Ask a guy in the dietary supplement industry ANYTHING...and get HONEST answers

[VaughnTrue]

I started a thread last week that got quite a few people in here talking about dietary supplements and them being legit or not(http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...8289743&page=1), so I wanted to make a thread offering up 100% honesty for any/all questions or comments you guys may have. If you have anything you are curious about(which ingredients work, which are a scam...etc or even things like profit margins on specific products/formulas) please let me know.

Check out the thread I mentioned above to get a better idea

[gibbypoo]

Where do you get your sweet tanks?

Also, supp advice for reaching 9'9"?

[Motiviert]

In. Favorite dietary supp? Most effective? Least effective? Biggest scam supp?

[PeterPoopshute]

in & subbed

[Shhenron]

Was whey protein really waste before they realized they could make money off it? Is it still waste or does it actually provide the grams of protein it indicates it does?

[VaughnTrue]

Where do you get your sweet tanks?

Also, supp advice for reaching 9'9"?

Well the one in my avi is from American Eagle, however IFN keeps me pretty well stocked on IFN shirts/gear whenever I request more.

Lift heavy, sleep late, consume the flesh of children.

In. Favorite dietary supp? Most effective? Least effective? Biggest scam supp?

Favorite dietary supplement: Hemavo2 currently.
Favorite dietary ingredient: 3,4 Divanillytetrahydrofuran
Most effective: Creatine Monohydrate
Least effective: OMFG too many to list. Creatine Ethyl Ester, Creatine Krealkalyn, beef protein, 99.99999% of testosterone boosting herbs
Biggest scam supplement: I'd say the biggest offender of being a "scam" would be the average testosterone booster. I believe there ARE effective natural test boosters out there, but very few companies offer formulas with legit ingredients and/or properly dosed ingredients.

Was whey protein really waste before they realized they could make money off it? Is it still waste or does it actually provide the grams of protein it indicates it does?

Yup, it really was. However by "waste" you have to realize that it doesn't mean it's garbage...they just didn't know the benefits. This is similar to byproducts in oil refining. So much of petroleum byproducts were considered waste, yet now we pay an arm and a leg for them.

It provides the grams of protein it indicates, however many companies are "spiking" their protein with nitrogen rich amino acids to skew protein tests. This is why I tell everyone to only buy protein from a company they trust. If you see a protein being offered for VERY cheap, or if its continually on sale for B1G1 or B1G1 50% off...I would steer clear.

[dhawkeye1980]

Is yohimbine good or nah?

[Motiviert]

Companies you trust? Don't list ones you don't, just the ones you do.

[KruseMissile]

It provides the grams of protein it indicates, however many companies are "spiking" their protein with nitrogen rich amino acids to skew protein tests. This is why I tell everyone to only buy protein from a company they trust. If you see a protein being offered for VERY cheap, or if its continually on sale for B1G1 or B1G1 50% off...I would steer clear.

What do you feel is the best protein? I know some other fitness forum had submitted whey protein samples to be tested and found all were off.

[FudgeOff]

Are BCAAs worth taking? What's the best brand of BCAA you know of? Best flavor? Any statistical benefits of BCAAs you'd like to share?

[miscbrah007]

what is the best preworkout on the market right now (most effective, I don't care about taste). How much creatine should I take - some sources say 4 grams and some say up to 20.

[martoch]

Favorite dietary supplement: Hemavo2 currently.
Favorite dietary ingredient: 3,4 Divanillytetrahydrofuran
Most effective: Creatine Monohydrate
Least effective: OMFG too many to list. Creatine Ethyl Ester, Creatine Krealkalyn,

What language is that, srs?

[Bishamon]

do u know anything about manufacturing processes and OEM service options

looking to get into it but wanted to know how sourcing worked

[VaughnTrue]

Is yohimbine good or nah?

Good for...?

Fat loss = yes, lot of science showing it is effective
Erections = yes, lot of science show it helps(I have never noticed this benefit however)
Appetite suppression = yup
Headaches = yup. lot of people react negatively to this ingredient unfortunately. start on a low dose and work up.

