Some options for finding more energy may not be so super.

IT'S THE END of the work day, and I'm feeling a little low on energy. (I know, who isn't?) On the walk home, I step into a health-food store to check out some of its offerings.

Powders for energy. Drinks for energy. Pills for energy. Bars for energy. Have I come to the right place!

Wait. Sorry, wrong punctuation.

Have I come to the right place?

It depends.

The Food and Drug Administration allows for at least three types of claims about food products and dietary supplements.

"Health claims" link a food substance and a disease or health-related condition. At this time, 13 are allowed (see list at right). "Increasing energy" is not among them.

"Nutrient content claims" relate to the amount of a nutrient in the food, such as "low in saturated fat." Energy doesn't usually fall into this category.

"Structure/function claims" describe the effect of a food on the obvious, the structure or function of the body; for example, "Calcium builds strong bones." Most energy-boosting claims wind up here, which is convenient (for them), because FDA does not authorize this type of claim. Instead, it calls on manufacturers to make sure their structure/function claims are truthful and not misleading. In other words, buyer beware.

In the case of "energy," it's possible for a manufacturer to be at least truthful. Because "energy" can mean several things:

Fitness news you can use OK'd health claims The 13 current health claims authorized by the FDA link: • Calcium and osteoporosis • Sodium and hypertension (high blood pressure) • Dietary fat and cancer • Dietary saturated fat and cholesterol and risk of coronary heart disease • Fiber-containing grain products, fruits and vegetables and cancer • Fruits, vegetables and grain products that contain fiber, particularly soluble fiber, and risk of coronary heart disease • Fruits and vegetables and cancer • Folate and neural-tube birth defects • Dietary sugar alcohol and dental caries (cavities) • Dietary soluble fiber, such as that found in whole oats and psyllium seed husk, and coronary heart disease • Soy protein and coronary heart disease • Plant sterol or plant stanol esters and coronary heart disease Each claim must follow FDA requirements, such as, for calcium, also stating the need for regular exercise and diet, and for products with more than 400 milligrams of calcium, that a daily intake over 2,000 milligrams offers no added known benefit to bone health. Get paid to train Subjects are needed for a University of Washington study on exercise training and the heart. Researchers seek healthy men and women, age 18 to 32 and 65 to 80, who are not taking medications except birth control, hormone replacement and/or thyroid drugs. Participants will take part in a six-month cardiovascular training program (90 minutes, 3 days a week) at a research gym in North Seattle, with testing before and after. They'll receive $250 to cover driving expenses. Interested? Call 206-764-2158.

Food provides energy. So, theoretically, any food could be considered something that "increases energy."

The energy that food provides is measured in a scientific unit called a calorie. So consuming anything with calories could "increase energy."

Carbohydrates - sweets, starches, fruits, vegetables, grains - are converted by the body into glucose, our primary source of energy. So anything high in carbohydrates might be considered "high energy." Sugars raise glucose levels quickly, and thus might be called sources of "quick energy." Such speed can have a counter-effect, though: When glucose levels drop just as fast, sleepiness and fatigue can set in. Not many labels play up this "decreased energy" effect.

Fats have a justified reputation for being high in calories, which is another way of saying it's "concentrated energy."

Proteins, when consumed in excess, can be burned by the body for energy or converted to fat, which I guess could be called "storing energy."

Supplements, especially herbal ones, are another main source of "energy" claims. Caffeine, guarana, ginseng and ephedra are common ones. Though they may have additional properties, they're also stimulants - legal ones, but stimulants nonetheless.

The FDA has warned particularly about the dangers of ephedra: As ma huang, it has been used for literally thousands of years in China to treat colds, asthma and other conditions. But when it became popular in this country as a weight-loss aid, users began exceeding recommended dosages and the FDA received reports ranging from high blood pressure, heart-rate irregularities, insomnia, nervousness, tremors and headaches to seizures, heart attacks, strokes and deaths.

Still, claims of increasing energy with supplements might also be characterized as truthful. Whether they're misleading is another question. I think of it more as wishful: Manufacturers engage in wishful labeling, telling a truth if not the truth, while hoping I employ wishful reading, suspending critical thinking and common sense and just buying the darn product.

Now I'm tired from all those options.

Do I want to artificially increase energy, with the caffeine in a guarana supplement, perhaps? Or, if I'm feeling daring, ma huang?

Would I rather consume some energy - in other words, calories? If so, do I want to go for a quick hit, a candy bar or a bagel, and risk a later urge to nap? Should I choose more complex carbohydrates, perhaps some fat and protein, for longer-lasting fuel?

Come to think of it, maybe I didn't get enough sleep last night. I really shouldn't have had those cookies midafternoon. And I must make a point of getting on the treadmill tomorrow morning.

Molly Martin is assistant editor of Pacific Northwest magazine. She can be reached by calling 206-464-8243 or writing mmartin@seattletimes.com or The Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98101. Benjamin Benschneider is the magazine's staff photographer.