Guaraná ( from the Portuguese ''guaraná'' ), ''Paullinia cupana'',
syns. ''P. crysan, P. sorbilis'') is a
climbing plant
A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselv ...
in the family
Sapindaceae, native to the
Amazon basin
The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...
and especially common in Brazil. Guaraná has large leaves and clusters of
flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...
s, and is best known for the seeds from its fruits, which are about the size of a coffee bean.
As a
dietary supplement or
herb, guaraná seed is an effective
stimulant: it contains about twice the concentration of
caffeine
Caffeine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant of the methylxanthine class. It is mainly used recreationally as a cognitive enhancer, increasing alertness and attentional performance. Caffeine acts by blocking binding of adenosine to ...
found in
coffee bean
A coffee bean is a seed of the '' Coffea'' plant and the source for coffee. It is the pip inside the red or purple fruit often referred to as a coffee cherry. Just like ordinary cherries, the coffee fruit is also a so-called stone fruit. Even th ...
s (about 2–8% caffeine in guarana seeds, compared to about 1–3% for coffee beans). The additive has gained notoriety for being used in
energy drinks. As with other plants producing caffeine, the high concentration of caffeine is a defensive
toxin
A toxin is a naturally occurring organic poison produced by metabolic activities of living cells or organisms. Toxins occur especially as a protein or conjugated protein. The term toxin was first used by organic chemist Ludwig Brieger (1849 ...
that repels
herbivore
A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...
s from the berry and its seeds.
The colour of the fruit ranges from brown to red and it contains black
seed
A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...
s that are partly covered by white
arils. The colour contrast when the fruit is split open has been compared with the appearance of eyeballs and has become the basis of an
origin myth
An origin myth is a myth that describes the origin of some feature of the natural or social world. One type of origin myth is the creation or cosmogonic myth, a story that describes the creation of the world. However, many cultures have st ...
among the
Sateré-Mawé people.
History and culture
The word ''guaraná'' comes from the
Guaraní Guarani, Guaraní or Guarany may refer to
Ethnography
* Guaraní people, an indigenous people from South America's interior (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia)
* Guaraní language, or Paraguayan Guarani, an official language of Paraguay
* ...
word ''guara-ná'', which has its origins in the
Sateré-Maué word for the plant, ''warana'',
that in Guaraní means "fruit like the eyes of the people" or "eyes of the gods".
Guaraná plays an important role in
Tupi and Guarani culture. According to a myth attributed to the Sateré-Maué tribe, guaraná's domestication originated with a
deity
A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...
killing a beloved village child. To console the villagers, a more benevolent god plucked the left eye from the child and planted it in the forest, resulting in the wild variety of guaraná. The god then plucked the right eye from the child and planted it in the village, giving rise to domesticated guarana.
The Guaranis make a
herbal tea
Herbal teas, also known as herbal infusions and less commonly called tisanes (UK and US , US also ), are beverages made from the infusion or decoction of herbs, spices, or other plant material in hot water. Oftentimes herb tea, or the plain term ...
by shelling, washing and drying the seeds, followed by pounding them into a fine powder. The powder is kneaded into a dough and then shaped into cylinders. This product is known as guaraná bread, which is grated and then immersed into hot water along with sugar.
This plant was introduced to European colonizers and to Europe in the 16th century by Felip Betendorf,
Oviedo,
Hernández
Hernández is a widespread Spanish surname that became common around the 15th century. Originally a patronymic, it means son of Hernán, Hernando or Fernando—the Spanish version of Germanic Ferdinand. Fernández is a very common variant of the n ...
,
Cobo and other Spaniard chroniclers. By 1958, guaraná was commercialized.
Composition
According to the Biological Magnetic Resonance Data Bank, guaranine (better known as
caffeine
Caffeine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant of the methylxanthine class. It is mainly used recreationally as a cognitive enhancer, increasing alertness and attentional performance. Caffeine acts by blocking binding of adenosine to ...
