iSatori Energize Brain & Focus Caffeine Pills - Fast Acting All Day Energy Pills, Brain Booster, Energy and Focus Supplement, Time Release Caffeine Means No Jitters, No Crash (60 Tablets)

Good source of energy stamina for exercise and work study.

While I have been using these for years, this is not something I take daily. Maybe once a week I take 1 pill (1/2 dose) and I find that this works well for me and I don't get any jitters or come down. Even if I take the full recommended dose of 2 pills I don't have any of those issues, so I am very happy with how these work.

This pill works, but I think some people are simply expecting too much from it. Yes, there are pills out there that can be ingested and a short while later, you're feeling wired and ready for action. Unfortunately, most of the pills in this category are either: illegal, prescription-only, harmful to your overall health, or some combination of the above. Even pure caffeine pills, which certainly keeps you up but is no replacement for sleep, has plenty of withdrawal effects and isn't the best for your body. iSatori Energize is not illegal or prescription only, and based on the ingredients alone, does not appear to be harmful to one's health, so obviously it will not give you the same kick that a Provigil (narcolepsy med) or Adderall (which is pretty much just speed, chemically speaking) tablet will give you.That being said, this "Energy Pill" is actually more of an energy supplement. It gives your body the building blocks it needs to be active and productive all day. That being said, you can't sleep for two hours the night before and expect this to work its magic. Yes, there is a bit of "natural" caffeine in it. The natural part doesn't matter because caffeine is the same crystally white substance whether it's extracted from a plant or synthesized in a lab. The main difference between these tablets and a "NoDoz" or similar product is likely probably that these tablets don't have quite the same 200 mg (or "4 cups of coffee" advertised by those pills, which are based on weak-ish cups of regular coffee), and also the handful of vitamins and supplements that are meant to extend the wakefulness originally promoted by the caffeine throughout your day.Let's take a quick look then, as to what's actually in here, according to iSatori themselves:Tyrosine - an Amino Acid. Your body uses this to synthesize proteins. Ingesting it has been argued to have benefits under stressful conditions, but "Tyrosine does not seem to have any significant effect on mood, cognitive or physical performance in normal circumstances". Well, I guess it's not bad to have, if you're not getting it from any other sources such as chicken, turkey, fish, dairy, nuts/seeds, avocados, bananas... but I don't think it has any specific actual function in this pill.1-Octacosanol - A fatty acid derived from plant waxes. It may show potential helping people with Parkingson's disease. It also may help inhibit cholesterol production through it's use as a component of Policosanol. However Policosanol itself has been dubiously linked with lower LDL "bad" cholesterol and higher HDL "good" cholesterol to begin with, and this is only a single component of it, so the jury is still out on this one. However, I still fail to see any connection to "energy" here.Glucuronolactone - This is a popular thing to put in energy drinks as they claim it "detoxifies the body". Your spleen, liver, and kidneys already detoxify your body. There may be some truth to this, as there have been several studies done which show that this substance has moderate positive health benefits for your liver, will react with toxins within your body to help with their detoxification, and help form precursors for the TCA cycle, which is your body's way of turning your food into usable energy. So, overall, this is a decent choice of supplement to put into this pill. Though the "detoxification" does not directly help with energy, as iSatori seems to imply, the TCA cycle boost, though small, is positive.Theobromine - A vasodilator (dilates your blood vessels, lowers blood pressure, helps get blood/oxygen/nutrients to where they need to go), diuretic (flushes water your of your system, makes you need to pee), and heart stimulant (obvious). The vasodilation also helps your memory and thinking, as it increases blood supply to the brain. Interestingly, theobromine has no bromine in it at all, but is rather named so after its natural source - theobroma - or a part of the scientific name for the cocoa tree from which it is derived. Also interestingly, theobromine is a natural byproduct of caffeine metabolism. I guess if iSatori wants to give you some of the benefits that caffeine would give you without actually putting a lot of caffeine into the product itself, having this compound in the pills would be a good way to do it. Too much theobromine can have negative health effects, especially on the sensitive or elderly, but I guess that's part of the reason you should never take more than 4 of these pills in 24 hours, as mentioned by iSatori. In the quantities in 1-2 pills, the theobromine levels are fine."Natural" Caffeine - This one's pretty obvious. Caffeine is a stimulant. It keeps you up. iSatori claims that their "naturally" sourced caffeine makes it super pure, which is appealing to the hippie/health nut nature of people. Technically, if the caffeine were synthesized in a lab, THAT would be the purest form of caffeine since there wouldn't be any extra plant products to have to separate from the caffeine. However, almost ALL caffeine is natural. It's simply easier to extract it from plants like coffee and tea than to make it "from scratch" in a lab. This makes the way they call it "natural caffeine" kind of misleading, but hey I guess they have to market this pill somehow. Overall, caffeine isn't too good for you. Overusing it dulls your memory formation, and I don't have to tell you the psychological and withdrawal effects