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'Anti-Energy' Drinks Poised To Make A Splash

Drinks with names like Mary Jane's Relaxing Soda, Slow Cow and Ex Chill are part of a new group of so-called "slow-down" or "anti-energy drinks" that may be among the top food trends of 2010, according to J. Walter Thompson. They contain folk-medicine sedatives such as kava, chamomile and valerian to provide a diametric alternative to caffeine-laced energy drinks such as Red Bull, Jerry Hirsch reports.

Although Mary Jane unabashedly plays off of marijuana in its name, it does not actually contain any ingredients from the plant, says Matt Moody, a Denver nutritional supplement developer who created the beverage ($2.49 for a 12-ounce bottle). Its formula is rooted in kava, which has long been a popular recreational drug through much of the Pacific. Moody admits that the root itself tastes "awful," but he blends it with sugar cane to obtain what one fan compares to "sweet tea meets cola."

The calming effect is probably real, says Michael Pollastri, a pharmaceuticals chemist at Boston University. "If there were not therapeutic effects, it would not be a 1,000-year-old folk medicine," he posits.

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