Can a drink really help you focus?

YORKTOWN, Va. - When that mid-day slump sets in, many of us reach for a cup of coffee, or can of soda to re-energize, but a new kind of drink on the market claims to also help you focus.

Tiger Woods, the poster child for focus under pressure is the face on Gatorade's 'Tiger' with theanine to focus. It's one of several drinks and pills touting the potent powers of this natural amino acid.

We asked a registered dietician how theanine works. "It makes you better able to concentrate, more alert, and that's particularly true if you should have some noise distraction or even some visual distraction," said Jill Weisenberger.

Weisenberger says theanine has been around forever. It comes from the Camellia Sinensis plant species, the same plant that gives us white, black and green tea.

"We know that tea has all kinds of wonderful health benefits," she said, but Weisenberger doubts these new drinks and pills pack the same punch.

"The problem is once you extract a chemical or a compound from a food, it changes the behavior of that compound."

Plus, she says you don't know the concentration you're getting in these products. Her advice: listen to your mother. Mother Nature that is,and get your theanine the old fashioned way.

If you're not a tea drinker, she says you can also find high amounts of theanine in mushrooms.