it can have.Rhodiola Extract - A plant extract. It MAY improve mood, physical and mental performance, and alleviate depression and fatigue, but not many studies have been done on it. There are a few sources with promising results, but you have to realize that before the FDA actually gives its stamp of approval on any drug, MANY different trials, from animal to clinical on humans, must be undertaken to prove safety and efficacy (which cost millions of dollars... which is part of why your drugs are so expensive. the other part is simply Big Pharma greed). Since this is a plant extract, you don't really need the FDA's okay, which is mostly fine in the safety sense, but then you can get companies claiming a HUGE benefit over a couple possibly skewed trials. The case here, however, isn't really a bad one. There really have been benefits seen with this plant in MOST of the studies (bearing in mind that some of the studies have also shown no benefit). Also, this plant has been used in Chinese Herbal medicine for centuries. However, the trials in which these benefits were seen involved people taking the extract for upwards of four weeks... so unless you want this pill to become a daily thing, this doesn't make a difference. I personally wouldn't want to use thee energize pills EVERY day, just as needed. However, Rhodilia does have quite a few health and performance benefits, so if you find a supplement pill with just that, go on ahead. It can't hurt.Ginseng - Another "folk medicine" plant extract with a generally good reputation. Ginseng is pretty widely known as a stimulant and an aphrodisiac (especially for men "getting it up"). It can also be known to cause some temporary insomnia, so you can see how that "energy" link is there. However, in energy drinks themselves (and thus in these energy pills), the small-ish amount present has not really been shown to provide much of a benefit, if one at all. It may help, or it may not."Vitamin and Mineral Co-Factors" - well this includes quite a lot of different things, so I'll just list them and make a comment on each. Also note that in many cases, you don't really see benefits from vitamins unless you're taking them consistently for a little while:Thiamine - AKA vitamin B1 - Used for many very important things in your body. Overall good to have. Deficiency linked to alzheimer's, beriberi, wernicke's encephalopathy, and other nasty things. FDA says you need just a couple (under 2)mg of it, but studies of questionable reliability have claimed that doses up to 50 mg daily increase mental acuity. These doses are safe, just not proven to actually do anything. Dose in here is about 5 mg per pill.Vitamin B6 - another important vitamin. Lets you extract glucose from your glycogen stores. Your muscles use glycogen for energy, and in a short fasting state (no eating for up to 18 hours), your liver uses glycogen for energy after the freely available food energy has gone. Also has many other uses. This is the reason why it's probably in this "energy" product. Makes sense. However, if you keep up with your eating, should be unnecessary. Still, a good thing to have for your body in general.Folic Acid - AKA Vitamin B9 - another important vitamin. Also used for lots of things in your body. Most relevant here is probably that it is highly utilized by red blood cells. Low folic acid leads to anemia, and anemia means your body isn't delivering oxygen effectively. RBCs are important for energy and for body function. Just think of Lance Armstrong and the other "blood doping" cyclists who freeze part of their blood and then get it transfused back into themselves right before a big race. All those extra blood cells transporting oxygen helps give them the energy they need. Good, functioning blood cells are essential for energy. Though I don't think having this compound in you will increase your mental abilities and efficiency, but having it available for your body IF NEEDED will help you out (a general trend I am seeing with these ingredients) A good choice for an energy pill.Vitamin B12 - this vitamin plays a role in the metabolism of EVERY cell in your body.. AKA you need it to use energy efficiently. Having it available will ensure that this happens. If you already have it available, adding more of it with this pill won't do much good, but it won't hurt either. BTW, this seems to be the general trend with these ingredients. It's not something that will outright give you energy, but under the right conditions if your body is lacking in something, this pill will provide the basic ingredients to let your body help itself.Magnesium - A very essential vitamin / element for your body. It plays a role in ATP synthesis. ATP is basically your body's "energy currency". If you already get plenty of magnesium, this extra won't do you much good, but it won't hurt. If you're like almost 2/3 of the USA according to one study and you don't meet the recommended magnesium intake, this could help you utilize your energy more efficiently.So there you have it. Those are the ingredients. This is basically a "naturally" branded caffeine pill with some extra vitamins and ingredients that will help keep you a little more focused for longer. A lot of the extra vitamins and minerals are things you should be getting anyway with your food. However, as most people do not actually meet the recommendations for many of these vitamins, adding them with this pill should help. I think that may be why some people DO see a benefit with these pills while others do not. If you're not already missing something, you won't see much extra benefit with these pills over something like a caffeine pill. If your body is lacking some of the basic framework requirements to utilize its energy in an effective manner, then some of the ingredients in these pills will help you replenish those essential substances.Overall, if a regular working caffeine pill was 3/5 stars, this would be a 4/5. Not a miracle, but a little bit extra.

