Moment Drink is generally safe for most healthy adults when consumed in moderation, but several of its active ingredients carry real risks for specific groups of people. The drink blends adaptogens like ashwagandha and holy basil with L-theanine, lemon balm, and magnesium, and uses allulose as its sweetener. Each of those ingredients has a distinct safety profile, and the combination matters more than any single one of them in isolation.
What Is Actually in the Bottle
Moment markets itself as a calming, stress-relief beverage. The active ingredients do most of the heavy lifting: ashwagandha root extract, L-theanine (an amino acid from tea leaves), holy basil (tulsi), lemon balm, and magnesium. The drink is sweetened with allulose, a low-calorie sugar that occurs naturally in small amounts in figs and raisins. Understanding the safety of Moment means looking at each of these ingredients individually, because their risk profiles are quite different from one another. L-theanine and holy basil have reassuringly clean safety records in research. Ashwagandha is the ingredient where things get more complicated.
L-Theanine Has a Strong Safety Record
L-theanine is probably the least worrying ingredient in the formula. It crosses into the brain readily, where its most well-documented effect is a calming, anxiety-reducing action linked to its influence on inhibitory neurotransmitters and modulation of serotonin and dopamine in certain brain regions.1PubMed. Neurobiological effects of the green tea constituent theanine and its potential role in the treatment of psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders Human studies have not turned up significant adverse effects at the doses typically found in functional beverages. One finding worth noting: in people whose blood pressure tends to spike under mental stress, L-theanine blunted that spike.2PubMed Central. Effects of L-theanine or caffeine intake on changes in blood pressure under physical and psychological stresses That is generally a positive thing, but if you already take blood-pressure-lowering medication, adding something else that nudges blood pressure down is worth mentioning to your doctor.
At a deeper level, L-theanine appears to support brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the hippocampus and interacts with NMDA receptors, while also influencing the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA.3Pharmacological Research. Psychotropic effects of L-theanine and its clinical properties: From the management of anxiety and stress to a potential use in schizophrenia In plain terms, it nudges your brain chemistry toward a calmer baseline without the drowsiness that comes with something like a sedative. For most people drinking one can of Moment, L-theanine is not a safety concern.
Ashwagandha Deserves the Most Scrutiny
Ashwagandha is the adaptogen that has accumulated the most case reports of adverse events, and it is the ingredient in Moment that warrants the closest look. In a controlled study of healthy volunteers, ashwagandha root extract did not interfere with normal liver function and thyroid hormone levels remained stable.4Complementary Therapies in Medicine. Safety of Ashwagandha Root Extract: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, study in Healthy Volunteers That is reassuring for the average person, but the picture changes when you look at people with pre-existing conditions or who take the supplement for extended periods.
Case reports have documented liver injury in people taking ashwagandha. One published case described a patient who had been taking ashwagandha for a year and developed jaundice, with lab tests showing elevated bilirubin, liver enzymes, cholesterol, and ferritin, pointing to cholestatic liver damage.5PubMed Central. Liver Dangers of Herbal Products: A Case Report of Ashwagandha-Induced Liver Injury Similar cases have surfaced in Japan, Iceland, India, and the United States. These are rare, but they are not theoretical.
Ashwagandha also affects thyroid function in ways that can be dangerous for certain people. A 73-year-old woman who had been self-treating hypothyroidism with ashwagandha for two years developed thyrotoxicosis and an abnormal heart rhythm (supraventricular tachycardia), with significantly suppressed TSH levels. Her symptoms resolved after she stopped the supplement.6PubMed Central. Ashwagandha as a Unique Cause of Thyrotoxicosis Presenting With Supraventricular Tachycardia The mechanism behind this thyroid disruption is still not fully understood, but the clinical reality is clear: ashwagandha can push thyroid levels in directions that cause real harm if your thyroid is already abnormal.
A recent review evaluating ashwagandha’s safety as a food additive concluded that it poses significant risks to pregnant women, patients with thyroid disorders, and individuals with liver or kidney dysfunction.7PubMed Central. Evaluating the Safety of Ashwagandha as a Food Additive: A Focus on Reproductive, Thyroid, and Immune System Effects For a healthy adult drinking one Moment per day, the ashwagandha dose is considerably lower than what most supplement capsules deliver. But “lower dose” is not the same as “no risk,” and the cumulative effect of daily consumption over months has not been studied in the context of this specific beverage.
