Amway North America

Amway North America (formerly known as Quixtar North America) is a multi-level marketing (MLM) company, founded 1959 in Ada, Michigan, United States. It is privately owned by the families of Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel through Alticor which is the holding company for businesses including Amway, Amway Global, Fulton Innovation, Amway Hotel Corporation, Gurwitch Products, Hatteras Yachts, and manufacturing and logistics company Access Business Group. After the launch of Amway Global originally operating under the name Quixtar, it replaced the Amway business in United States, Canada and the Caribbean, with the Amway business continuing to operate in other countries around the world. On May 1, 2009, Quixtar made the name change to Amway Global and fused the various different entities of the parent company.

Amway Global is also a member of the Direct Selling Association and the Better Business Bureau.

History

Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel initially founded the Ja-Ri Corporation, a multi-level marketing distributorship for Nutrilite products, in 1949. Ja-Ri was incorporated in 1959, and changed its name to "Amway" (American Way) in 1963. As of 2012, Amway operates in more than 100 countries around the world. In 1999, the founders of the Amway corporation launched a sister Internet-based company named Quixtar. The Alticor corporation owns both Amway and Quixtar, plus several other concerns. Quixtar replaced the North American business of Amway in 2001 after the majority of the distributors moved to Quixtar, with Amway operating in the rest of the world.

Energy drink

An energy drink is a type of beverage containing stimulant drugs, chiefly caffeine, which is marketed as providing mental and physical stimulation. They may or may not be carbonated and many also contain sugar or other sweeteners, herbal extracts and amino acids. They are a subset of the larger group of energy products, which includes bars and gels, and distinct from sports drinks, which are advertised to enhance sports performance. There are many brands and varieties of energy drinks.

Coffee, tea and other naturally caffeinated beverages are usually not considered energy drinks. Other soft drinks such as cola may contain caffeine, but are also not energy drinks. Some alcoholic beverages, such as Buckfast Tonic Wine, contain caffeine and other stimulants. According to the Mayo Clinic, it is safe for the typical healthy adult to consume a total of 400 mg of caffeine a day. This has been confirmend by a panel of the European Food Safety Authority (ESFA), which also concludes that a caffeine intake of up to 400 mg per day does not raise safety concerns for adults. According to the ESFA this is equivalent to 4 cups of coffee (90 mg each) or 5 standard cans (250 ml) of energy drink (80 mg each).