some brands have been known to take certain special dietary practices into consideration when formulating their products. Is Reign one of them?

Reign Energy Drink Cans
Is Reign vegan?

A quick answer would be no, simply because Reign Energy Drink hasn’t claimed that their energy drink is vegan, and there are certain ingredients that may contain animal products or have been tested on animals, which may dissuade ethically-minded vegans.

A short answer like this may not be enough to satisfy you, especially if you’re a vegan who’s thinking of trying Reign Energy Drink. Keep reading if you want to learn more about the different ingredients of Reign Energy Drink and why they may not be vegan friendly.

What is Veganism?

Veganism is a form of dietary restriction where you avoid eating any food products that contain animals. This advocacy promotes the prevention of animal exploitation and animal cruelty — whether it be in a form of food, clothing, or any product.

However, some vegans have been known to adopt the lifestyle out of health and medical reasons, not merely ethical or spiritual ones.

If you’re new to veganism, here’s a great video that can guide you:

BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO VEGANISM » how to go vegan

Vegan vs Vegetarian

Being vegan is pretty similar to being vegetarian, but you can think of veganism as a stricter form of the diet.

When you’re a vegetarian you don’t eat meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, or by-products of animal slaughter. However, vegetarians still consume milk and eggs.

On the other hand, vegans literally avoid anything that is related to animals. They avoid milks, eggs, and even products that were tested on animals.

Importance of Veganism

The advocacy of veganism is really vital to our generation, it has a lot of purpose that most people doesn’t notice.

Therefore the environmental and social impacts of meat production, along with the huge economic investment required to farm livestock, present an inadequate solution to food security in developing countries. How can veganism help? A vegan diet uses significantly less water and land for its production than a meat diet

Vegan Life Mag

Benefits of Veganism

Here’s a list showing the benefits you can get from veganism:

  • a vegan diet is richer in certain nutrients
  • being vegan can help you lose excess weight
  • veganism appears to lower blood sugar levels and improve kidney function
  • a vegan diet may protect against certain cancers
  • living a vegan life is linked to a lower risk of heart disease
  • a vegan diet can reduce pain from arthritis

What Makes an Energy Drink Vegan?

To be considered vegan, a beverage like energy drinks must have validations. Also, the companies that produce these products should confirm them as a product safe for vegans to consume.

Vegan Certification

An energy drink must not contain any animal ingredients during the manufacturing process or have been tested on animals to be considered a vegan beverage.

You can visit vegan.org to see other products that are safe for vegans to consume and also a list of conditions and criteria that makes a food product qualify for a vegan label

Vegan Label

Vegan labels can also be called v-labels, they’ve registered symbols that label products and services as vegan-friendly. With this label, it can help educate consumers on how a product can be considered vegan and as well as if what they’re buying is good for vegans or not.

Energy drinks that have a certified vegan label stamped on it is considered safe for vegans. However, you may be wondering why some energy drinks don’t have vegan labels even though none of their ingredients seem to contain any animal products.

There are two possible reasons. Firs ome energy drink brands simply don’t bother to get certified under a vegan label, second, some energy drink brands contain ingredients that have undergone animal testing, like food dyes and flavorings.

If an energy drink contains sucralose, I can guarantee you its Splenda, which has a dark history of animal testing that a lot of people are ignoring.

Vegan Ingredients in Reign

It’s important to look at the ingredients of a food or beverage to determine whether it’s vegan or not. I’ll explicitly explain the important ingredients later but for now, here’s a list of Reign’s Energy Drink ingredients:

  • Carbonated Water
  • Citric Acid
  • Sodium Citrate
  • L-Leucine
  • Natural Flavors
  • Caffeine
  • L-Isoleucine
  • L-Valine
  • Sodium Benzoate
  • Sucralose
  • Potassium Citrate
  • Potassium Sorbate
  • Acesulfame Potassium
  • Niacinamide (Vitamin B3)
  • Magnesium Lactate
  • Coenzyme Q-10
  • Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6)
  • Cyanocobalamin (Vitamin B12)

Caffeine

The most important ingredient of them all in the list is caffeine, it’s the ingredient that causes you to feel awake and makes you energized as well. It acts as an adenosine receptor antagonist or, in layman’s terms, it means that caffeine prevents you from feeling sleepy.

The benefits you can reap from caffeine are:

  • Improved cognition
  • Weight loss
  • Alertness
  • Improves physical performance
  • Reduced inflammation
  • Lowered the risk of chronic diseases

Reign Energy Drink contains 300mg, which is considered a lot. The recommended intake of caffeine is 400mg and drinking two cans of Reign Energy Drink will make you exceed the limit.

Despite the benefits that caffeine offers your body, overconsuming it can lead to side effects like:

  • Dizziness
  • Diarrhea
  • Increased thirst
  • Insomnia
  • Headache
  • Irregular or Fast Heartbeat
  • Nausea
  • Fever
  • Irritability

Are the Ingredients in Reign Energy Drink Vegan?

Vegan plate
Is it vegan?

