SAN Releases LAUNCH
February 12, 2010
By: Scott Welch BASc (Nutrition) CAAP (Advertising)
I first saw LAUNCH at the LA FITEXPO several weeks back and it’s a very interesting product. SAN is owned by Matt Boldt who is a biochemistry and ergogenic expert from Germany. His products have always been known for their cutting-edge ingredients and cool packaging. SAN states that LAUNCH is “engineered to be the ultimate answer to the crowded category of pre-workout and endurance supplements.” Apart from a really cool brand name, LAUNCH takes a different slant on things by supplying the consumer with the pharmaceutical counterparts of cell volumizers. It comes in a capsule form (which is unlike most pre-workout products out there) and contains L-Citruline Malate, Creatine Nitrate, Beta Alanine, N-acetyl-tyrosine, sulbutiamine, caffeine anhydrous, nicotinoyl-GABA, Geranium Oil Extract and a few other goodies thrown in there! I’m now seeing Geranium Oil Extract creeping into many caffeine-containing products due to its amplification properties. Creatine Nitrate is also getting bigger and should be even more widespread by this summer. SAN states that:
“just 1 sample of their new LAUNCH product is all it takes to garner a loyal new customer.”
Okay, I will take you up on it Matt – send me a sample! Email me at genius@supplementgenius.com
Supplement Genius Gets New Logo
February 7, 2010
By: Scott Welch (BASc (Nutrition) CAAP (Advertising)
After nearly 2 years on the web, we’ve finally decided to upgrade the Supplement Genius company logo! Yes, we’ve finally bit the bullet, paid out a whack of dough and made the big change. We hired famed illustrator John Gleneicki (pictured below) to do the logo for us as he’s by far the best illustrator in the business. You may recognize him as the creator of the MuscleHedz cartoons which everyone loves. If you’ve been reading our site for a few months you’ll remember that John is also the guy who developed the logo for our soon to be released Supplement Radio show.
Is Scott Welch The Bald Guy In The Lab Coat?
Yes, that is “me” in the logo with the bald head and the test tube mixing up my latest pre-workout concoction! Since I’ve been the watchdog of the supplement industry for the past few years, and since I own the frickin’ site who better than me to be a part of the company logo!?
New Website Improvements Coming
We’re looking to do some really big things with the site this year that we know you’ll enjoy. No, we’re NOT going to start our own online store!!! No interest in that area for us - we think sites like Bodybuilding.com and SupplementsCanada.com do a fantastic job in that area and we want to focus on being your destination for tips on what to take and what not to take etc. No, we’re also NOT coming out with our own supplement company either! So what’s the new website going to have? To start, we’re going to get our subscription service fixed. It’s been down for over a year now! Yes, the 
web designer we hired to build the site in the first place assured us he could fix it easily once it stopped working. One year later and it’s still not fixed! Lessons learned. The next thing we’re going to do is take all of our old content and drop it into a new website template. Of course we’ll then have John Gleneicki add his finishing touches to the design to make it totally pimped out! Yes, we want John to pimp our website!! Then we’ll be adding a weekly podcast to the site and a social media platform. Anyway, lots of cool changes coming soon. Thanks for reading tonight’s post and thanks to John Gleneicki for doing such an awesome job on our new logo - we love it!
American Generic Labs Reformulates Ephedra Extract Diet Pills
January 11, 2010
American Generic Labs has reformulated their popular line of Ephedra based diet pills with what they’re calling “new and improved” proprietary ingredients that comply with recent FDA regulation changes. Superdrine, Metabothin, Ripped Power and Yellow Devils are all manufactured by American Generic Labs. The original Ephedra product line, launched in 2006, had decent commercial success and the product development team at American Generic Labs worked diligently to develop the product line further. According to the company, the new proprietary blends include Ginseng, Bee Pollen, Royal Jelly and the maximum legal amounts of ephedra extracts. (Editors Note: They did not specify in their press release what the amount of ephedrine wil
l be in these products or if it will be at all.) But Frank Turner, Director of product development at American Generic Labs touts the new and improved product releases as being in their words the “Best natural weight loss pills available“. A bold claim indeed.
