Supplements Tests Rating

Supplement Rating System

••••• It’s the REAL DEAL!
•••• This stuff’s worth a try.
••• Not bad, but there is better.
•• Nothing to get excited about.
* Crap!

Tom Pullan is the owner and proprietor of Nutri-Mart, the first “sports nutrition” restaurant of its kind. Nutri-Mart caters specifically to athletes who have strict dietary needs.

This is a little rating test bout several supplements in market ... results may vary!


Synthevol II
from EAS
This is EAS’s new high performance creatine drink mix. They’ve changed the formula a bit from their original product, Phosphagen HP. Instead of using plain ol’ dextrose to spike insulin levels for creatine transport, Synthevol’s transport system is kick-started from hydrolyzed wheat gluten. This allows Synthevol II to have a much lower sugar level per serving. Each serving contains 10g of creatine, 5g of glutamine, and a few grams of arginine, with only 11g of sugar (as opposed to 34g of sugar in Phosphagen HP). With those numbers, I think half a scoop of Synthevol II 15-30 minutes before your workout would help turn an intense weightlifting session up a notch.

Rating: •••••



Muscle Milk
from CYTOSPORT
Cytosport was started by a guy who used to work for Champion Nutrition out on the left coast. His newest product is called Muscle Milk. I had some inquiries about it at my store, so I decided to have a look into it. I checked out their website to find out what exactly are the magic ingredients that make Muscle Milk work. Well, I have to tell you, after reading the ingredients of Muscle Milk, I came away shaking my head. Betapol, Evopro, Leanlipids. What the hell are these things? I don’t consider myself a novice when it comes to sports nutrition, but I’ve never heard of these ingredients. They sound like trademark names for some type of herbal nutrients, but I can’t be sure. Cytosport claims that Muscle Milk is designed to stimulate growth and aid in recovery in a similar manner to mother’s milk. I’ve got to tell you that I’m skeptical about this one.

Rating: ••


Specialized Protein For Dieter’s from UNIVERSAL NUTRITION

In the past, soy protein has always taken a “bum” rap when it came down to its quality and effectiveness in building muscle. In actuality, soy measures up as a complete protein. According to a 1989 Protein Quality Evaluation Report, soy protein ranks right up there with other protein sources like whey and egg white. One thing I like about soy is its ability to boost, or at least maintain, thyroid hormone levels in athletes during calorie restricted diets. Typically, your body automatically lowers thyroid hormone levels when calorie intake is restricted. This makes it much more difficult to burn fat stores as primary energy while dieting. Specialized Protein For Dieters is a calibrated blend of high quality whey and soy isolates. At Nutri-Mart, we make an awesome protein pudding mix using this protein hybrid. It makes for a great bedtime snack. I also hear there’s a great oatmeal raisin muffin recipe using Universal Nutrition’s Specialized Protein in the October issue of Muscle & Fitness. Check it out!

Rating: •••••

ATP Serum Creatine from MUSCLE
MARKETING USA
Muscle Marketing USA claims to have invented the world’s only stabilized liquid creatine. Each serving of ATP Advantage Serum Creatine claims to have 2.5g of creatine. EAS claims that they had the product tested, but the test showed less than 1 microgram (not milligram, but MICROGRAM) of creatine per serving. Remember, EAS is a company that is not really known in the supplement industry for playing fair. It wasn’t too long ago when Bill Phillips (then CEO of EAS) publicly trashed the Pure Protein Bar from Worldwide for not meeting label claims. This allegation was later answered by Worldwide Nutrition when they revealed independent test studies showing that the Pure Protein Bar was well within the legal margin of error for label claims. So... I’m going to wait for the independent lab test to come back on ATP Creatine Serum before passing judgment.

Rating: To be announced