Companies you trust? Don't list ones you don't, just the ones you do.

Companies I trust(trust = i believe what is on the label is what is in the product)

iForce Nutrition
Optimum Nutrition
PES
Xtreme Formulations
Evomuse
Controlled Labs

I have more that I trust, but these are my highest rated.

What do you feel is the best protein? I know some other fitness forum had submitted whey protein samples to be tested and found all were off.

proteins I trust in the most are:

iForce 100% Whey Protean/Isotean/Mass Gainz
Optimum Nutrition products
Xtreme Formulations Ultra Peptide 2.0
PES Select

Are BCAAs worth taking? What's the best brand of BCAA you know of? Best flavor? Any statistical benefits of BCAAs you'd like to share?

There are benefits, however I believe they are greatly blown out of proportion. If you are getting enough protein in every day, BCAAs are really not going to offer much benefit. Flavor is totally subjective, so my answer wouldn't really matter much there.

BCAAs are beneficial for aiding in recovery. I think the whole anti-catabolic while training thing is a bit much.

what is the best preworkout on the market right now (most effective, I don't care about taste). How much creatine should I take - some sources say 4 grams and some say up to 20.

my favorite preworkouts are:

Max Out
Hemavo2 Max(non stim)
High Volume (non stim)


I really am not a huge fan of this category due to how underdosed most products are. Its the best overall category, just SO much crap to sift through to find legit products.

What language is that, srs?

English. srs.

do u know anything about manufacturing processes and OEM service options

looking to get into it but wanted to know how sourcing worked

Yup, I am heavily involved with sourcing of raw materials as well as our manufacturing process. Let me know what you want to know.

[Squidbrah]

got any iForce discount codes for online whey protein? If so... I'd be happy to buy some RIGHT NOW

[TugMonster]

What is your opinion on frog tech? is it legit?

[infinit]

How is it legal for companies to put these absurd claims on packaging when normally there is no science to back that up?

[DSH1627]

What do you know about Maca? is it good?
What is your take on Diet Whey Protein?

[JPF82]

Are there any videos on how any supplement is made?

Also, since the pharmaceutical processes are not used in making supplements, can you talk more about how in one batch the far left of the bin could have more product than say the bottom right? How do you keep consistency?

Why don't supplement companies send out more free samples for loyal users?

I loved my i-Force products......Hemavol, Massgainz......so delicious but there isn't much support in my corner other than "thanks for the purchase"

This is a website dedicated to that, why show more love to booths at expos and not the same for your actual customers?

No hate, just curious.

[VaughnTrue]

got any iForce discount codes for online whey protein? If so... I'd be happy to buy some RIGHT NOW

only the bb.com 10% off code currently, sorry mang.

What is your opinion on frog tech? is it legit?

I'm go with 0% legit.

How is it legal for companies to put these absurd claims on packaging when normally there is no science to back that up?

It really depends on what is being claimed, and how it is being worded.

You can make claims that don't have a medical drug association...so things like "Helps support endurance" is fine as it doesn't claim to directly increase it, but instead support it. On the other hand "Gain 25lbs muscle in 30 days!" is not allowed without direct scientific proof showing it is.

[VaughnTrue]

What do you know about Maca? is it good?
What is your take on Diet Whey Protein?

Maca is good ONLY for raising libido. Nothing else.

Diet whey protein? 1g of protein = 4 calories. no way to make that diet. anyone selling a protein as a "diet protein" is just looking for a marketing gimmick.

Are there any videos on how any supplement is made?

Also, since the pharmaceutical processes are not used in making supplements, can you talk more about how in one batch the far left of the bin could have more product than say the bottom right? How do you keep consistency?

Why don't supplement companies send out more free samples for loyal users?

I loved my i-Force products......Hemavol, Massgainz......so delicious but there isn't much support in my corner other than "thanks for the purchase"

This is a website dedicated to that, why show more love to booths at expos and not the same for your actual customers?

No hate, just curious.