Holy Basil and Magnesium Are Largely Benign
Holy basil (tulsi) has one of the cleanest safety profiles among the adaptogens in Moment’s formula. A systematic review of human clinical trials found that all reviewed studies reported favorable outcomes with minimal or no side effects, regardless of dose, formulation, or participant age and gender. Only one trial noted any adverse effect at all, a transient mild nausea.8PubMed Central. The Clinical Efficacy and Safety of Tulsi in Humans: A Systematic Review of the Literature The longest study in that review lasted only 13 weeks, so the authors acknowledged they could not rule out long-term effects. But tulsi has centuries of traditional daily use in India, which provides some real-world reassurance even if it falls short of rigorous long-term trial data.
Magnesium, the other supporting ingredient, is well tolerated by most people at the amounts found in a beverage like Moment. Excess magnesium in the blood (hypermagnesemia) is considerably less common than magnesium deficiency and typically results from failure of kidney excretion rather than from moderate dietary intake.9PubMed Central. Magnesium metabolism and its disorders The one population that needs to pay attention is people with chronic kidney disease, because their kidneys may not clear magnesium efficiently. Even in that group, research has found that magnesium supplementation is generally safe and does not cause severe hypermagnesemia or negatively affect bone metabolism.10PubMed Central. Magnesium Administration in Chronic Kidney Disease Still, if you have kidney problems, even a beverage-level dose of supplemental magnesium is something to run by your nephrologist.
Digestive Side Effects From Allulose
The most common side effect people report after drinking Moment has nothing to do with the adaptogens. It comes from the sweetener. Allulose is a rare sugar that tastes like regular sugar but contributes almost no calories because your body does not metabolize most of it. The trade-off is that unabsorbed allulose can pull water into the intestine and cause gas, bloating, or loose stools.
In research, temporary gastrointestinal discomfort showed up at higher doses of allulose but without other significant adverse effects. When people received a single large dose of about half a gram per kilogram of body weight, symptoms of abdominal pain, distention, and diarrhea were reported. Below that threshold, no effects were noted. Notably, the laxative effect was observed when allulose was consumed with water on an empty stomach, but not when the same amount was eaten with food.11Nutrition Today. A Review of Low- and No-Calorie Sweetener Safety and Weight Management Efficacy If you find Moment causes some stomach rumbling, try drinking it alongside a meal or snack rather than on its own. That simple change eliminates the issue for most people.
Who Should Avoid Moment Drink
The ingredient list creates a few clear groups of people who should either skip Moment entirely or talk to a healthcare provider before drinking it regularly.
- Pregnant or nursing women: Ashwagandha has been flagged as posing significant risks to this group, and expert guidance specifically recommends caution with adaptogens during pregnancy and nursing.12Current Drug Therapy. Stress Management Therapy through Adaptogens and Rasayanas in Ayurveda: A Comprehensive Review The lack of controlled safety data in pregnant humans makes this a clear case where the precautionary principle applies.
- People with thyroid disorders: As the thyrotoxicosis case report illustrates, ashwagandha can alter thyroid hormone levels unpredictably. Whether you have hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism, adding an ingredient that shifts thyroid output is a gamble.
- People with liver disease: Given the documented cases of ashwagandha-related liver injury, anyone with compromised liver function should avoid it.
- People with kidney disease: Supplemental magnesium in a beverage is generally modest, but impaired kidney function changes the equation for magnesium clearance.
These are not hypothetical warnings based on an abundance of caution. Each one is grounded in either case reports of harm or expert reviews that identified specific physiological reasons why these populations face elevated risk.
Drug Interactions Worth Knowing About
Functional beverages tend to fly under the radar when people discuss their medications with a doctor, but the adaptogens in Moment can interact with prescription drugs in clinically meaningful ways. A retrospective review of adverse event reports found that adaptogens were involved in about 9% of adverse events associated with the combined use of antidepressants and other preparations. Of the 30 reports identified with a causal link between antidepressant use and adaptogens, about two-thirds resulted from pharmacokinetic interactions, meaning the adaptogen changed how the body processed the drug.13Frontiers in Pharmacology. Harder, better, faster, stronger? Retrospective chart review of adverse events of interactions between adaptogens and antidepressant drugs
The practical concern is that ashwagandha enhances the calming, sedative side of the nervous system. If you are already taking benzodiazepines, sleep aids, or other central nervous system depressants, layering ashwagandha on top can deepen sedation and impair daytime alertness.14Quality in Sport. Potential interactions of popular adaptogens (Withania somnifera, Rhodiola rosea) with psychotropic drugs This does not mean one can of Moment will knock you out, but regular consumption alongside sedative medications creates a cumulative risk that your prescribing doctor should weigh in on.
The same review noted that in vulnerable populations, such as elderly patients or those with liver or kidney impairment, even mild herb-induced changes in how a drug is absorbed or metabolized can trigger severe adverse reactions. If you take any psychotropic medication regularly, mention Moment’s ingredient list to whoever prescribes it. Most people will not think to do this, because it is a drink and not a pill, but pharmacologically it makes no difference.
