The Biggest Lie In The Supplement Industry
Are you paying for filler and under-dosed supplements?
The AG ARMY has three new products slotted for release this year. Like all of our supplements, these new products offer full disclosure on the formulations and ingredients therein. The term proprietary blends is used a lot but it’s surprising just how many people don’t understand the concept behind it, leaving them short-changed with supplements that can be overpriced and under-dosed. AG ARMY CEO Chris Johnson discusses the biggest lie in the supplement industry today – proprietary blends.
The Biggest Lie In The Supplement Industry
There is a term used commonly in the sports nutrition business that everyone who consumes dietary supplements needs to be aware of: proprietary blend. In this article I’ll explain exactly what a proprietary blend is and why you need to avoid them!
In the world of Coke and Kentucky Fried Chicken, proprietary formulas are protected by copyright, patent or trademark. This stops the average Joe from copying the formula and starting the next great soda pop company or fried chicken chain with little investment in research and development. “Hey this tastes just like that other pop, but costs a buck less!” You can see why such a thing would need protection…
The supplement industry decided to extrapolate this idea into their field and called it a “proprietary blend”. For an actual definition see here: Frankly, the FDA has been lobbied into believing that a proprietary blend is needed to protect the formulas of supplement companies just like the flavors of Coke and the Colonel’s 7 herbs and spices. Here’s why that logic is fucking stupid…
Creatine has been a HOT supplement since the early 90’s and has been researched above any other natural performance ingredient. We know that we need 3,000mg of creatine a day to elicit benefits in muscle and strength. Beta-alanine is another fantastic supplement for helping buffer lactic acid and improve performance. 1,600 – 3,200mg does the trick. Arginine-AKG has shown to play a role in nitric oxide production (getting that pump!) and requires a dose of 1,000mg – 3,000mg. 1-3 dimethylamine (no longer legal) is a stimulant and seems to work at a dose of 25-30mg. So let’s take a look at the formula below…
This “proprietary blend” contains 4,145mg of the substances mentions above (plus Schisandra Chinensis). If this were a daily dose, it should really contain a minimum of 5,500mg. Perhaps the daily does is two scoops, in which case this may just be a fully dosed product. The average person however would just see Arginine-AKG, creatine, and the other ingredients and feel it was a great combo without taking the time to do some simple math.
Take a look at this one:
There are more ingredients in this proprietary blend. The more ingredients, the better, right? Heck, look at all those amino acids plus beta-alanine, citrulline, arginine, glutamine, taurine, WOW! Now step back for a moment. Hopefully this article so far has gotten you thinking a little bit. We know we need at least 1,500mg (1.5 grams) of beta-alanine and (if you research this you’ll find out) 3,000mg to 6,000mg (3-6 grams) of citrulline and upwards of 20grams (20,000mg) of glutamine daily to have a positive effect. This whole proprietary formula contains only 5 grams!!! That’s ¼ of an effective dose. Bull shit.
Now the supplement company that makes a product like this will tell you that their formula is proprietary because they don’t want anyone coming along and “knocking it off”. The only thing this product is delivering is a stimulatory effect and broken dreams. This product is extremely inexpensive to make since the active ingredients are far below their efficacy dosages. Anyone with an Internet connection or book on supplement ingredients could easily research each individual ingredient and come to the conclusion that this product sucks ass. But most people are too damn lazy. Their friends says, “hey, I got a great buzz of this and it tastes great”. Next thing you know, it’s a best seller at $29.99. FML
As you get more in tune with your health, you no longer buy fried chicken in search of your next 30 grams of protein. You buy organic, or at least a good quality version and cook it at home yourself. Why? That fried chicken has way too much fat and carbs in the breaded skin and works counter-productive to your goals of building lean, hard muscle. Why then would you buy the equivalent shitty bodybuilding supplement? It tastes like candy and stimulates you but does NOTHING to help you in your quest for a better body. You’ve basically just wasted $30 on a flavored drink mix that has $2 worth of caffeine in the whole bottle.
Here’s what a proper medicinal facts label should look like:
Here we see exactly how much of each ingredient is in this product. There is a proprietary blend called the GP3 EVO Synergy System, but each ingredient is listed fully below that. Now, as a consumer, we can make an easier, educated decision on whether or not this product is for us. We see 3,000mg daily dose of creatine (HCL is a bonus!), 2,000mg of l-carnitine tartrate and 1,600mg of beta-alanine (perfect creatine/beta-alanine ratio of 2:1). Plus we see the B-vitamins and how much of those are in there too.
To summarize, there is NO REASON for anyone in the supplement industry to have a proprietary blend (except perhaps for a flavor). The ingredients are well known and you either use enough or you don’t – simple as that. Anyone with a calculator and a reference guide can figure out how much of the listed ingredients should be in there – if the math on your proprietary blend doesn’t add up…well, you’re trying to fuck the consumer. And it happens still to this day. I am very surprised how many people are still oblivious to the idea of a proprietary blend. I expect among youngsters, but mature people and even people in the industry often don’t know how to navigate themselves though a nutrition facts label. Astonishing!!! So don’t feel silly if this is all news to you – you’re far from alone.
Well, I sincerely hope that now that you’ve read this article that you’ve become “enlightened” to one of the little tricks of the supplement industry and you’ll no longer be duped into buying a supplement solely based upon price, taste or a flashy label. Like food, drugs and anything else you take into your body, ultimately YOU are responsible for what you ingest. Take control and avoid the proprietary blends!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chris Johnson is an IFBB Pro, holistic nutritionist and CEO of Advanced Genetics. Since 2005 AG has NEVER released a product with a proprietary blend. Our company believes that you deserve to know exactly what you are putting into your body. All of our products are fully dosed, made in a state of the art cGMP facility and each of our products are NPN certified, the most stringent of all certifications in the entire world, based on safety and efficacy.