There are definitely videos out there...just do a google search. Companies who do in house manufacturing usually try and show off their facilities.

Mixing powders is very challenging in every industry. Getting 100% perfect dispersion of each ingredient is simply not possible with todays technology. This goes for pharmaceutical companies as well. For instance, if you have a 50mg tablet of any given drug, and you break that tablet in half, you would think you'd get 25mg of active in each half...right? Wrong. While it SHOULD be close to even, the reality is that one side will have more active than the other. No way to combat this currently.

Consistency is formed however from following the EXACT same steps of production each and every time a product is produced.

We try to give out samples as often as possible. We do full product giveaways and product samples in the supplement section on here every week.

IFN doesn't show love to booths at expos as we don't participate in them. We in fact take the money saved from expos each year, and dump it all into samples. At any given time, we have 500,000-1,000,000 samples of each product available in our warehouses.

[brownfrito]

What's the deal with Prop 65 and why do half of my supps tell me that I'm going to get cancer?

[Anothersloth]

what's your opinion on those new pre-workout/fatburning products coming out those days, my personal opinion is that they're putting in illegal/dangerous stuff that gets banned after a certain amount of time --> new version of the product with soon to be illegal stuff that's still legal. Which fatburner/preworkout do you recommend?

[JPF82]

IFN doesn't show love to booths at expos as we don't participate in them. We in fact take the money saved from expos each year, and dump it all into samples. At any given time, we have 500,000-1,000,000 samples of each product available in our warehouses.

Have any samples of Hema2.0? I really enjoyed all the flavors of Hema1, hnnnng dat lemmon drop doe. Dat pump on 2 scoops of white flood reborn and 2 scoops of Hemavol....

[Angra_Mainyu]

will you have the balls to release a PWO with straight up meth in it?

[VaughnTrue]

What's the deal with Prop 65 and why do half of my supps tell me that I'm going to get cancer?

Prop 65 is a bill that is from California...and is beyond annoying. Basically, anything in CA needs to have prop 65 warning on it if ANY chemical/ingredient used has any info/data anywhere showing it may be less than 100% healthy. I had a prop 65 warning on my mail box when I lived there!

Don't stress that warning out, it's purely political.

what's your opinion on those new pre-workout/fatburning products coming out those days, my personal opinion is that they're putting in illegal/dangerous stuff that gets banned after a certain amount of time --> new version of the product with soon to be illegal stuff that's still legal. Which fatburner/preworkout do you recommend?

Well it really depends on the company, product, and ingredients being used.

Plenty of ingredients which have been banned have been shown to be perfectly safe. I think many companies are however dosing stimulants at WAY too high of levels, and it will cause health issues for many users down the road.

Fat burners I like are Thermoxyn & Burn 24. My fav pre-workouts were listed previously.

Have any samples of Hema2.0? I really enjoyed all the flavors of Hema1, hnnnng dat lemmon drop doe. Dat pump on 2 scoops of white flood reborn and 2 scoops of Hemavol....

I do, just shoot me a PM with your full name/address. I would definitely suggest the Rainbow Sherbet flavor...its amazing!

[VaughnTrue]

will you have the balls to release a PWO with straight up meth in it?

Pretty sure that has already been done

[Nara22]

How would you rate Myprotein's whey?

(If you're aware of them)

[PAU1]

Pretty sure that has already been done

Speaking of which... As an insider, what was the most shocking supp industry scandal in recent years? I presume when some companies are shown to have been failing to meet label claims, you think, "well yeah, they are notoriously shady." Is there one that caught you by surprise or changed the way you viewed a company or individual?

[Sgt T-Man]

Why don't more people buy mass gainz? Truly one of the best pre made weight gainers in the history of supplements (srs)

Always wanted to know the numbers of supplement industry, average gross margin % of, pre workouts,protein,fat burners...etc....etc.
I have a feeling protein is a 10-15% margin item but other stuff must be 40%+ based on how many companies are around and continue to pop up, if the margin was low don't see so many people trying to get into this industry.

Scale of 1-10 to break into the industry with a new company.