The Supplement Quality Problem
There is a safety dimension to Moment that has nothing to do with its intended ingredients. Adaptogenic herbs can accumulate heavy metals from the soil they are grown in, and the supplement industry’s regulatory standards are inconsistent enough that contamination sometimes makes it through to finished products. An analysis of commercially available adaptogen supplements found widespread contamination, primarily with lead and nickel. In processed forms like tablets and dried materials, lead concentrations exceeded permissible limits by up to 235%, and nickel levels were exceeded by up to 321%.15PubMed Central. Heavy Metal Contamination in Adaptogenic Herbal Dietary Supplements: Experimental, Assessment and Regulatory Safety Perspectives
This does not mean Moment specifically is contaminated. Beverage manufacturers that invest in third-party testing and source from reputable suppliers can produce clean products. But the broader supplement market has a documented problem with heavy metals in herbal ingredients, and consumers have limited tools for verifying purity on their own.16PubMed Central. Evaluation of Heavy Metal and Microbial Contamination in Green Tea and Herbal Tea Used for Weight Loss in the Palestinian Market Look for brands that publish certificates of analysis from independent labs. Moment has positioned itself as a premium product, and transparency about testing is a reasonable thing to demand from any company selling adaptogen-containing beverages.
What About Drinking It Every Day for Months
Most of the clinical trials on ashwagandha, L-theanine, and holy basil last somewhere between four and thirteen weeks. That means we have decent short-term safety data and very little rigorous long-term data. One randomized trial found that 12 weeks of ashwagandha intake (300 mg, similar to what functional beverages contain) reduced anxiety scores by about 30% and cortisol by about 18%.17Frontiers in Nutrition. Validation of the hypothesis on the protective role of functional beverages in mitigating the adverse health effects of digital technologies The benefits are real at that time scale, but what happens at six months or a year of daily use is less clear.
The liver injury cases are instructive here. The patient who developed jaundice had been taking ashwagandha for a year. The woman who developed thyrotoxicosis had been using it for two years. Neither of these outcomes appeared quickly. They suggest that for a small number of people, prolonged daily exposure to ashwagandha can cross a threshold that shorter use does not. Whether a beverage dose is low enough to avoid this entirely is an unanswered question. If you plan to drink Moment daily for months, periodic bloodwork that includes liver enzymes and thyroid function is a reasonable precaution, and one your doctor can easily add to routine labs.
Common Side Effects People Actually Report
Setting aside the rare and serious adverse events, the side effects that everyday Moment drinkers are most likely to notice fall into a short list:
- Bloating or loose stools: Almost always from the allulose, especially on an empty stomach. Easily fixed by drinking it with food.
- Mild drowsiness: The combination of L-theanine, ashwagandha, and lemon balm is designed to calm you down. For some people, especially those who are sensitive to sedating ingredients or drink it alongside alcohol, the calming effect tips into sleepiness.
- Mild nausea: Occasionally reported with tulsi-containing products and with ashwagandha on an empty stomach.
- Headache: Some people report this during the first few days of regular adaptogen use. It tends to resolve on its own.
None of these are dangerous, and most of them either go away with continued use or respond to simple adjustments like timing and food pairing. The more serious concerns described earlier in this article apply to specific populations and specific circumstances, not to the average healthy person grabbing a Moment after a stressful workday.
How Moment Compares to Taking These Ingredients as Supplements
One practical question people have is whether a Moment drink is meaningfully different, safety-wise, from buying ashwagandha capsules or L-theanine tablets separately. The answer is yes, in a few ways. First, beverage doses tend to be lower than what you would get from a standalone supplement capsule. A typical ashwagandha supplement delivers 300 to 600 mg of root extract; a functional beverage usually sits at the lower end of that range or below it. Lower doses mean a more modest effect in both directions, less benefit and less risk.
Second, a beverage is harder to accidentally double-dose. People who take multiple supplements can lose track and stack adaptogens from different products without realizing it. A single can is a single can. Third, the liquid format means faster absorption, which can amplify digestive side effects from allulose but also means the active ingredients do not linger in the gut as long as a slow-dissolving tablet might.
The downside of the beverage format is that ingredient amounts per serving are sometimes presented less clearly than on a supplement facts panel. Make sure you can actually find the milligram amounts of each active ingredient on the label. If a product lists a “proprietary blend” without breaking out individual doses, you have no way to assess whether you are getting a meaningful amount of L-theanine or a meaningful amount of ashwagandha, and you cannot evaluate your personal risk accurately.