Money Back Guarantee
The folks at American Generic Labs are prepared to stand by their claims with a customer satisfation guarantee. They have partnered with Netnutri.com to offer a Free Sample of its “Yellow Devils” Weight loss pill to the public. The free offer will allow consumers to test the products for free. To find out more about visit American Generic Labs.
SOURCE: PR WEB
Move Over Chef Jay
December 17, 2009
By: Scott Welch BASc (Nutrition), CAAP (Advertising)
Amongst the “food bars” that make up the bar market, one of my longstanding favorites has always been the TRI-O-PLEX bars made by Chef Jay (pictured with me on the left). No, we don’t REALLY go to the same barber). My fav is the peanut butter chocolate chip flavor but the banana walnut version also tastes great. When I get my hands on these, I eat two in a row sometimes. Back to back baby! Sometimes one on top of the other like a giant sub! Ya, I’m a savage. I’m not hungry for about 8 hours afterwards (but of course I eat anyway!! Ha Ha!) But I think there’s a new kid in town Jay so take off your over mitts, set down your chef’s hat, put the apron back on the counter and stuff the whisk in the dishwasher and pay attention. Just kidding big guy!
Ultimate Nutrition Gets In Bar Biz
Ultimate Nutrition which has never been known as a “bar company” they’re more powder focussed, has decided to throw their hat in the “bar ring” and develop a food bar called “Iso Meal Xtreme” and the taste 
kicks ass! I mean this thing’s even got icing on it! It contains 31 grams of protein and 470 calories per serving. But don’t let that sway you because the thing is HUGE! It weighs 120 grams which looks almost double the size of traditional bars and will fill up even the hungriest lumberjack (don’t ask me where I came up with that stupid expression). Anyways, I don’t want to go on and on but this one tastes great. As with the OhYeah! and Supreme bars, the taste on these is addictive but keep in mind that all the calories add up. If you eat these and still eat like a pig, you’ll get fat in no time. If you eat these bars instead of a meal (when you’re busy or something) you’ll do fine.
Ocinna Ultimate Bodydurability
December 14, 2009
When you’re dieting and training all out, you make it really difficult to recover because you’re taking in less nutrients than your body truly needs which often leads to nutritional deficiencies. Supplementing with vitamins, minerals, electrolytes, EFAs and other compounds are ways to help prevent this from happening. A company you may not have heard of before called “FORTIS VITA” has come out with a new EFA supplement made specifically for triathletes to help aid their recovery.
“An athlete can take the best performance enhancing supplements that allow them to run faster, or a piece of equipment that allows them to bike longer, but if their body is not durable enough to tolerate the added stress, everything else is useless…period,” explains Joseph Weissenburger, President of Fortis Vita. “Taking performance enhancers without enhancing Bodydurability is like putting a race car engine into a car that has bad brakes, rusty suspension, and leaking fluids; it just doesn’t work. The body must be durable enough to tolerate the added work that one wants it to do and Ocinna Ultimate Bodydurability helps with just that. It helps to make an athlete’s body durable enough to fight off the negative effects that come along with intense training.”
Ocinna Ultimate Bodydurability comes in an easy-to-swallow soft gel and contains Omega 3 Fish Oils from sardines and anchovy with Vitamin D and Cinnamon for added recovering boosting and to help stabilize blood sugar. One thing that’s cool that I didn’t expect when I first looked at this formula is that the cinnamon they’ve added completely gets rid of that awful “fish stink” that EFA supplements usually have. You can actually taste the cinnamon on your breath if you burp (not that the supplement genius ever burps of course) which is definitely a plus - who needs gum right? Just kidding. Currently, a number of athletes are using this product including Steve Donaldson, Joe Abouata, and strength coach James Wilson. Directions tell users to take 1 to 3 capsules per day.