I've tried almost every energy product on the market, ranging from drinks and powders to different types of pills. I get queasy very easily, and most pills and drinks make me sick to the point of vomiting sometimes. Some of the energy shots and drinks have caused my blood pressure to skyrocket, so I was skeptical about these pills.Lo and behold, they actually seem to work, do not make me queasy, and they haven't affected my blood pressure. I will be buying more.

...that I wasted money on theses things. I'm a male in my mid-forties. I suffer from lethargy, memory problems, lack of focus & energy among other things. Very often, I can nap even after getting a full night's sleep. I get a little foggy/dizzy sometimes too-usually after eating food. I was hoping these would provide me some get-up-&-go, which got up and left a long time ago. But they didn't. :(YMMV, but I'd start somewhere else if I were you. I just ordered Optimum Nutrition Opti-Men Multivitamins, & Gaia Herbs Adrenal Health, & Amazing Grass All Natural Drink Powder, Green Superfood, wish me luck....EDIT: In hindsight, I think any tablet is not your best value. I suggest not believing the hype on this product & try non-tablet, LOW-ADDITIVE capsules. Even better, if you're using oils/sprays/tinctures/sublinguals/herbs/powders, you're getting far more for your money with little to no binders/excipients/fillers that actually work AGAINST bio-availability! Especially if they're organic/wild crafted, & minimally/cold processed (But of course, research ANY unknown additives in ANY product.)Besides, Cynocobalamin is not an effective delivery system for mighty, Vity B, what with the cyanide molecule & all. Hpakids.org explains that, for instance, one source for synthetic Vitamin B is COAL TAR!!! In addition, 'vitamins' created in a lab lack coenzymes. The body cannot directly utilize synthesized vitamins, but must convert them by adding a phosphate group in order to become active coenzyme form vitamins. For most healthy people, synthesizing engineered vitamins into coenzyme vitamins is not difficult. However, for individuals who are not healthy or who are nutritionally deficient, this conversion process can be very difficult to carry out, and problematic. The fact that they require conversion in the body means both that they are not immediately available physically, and that metabolic energy is required for the conversion. Sounds like too much work. Eat your (organic) salads kids... {:>p)

My son asked me "dad, why are you taking gas station pills?"

Energy

It gives you a nice steady flow of energy. Nothing drastic, no jitters