A newly published study compared EnXtra directly with caffeine — and what happened after one-hour and at the five-hour mark is worth understanding before you reach for another cup. Subscribe for research-backed conversations on supplements and health.
Carl Pradelli, CEO and Co-Founder of NatureCity, walks through a May 2026 study on EnXtra, the reason TrueMind was formulated without caffeine, and what he means by calming energy.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
- How this study was designed and what makes its comparison unusual
- What happened at 1, 3 and 5 hours in the four study groups
- The specific measurement where caffeine-only performance fell below baseline
- The combination that sustained alertness and mental energy the longest
- Why TrueMind was built without caffeine and 3 other nutrients instead
- What Carl means by calming energy, and the daily routine he uses
Most conversations about mental energy start and end with caffeine. Carl opens this episode with a simple question: when you are trying to maintain alertness for several hours or across the whole workday, is more caffeine always the best answer? A new study published in May 2026 in the Open Access Journal of Clinical Trials helps clarify answers to that question. It compared EnXtra directly with caffeine, not just with a placebo.
EnXtra is a standardized extract of Alpinia galanga — the plant related to ginger that is sometimes called Thai ginger or galangal. It has been studied for its effect on mental alertness and energy without acting as a stimulant. The study was randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled, and it ran in two stages: an acute crossover with 128 people, then a 28-day arm with 127 people. Participants were healthy adults between 18 and 40, they were habitual caffeine consumers, and their sleep was deliberately restricted so the researchers were testing under real-world mental fatigue rather than fresh-from-eight-hours conditions.
The study had four arms: 300 milligrams of EnXtra, 200 milligrams of caffeine (roughly two cups of coffee, so caffeine was not being given a handicap), 300 milligrams of EnXtra combined with 200 milligrams of caffeine, and a placebo. Alertness was measured at baseline and again at one, three and five hours. Caffeine did what caffeine does — it worked, primarily at the one-hour measurement. By three and five hours those effects were much more limited. EnXtra continued to show benefits at later measurements, and at five hours the combination of EnXtra and caffeine produced the strongest result. On one measure of alertness, caffeine-only performance had actually fallen below where it started — the crash most heavy caffeine users can describe from experience.
Carl is careful about the limits. Sustained attention and psychomotor measurements showed favorable trends with EnXtra but were not consistently statistically significant. It was a fairly young cohort with restricted sleep. He is not extrapolating this study to every aspect of cognitive performance, and he says so on the record. What the study demonstrated most clearly was support for alertness and reduced fatigue, and the ability to sustain those benefits across several hours, which fits earlier research on the ingredient.
The rest of the episode is about why TrueMind was formulated the way it was. Carl explains that TrueMind does not contain caffeine on purpose — most listeners are already getting caffeine somewhere, and stacking more of it was not the goal. Instead, the formula pairs EnXtra with PharmaGABA (a naturally produced form of GABA studied for supporting a relaxed, focused state) and a third standardized ingredient Landkind Salidroside (salidroside is a compound found in the Rhodiola plant), which helps support mental energy while experiencing stress. Carl calls the target state calming energy — awake and alert and focused, but not wired. He closes with the routine he actually uses: tea between seven and eight in the morning, then a serving of TrueMind a few hours later, between ten and eleven.
None of this replaces sleep. Carl says it directly. Get more sleep.
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Why More Coffee Isn't the Answer
0:43 - How This Study Was Designed
2:05 - EnXtra vs Caffeine, Head to Head
3:50 - The 5-Hour Caffeine Crash
5:05 - Stimulated Is Not the Same as Focused
6:20 - What Calming Energy Actually Means
8:05 - Why Sleep Beats Any Stimulant
9:48 - Carl's Daily Routine
ABOUT NATURECITY
NatureCity is hosted by Carl Pradelli, CEO and Co-Founder. Carl started the company over 20 years ago with his wife Beth. The show covers the ingredients, research and formulation choices behind NatureCity supplements.
Learn more about True Mind: https://www.naturecity.com/products/true-mind?srsltid=AfmBOooMZNw1C7dDQun7l4vBDPv6ylnm8V1fvLJq2ZlTfFoiD0v9S2HX