About Fortis Vita, LLC
Fortis Vita, LLC is located in Bernardsville, NJ, specializing in all natural, cutting edge supplements, designed for athletes looking to improve their health, performance and Bodydurability.
Amplified Muscle Meal
December 9, 2009
So a friend gave me a sample pack of GNC’s Meal Replacement Powder (MRP) called “Amplified Muscle Meal” to try. Fortunately, it was chocolate because that’s usually my favorite flavor! It’s been a while since MRPs were popular and over the last few years, the top sellers have been EAS’s “Myoplex“, Labrada’s “Lean Body” and Champion Nutrition’s “Ultra Met“. Yes, Ultra Met is one of the top sellers in the independent channel! Nowadays, some companies have MRPs in their supplement portfolio, but most don’t. Okay, enough of the history lesson, let’s get back to GNC’s Amplified Muscle Meal…
Nutritional Profile
The two things I really like about this product are the 50 grams of protein and the 10 grams of fiber (that’s in just 1 serving!). However, it also has 3 grams of a blend of Betaine and HMB. Unfortunately, it doesn’t indicate how much HMB is present in the blend but many researchers recommend a dose of 3 grams of HMB per day. Amplified Muscle Meal contains all the vitamins and minerals your body needs plus a whack of Leucine (9 grams!) and 14 grams of Glutamine which are great anticatabolic amino acids.
Taste
The product mixes very well and has a thin consistency. The initial taste is good but there’s a bite to it afterwards. I’m not sure if it’s the 9 grams of Leucine or the 14 grams of Glutamine screaming through on this flavor but there’s definitely an aftertaste to it.
Price
Since “Pro Performance” is GNC’s own supplement company and they own the stores it’s sold in, it’s very hard for companies to compete against them. The GNC store clerks are VERY well trained on the Pro Performance supplement line and the packaging is also outstanding which makes it an easy sell! But the price is the real deal closer here folks. Pro Performance products are usually going to be lower than the leading brands. This lower price strategy allows the GNC clerks to have an easier time comparing their product next to the other more well advertised MRPs in the store and switching them over. This is just good business for GNC and the product is well formulated so it’s a good deal for the customer. Currently, with a GNC Gold Card you can buy Amplified Muscle Meal on GNC.com for $49.59 which is REALLY cheap for an MRP of this quality. That’s $2.28 per serving! Labrada’s Lean Body is selling on the same site for $55.99 and Myoplex for $47.99.
RED ALERT
December 4, 2009
Companies are always sending us free samples of their supplements because they think we’re just going to say great things about them because they sent it to us. Ha ha! Not on our watch! So the latest product we’ve had sent our way comes from a Canadian company called “RED X LAB” which they’ve called “RED ALERT”.
Brand Name
This is a pre-workout powder with a catchy name and as some of you know, we’re always fans of supplement names that build the product benefit into the brand name. Some companies do a great job at this, others miss the boat every time in an attempt to sound “scientific”.
Packaging Design
The red on black design really jumps out and gives it a bold, futuristic look. Unfortunately, the company name “RED X LAB” is very small and tucked into the left side which gets lost in the packaging. The supplement company name is your most important feature guys! Show it. Also, the flavor icon is also very small and some consumers may have difficulty finding the right flavor on store shelves. Since RED ALERT comes in 3 different versions, this could be a problem. Nothing pisses of a retailer off more than an angry customer that returns an already half-empty container because he/she bought the wrong flavor! There are a few other things the folks at RED X LAB could have done to make the packaging design a slam dunk, but we’ll reserve those tips for paying clients!
Formula
Nothing revolutionary here, just the usual substances you find in most pre-workout powders. Nine grams of carbs, some Beta Alanine (how much is anybody’s guess because the label doesn’t say?), Caffeine, Creatine Monohydrate, Creatine Ethyl Ester, Arginine and Arginine analogues, and plenty of Niacin (20 mg). When you drink the product, you feel a tingling/flushing sensation that (in our experience) feels like a high niacin flush but it could also be the Beta Alanine.
