NEEDSOME Energy Label Index: Methodology and Data
Effective August 26, 2026Collection date: August 24, 2026
Sample: 30 U.S. energy products
Sponsor: NEEDSOME LLC
The NEEDSOME Energy Label Index is a descriptive audit of what current energy-product labels and official product pages disclose. It covers stimulant amounts, supporting active ingredients, serving format, testing language, and price information where a usable package price was available.
Dataset version: August 24, 2026 (30 products)
What is in the dataset
- 8 ready-to-drink products
- 8 powder products
- 8 chewable products, including gummies, chews, and mints
- 6 capsule or tablet products
For each product, we recorded the labeled serving, primary stimulant and amount, quantified L-theanine and Alpha-GPC, highlighted-active disclosure, testing or certification language, package price, source, evidence note, and quality-control status.
Two rows include unresolved quality-control flags: one serving-count conflict and one clearance-price flag. Both remain visible in the CSV rather than being silently resolved.
Research question
What do current U.S. energy products disclose about stimulant amounts, active ingredients, serving format, testing language, and price per serving?
How products were selected
The sample was selected to cover prominent energy-product formats and use cases. A product had to be marketed for energy, alertness, focus, or pre-workout use; be available or announced for the U.S. market on the collection date; and have enough official or reliable label evidence to identify one serving and its primary stimulant.
The sample is purposive. It is not a statistically representative census of the U.S. market.
Source and recording rules
- Official product and supplement-facts pages were preferred.
- Current retailer label images or certification directories were used only when needed.
- Undisclosed ingredient amounts were left blank rather than inferred.
- Missing information was not converted to zero.
- Conflicting sources were flagged instead of resolving the conflict in the more favorable direction.
- Every paraxanthine amount and certification statement received a second verification pass.
How calculations were handled
Price per serving was calculated as package price divided by labeled servings when both values were available. Percentages use only rows with a known value, and the denominator should accompany every published percentage. Medians exclude missing values.
Caffeine and paraxanthine milligrams are label amounts, not potency equivalents. Any combined stimulant summary must state that limitation next to the number. Format comparisons are descriptive; no statistical significance is claimed.
Sponsor disclosure
NEEDSOME sponsored the audit and appears as one of the 30 products. NEEDSOME is prelaunch. Its recorded amounts come from the sponsor's current formula specification, not a publicly verifiable printed label. Those facts will be checked again against the finished printed label before launch.
What this audit cannot establish
The dataset does not establish product effectiveness, safety, superiority, consumer preference, absorption, or clinical outcomes. It records what the reviewed sources disclosed on August 24, 2026. Product formulations, prices, certifications, and web pages can change.
Related analysis
Read the 30-product caffeine-by-format analysis.
Read the eight-product energy gummy, chew, and mint label audit.