health

Is C4 Pre-Workout Vegan Friendly?

To find a good and safe pre-workout supplement is really hard. To find one that is vegan as well is even harder. You will be surprised to know that many supplements that are marketed as vegan-friendly pre-workouts turn out to contain animal-based ingredients in them.  If you are looking for an instant energy boost from a plant-based supplement, you need to do your research thoroughly.

There has been a lot of confusion about whether C4 pre-workout is vegan or not. And the mixed answers that you find does not help to answer this question 100% correctly. Some say that many vegan bodybuilders use it, while others say that the creatine in it is derived from animal sources, which makes it nonvegan.

As this has created a lot of confusion, whether C4 is actually vegan or not, and even more whether the new products are vegan, we went ahead and got the answers from the source itself. 

The answer is not a simple one and needs to be explained, and that is exactly what we will do below:

Firstly here is the list of ingredients for the original C4:

●     Cafeïne

●     Calcium Silicate

●     CarnoSyn Ⓡ Beta-Alanine

●     Arginine AKG

●     Citric Acid

●     Creatine Nitrate (NO3-T Ⓡ)

●     Malic Acid

●     Sucralose

●     Silicon Dioxide

●     Acesulfame Potassium

●     Natural Flavours

●     FD&C Red Lake #40

The creatine nitrate in the list of ingredients is the only ingredient that is potentially nonvegan, but since the creatine is synthetically made, it will be safe to say that C4 pre-workout is vegan.

However, some vegans may still not use it, due to the Red 40 present in it, which is the artificial coloring. Artificial colors are a controversial ingredient, as they are surrounded by animal testing. So many give the argument that they are not vegan. Well, there is no clear answer to this, so it is one’s own choice.

Why Are Some Of The C4 Pre-workouts Non-vegan?

Although many people are concerned about the Taurine present in C4 pre-workouts, while others have raised concerns about whether the creatine is vegan friendly. Both of these ingredients are confirmed to be derived 100% synthetically and therefore are vegan friendly. Do not be worried about these two ingredients in C4 pre-workouts.

However, you do need to look out for Milk. It is not a huge component, but it is present in a few pre-workouts,  namely in the C4 Dynasty MMXX and C4 Ultimate Power pre-workouts. They do contain dairy/milk and therefore are not vegan friendly.

Which C4 Pre-workouts Are 100% Vegan?

C4 Carbonated Smart Energy Cans

C4 Ripped Sport

C4 Ultimate

C4 On-The-Go

C4 Original Pre-workout 

Clay Miller
the authorClay Miller
I am the creator/writer of Ways2GoGreen.com and Ways2GoGreenBlog.com. I'm an advocate for oceans, beaches, state parks. I enjoy all things outdoors (e.g. running, golf, gardening, hiking, etc.) I am a graduate of the University of Kentucky (Go Wildcats!!). I'm also a huge fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. I was born and raised in the beautiful state of Kentucky.