Mixability
We like the white chrystaline color of the powder but the product doesn’t mix very well and seemed to clump up and rise to the surface when we mixed it in our shaker cup. We tried this with different flavors and it seemed to happen each time. Now we use the “Blender Bottle” which crushes even the most “unmixeble” powders and helps improve the solubility of drink mixes but even this powerful tool was no match for the strange white powder undissolved sneaking to the surface! It didn’t sway us from sucking it back but consumers might not be as forgiving - especially at a fitness tradeshow where sampling is done.
Taste
Not the worst we’ve tried (another Canadian company makes a Blue Raspberry pre-workout powder that takes that award) but definitely not the best tasting we’ve ever tried. The added aminos, arginine, caffeine and especially the vinpocetine will negatively affect a products taste. However, if you increase the water level you mix it with to 10 to 12 oz instead of the 6 oz they recommend, you’ll do just fine. We liked their 
Tangerine flavor best. Beside, if you want great taste, go drink a glass of Kool Aid!
Effects
Now this is the most important factor that we drink these for anyways. We drank it on an empty stomach to feel it’s effects without anything else interfering. The product hit quickly with the tingling/flushing sensation we described earlier. We felt an energy increase that came on after about 30 minutes yet it didn’t make us feel sick like some of the Yohimbe-containing powders sometimes do when you drink them on an empty stomach. We did not notice any noticeable vasodilation but we were energized.
Where’s It Made?
Well the label says that it is “Made In Canada” which as a Canadian I’m happy to hear but nowhere on the label could I find a mailing address of physical address for “RED X LAB”? I also could also not find a phone number to call for more information on the product!? Hmm, this is indeed very strange and a point that consumers will find very suspiscious.
Omega 3 Water
November 18, 2009
By: Scott Welch BASc (Nutrition), CAAP (Advertising)
Ya, I thought the pic was hilarious too! A company called Renewal Laboratories has announced that it’s developed a patent-pending process to produce the first ever omega3 supplement drink, containing the 500 mg daily dose of fish oil, in a good tasting and refreshing format. As you know, Fish oil contains the essential fatty acids EPA and DHA that the body cannot make itself which must be supplied by food or supplements.
So What’s So Special About It?
The patent pending process transforms normally fat soluble supplements into stable water soluble microparticles without using chemical additives. Other manufacturers add emulsifiers or detergents, such as polysorbate 80, or chemically modify the ingredient molecules, to increase water solubility. Competing technologies are rarely able to put enough desirable supplements into their products to make them nutritionally beneficial. Using only the highest quality ingredients, the Renewal products are low calorie, all natural, and can be certified organic. Will this stuff taste as good as they say? Hmm, sounds “fishy” to me!
SOURCE: PR NEWSWIRE
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Protein Tea
November 15, 2009
By: Scott Welch BASc (Nutrition), CAAP (Advertising)Scott Welch’s Prediction
Supply Side: Glanbia Nutritionals Mass Explosion RTD
November 12, 2009
Well we stopped by the Glanbia Nutritionals booth today (pictured above) at Supply Side and tried some of the new RTDs I told you about last week. Here’s our review:
- Mass Explosion - This is a weight gain RTD. This product delivers high calories but supposedly
doesn’t have the usual ‘graininess’ commonly associated with a high calorie RTD drink.
Scott Welch’s Feedback: “The lady sampling the drink said that it will come in a 500 mL container and will have 1,280 calories per bottle! It will deliver 60 grams of protein and 80 g of fat (70 g of which is unsaturated). Now the label lists that a serving is only 250 mL but if it comes in a 500 mL bottle, many consumers will drink two servings by default. As for taste, the thickness of the shake was like a mousse or pudding and I think it needs to be a bit thinner. Instead of putting this in a 500 mL container, they should consider a larger container so that they can dilute the thickness just a bit. An extra large container will also help the product truly look like one that’s made for the big boyz! Overall, a cool new RTD for ectomorphs or those that have trouble gaining weight.”