To understand whether an ingredient is vegan or not, you need to know its properties and source. Here’s a table specifically showing the properties and sources of Reign Energy Drink’s ingredients:

IngredientsPropertiesSourceIs It Vegan?
Citric Acid
Natural preservative, adds a sour taste to the drink
Plant-based/
Synthetic
Yes
Sodium CitrateFull additive, flavor or preservativeSyntheticYes
L-EucineBranch-Chained Amino AcidSyntheticYes
Natural FlavorsFlavoringPlant-basedYes
CaffeineStimulantPlant-basedYes
L-IsoleucineBranch-Chained Amino AcidSyntheticYes
L-ValineBranch-Chained Amino AcidSyntheticYes
Sodium BenzoatePreservativeSyntheticYes
SucraloseSweetenerSyntheticDepends, sucralose is generally fine for vegans because it doesn’t contain animal products. But sucralose isn’t good for ethical vegans since sucralose might involve animal testing.
Potassium CitrateAcidity regulatorSyntheticYes
Potassium SorbatePreservativeSyntheticYes
Acesulfame PotassiumSweetenerSyntheticYes
Niacinamide (Vitamin B3)Converts nutrients into energy and has antioxidant effectsSyntheticYes
Magnesium LactateMineral supplement, acidity regulatorSyntheticYes
Conezume Q-10Provides energy to cells and antioxidant effectsSyntheticYes
Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6)Support immune functions and promote brain healthSyntheticYes
Cyanobalamin (Vitamin B12)Development of brain and nerve cellsFugal/Plant-Based/
Synthetic
Yes
Branched-Chain Amino Acid (BCAA)Used as an efficient energy source during exercise
Human Hair, Animal Hair, Animal Hooves, or Animal FeathersNo
L-ArginineHelps make proteinsPrimarily found in animalsNo
Properties and Sources of the Ingredients of Reign Energy Drink

As you can see in the table above, not all the ingredients of Reign Energy Drink are certainly safe for vegans.

A few ingredients like sucralose of Reign Energy Drink may not contain animal products, but it might be used in animal testing which, if you’re a strict vegan, makes Reign Energy Drink not an option for your desired choice of energy drinks.

Although ingredients like l-arginine can be made synthetically, Reign has not mentioned where they source this supplement from, not on the product, and not even on their website.

It would be better if you opt for other energy drinks that are considered vegan officially, I’ll explain those vegan energy drinks as you read the next heading.

Are Artificial Sweeteners Vegan?

Artificial sweeteners are commonly manufactured in a lab using chemical synthesis. They come from a type of natural compound called polyols (sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, and hydrogenated starch hydrolysates) which are extracted from plants or produced commercially.

As of 2007, The FDA has approved 5 non-nutritive sugar substitutes in the United States: saccharin, aspartame, acesulfame potassium (or acesulfame-K), sucralose, and neotame. If you find these ingredients at the back of a can of energy drink, then you’ll know its been sweetened with sugar substitutes.

While artificial sweetners are more or less synthetic, It’s important to note that sucralose is still made from sugar (with all the nasty bits taken out). However, sugar itself may not be vegan since some companies use bone char in their filtration process.

So your sucralose may still contain traces of animal bone even after going through several rounds of chemical treatment, which means it’s no longer vegan.

Sucralose also has a dark history of animal testing that not even vegans know about. Vegans may look the other way, but ethical vegans tend to avoid sucralose like the plague.

I would say if you’re truly looking for an OG vegan sugar substitute, stevia is the way to go because it is extracted from the stevia plant.

Are BCAAs Vegan?

Some BCAAs are vegan, some are not. That’s just the hard truth. The fact that a lot of brands don’t state where their ingredients are sourced means that it’s obvious that food and beverage companies are not required by law to do so.

BCAAs aid in muscle growth and recovery, reduce muscle soreness after working out, and also provide energy during strenuoys physical activity, which is why Reign is so popular among gym rats and fitness enthusiasts.

Artificial BCAAs are sourced from both animal and non-animal sources. Animal sources include animal bones, hooves, hair and feathers, and yes even human hair. Vegan BCAAs are now being sourced from fermented sunflower seeds.

You may think that because vegan substitutes exist that the animal-based version would no longer be used. But as with all vegan based food products and ingredients, its expensive to manufacture vegan BCAAs.

So if an energy drink contains BCAAs and its relatively cheap, you can bet that the BCCAs are sourced from animal parts.

Other Vegan Energy Drinks

Even though Reign Energy Drink might not be for you, there are some energy drinks in the market that are considered vegan-friendly which are confirmed to be safe for vegans, some examples of energy drinks that are fine for vegans are:

  • G.O.A.T Fuel
  • Mati Energy
  • Celsius
  • Ali Nu
  • Boost
  • Emerge
  • Lucozade

All of the brands stated above are certified by veganfriendly.org.

A Myriad of Reign Energy Drinks

Reign Energy Drink Flavors

In terms of choosing flavors, Reign has a lot of options. Here are the following flavors of Reign, which may pique your interest:

  • Melon Mania
  • White Gummy Bear
  • Orange Dreamsicle
  • Razzle Berry
  • Peach Fizz
  • Carnival Candy
  • Sour Apple
  • Strawberry Sublime
  • Lemon HDZ
  • Mang-O-Matic
  • Cherry Limeade
  • Lilikoi Lychee
  • Watermelon Warlord
  • Jalapeño Strawberry
  • Red Dragon
  • True Blu

Conclusion: Is Reign Vegan?

Reign may not be vegan, so non-vegans can enjoy it, but vegans you’ve been warned. I’m not going to give anyone any grief for buying food and beverage products containing sucralose. We after all don’t know for sure if it’s Splenda.

As far as energy drinks go, Reign is pretty healthy. It has zero fat, zero added sugar and is low in calories. Except for the atrocious amount of caffeine (a whopping 300mg), it’s completely healthy.

If you’re a vegan, don’t fret, there are dozens of new brands out there that specifically cater to vegan customers, like Celsius. So give those brands a try, you may find they are just your cup of tea.

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