) is found in guaraná and is identical to caffeine derived from other sources, like
coffee
Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world.
S ...
,
tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...
, and
mate
Mate may refer to:
Science
* Mate, one of a pair of animals involved in:
** Mate choice, intersexual selection
** Mating
* Multi-antimicrobial extrusion protein, or MATE, an efflux transporter family of proteins
Person or title
* Friendship ...
. Guaranine, theine, and mateine are all synonyms for caffeine when the definitions of those words include none of the properties and chemicals of their host plants except caffeine.
Natural sources of caffeine contain widely varying mixtures of
xanthine
Xanthine ( or ; archaically xanthic acid; systematic name 3,7-dihydropurine-2,6-dione) is a purine base found in most human body tissues and fluids, as well as in other organisms. Several stimulants are derived from xanthine, including caffeine ...
alkaloid
Alkaloids are a class of basic, naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom. This group also includes some related compounds with neutral and even weakly acidic properties. Some synthetic compounds of similar ...
s other than caffeine, including the
cardiac
The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide to t ...
stimulants
theophylline
Theophylline, also known as 1,3-dimethylxanthine, is a phosphodiesterase inhibiting drug used in therapy for respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma under a variety of brand names. As a member of the ...
,
theobromine
Theobromine, also known as xantheose, is the principal alkaloid of '' Theobroma cacao'' (cacao plant). Theobromine is slightly water-soluble (330 mg/L) with a bitter taste. In industry, theobromine is used as an additive and precursor to ...
and other substances such as
polyphenol
Polyphenols () are a large family of naturally occurring organic compounds characterized by multiples of phenol units. They are abundant in plants and structurally diverse. Polyphenols include flavonoids, tannic acid, and ellagitannin, some o ...
s, which can form insoluble complexes with caffeine. The main
natural phenols found in guarana are
(+)-catechin and
(-)-epicatechin.
The table below contains a partial listing of some of the chemicals found in guaraná seeds,
although other parts of the plant also may contain them in varying quantities.
Uses
Safety
In the United States, guaraná fruit powder and seed extract have not been determined for status as "
generally recognized as safe" (GRAS) by the
Food and Drug Administration
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...
, but rather are approved as
food additives for flavor (but not non-flavor) uses.
Guaraná is used in sweetened or carbonated
soft drinks and
energy drinks, an ingredient of
herbal tea
Herbal teas, also known as herbal infusions and less commonly called tisanes (UK and US , US also ), are beverages made from the infusion or decoction of herbs, spices, or other plant material in hot water. Oftentimes herb tea, or the plain term ...
s or contained in
dietary supplement capsules.
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...
obtains much of its caffeine from guaraná.
Beverages
Brazil, the third-largest consumer of
soft drinks in the world,
produces several soft drink brands from the crushed seeds of guaraná, and which they use like coffee.
A
fermented drink
This is a list of fermented foods, which are foods produced or preserved by the action of microorganisms. In this context, fermentation typically refers to the fermentation of sugar to alcohol using yeast, but other fermentation processes involv ...
is also prepared from guaraná seeds,
cassava
''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively ...
and water.
Paraguay is also a producer of guaraná soft drinks with several brands operating in its market. The word ''guaraná'' is widely used in Brazil, Peru and Paraguay as a reference to soft drinks containing guaraná extract.
See also
*
Guaraná Antarctica
Guaraná Antarctica is a guaraná-flavoured soft drink, originating in Brazil. It was created in 1921 by Pedro Baptista de Andrade for Companhia Antarctica Paulista. The drink is produced in four countries: Portugal, Brazil, Argentina and Jap ...
- guarana flavored soft drink from Brazil
References
External links
Guarana at USDA database
{{Authority control
Paullinia
Herbal and fungal stimulants
Trees of Venezuela
Trees of Brazil
Crops originating from the Americas
Crops originating from Brazil
Tropical agriculture