Supplement Guides on PricePlow
Welcome to PricePlow, the sports supplement industry's premier thought leaders!
This page links to our “best of” lists and “mega posts” – extremely well-researched articles ranging from scams to avoid to buyer's guides to in-depth ingredient analyses.
Critical Information
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The Amino Acid Protein Spiking Scandal
Read and understand this before ever buying protein powder!
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Proprietary Blends
Understand the risks of encountering a “Batch-to-Batch Bait and Switch” when buying a proprietary blend!
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Nutrition Facts Label Rounding Scams
Learn about a scam where brands take advantage of the FDA's labeling laws and use rounding to their advantage with ultra-small serving sizes.
Ingredient Analyses
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Muscle Building Supplements:
- PeptiStrong: Natural Anabolic Ingredient from Fava Beans
- Turkesterone
- HMB (β-hydroxy β-methylbutyrate): Performance-Driven Muscle Supplement
- Rhaponticum Carthamoides: The MAX Phytoecdysteroid Source
- EAA vs. BCAA
- Betaine
- Beta Alanine
- Ingredient Optimized (io) Protein (ioWhey and ioPea): Protein-Enhancing Technology for Greater Gains
Boost your muscles' natural performance and recovery abilities with PeptiStrong, a natural anabolic peptide network found in fava beans.
- Velositol: Enhancing Muscle Protein Synthesis for Protein Powders and Aminos
- Pumpkin Seed Protein: Upending the Plant Protein Market
- Phosphatidic Acid
- Epicatechin
- Arachidonic Acid
- Tongkat Ali
- Tomatidine
- Spilanthes Acmella
- Laxogenin
- Dextrose
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Non-Stimulatory Performance Enhancers
- Nucleotides
- NMN Supplements (Nicotinamide Mononucleotide): The NAD+ Energy Precursor
- BioNMN: A Reliable NMN Supplement Ingredient
- The FDA vs. NMN (will be updated regularly)
- NucleoPrime: Step Up Your Immune and Recovery Stack
- NMN Supplements (Nicotinamide Mononucleotide): The NAD+ Energy Precursor
- Peak ATP: The Ultimate Guide to Disodium ATP Supplements
- Senactiv: Regenerate Senescent Cells and Perform Better
- Taurine: An effective endurance-booster in just one use!
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Glycerol: The Ultimate Guide for Hydration, Heat Protection, and Pumps
- HydroPrime: Glycerol With More Pumps and Less Clumps
- Cordyceps
- Beta-Glucans: Mother Nature's Immunity Agents
- Nucleotides
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Weight Loss Ingredients (non-stimulatory)
- Berberine: The Best Glucose Disposal Ingredient Just Got Better
Berberine is a nutrient partitioning ingredient that sends more carbs to muscle! Read about Berberine and GlucoVantage in the above guide.!
- GlucoVantage: NNB Nutrition's Dihydroberberine
- BAIBA: New Ingredient Generates Exercise in a Pill?!
- MitoBurn: L-BAIBA (“The Exercise Molecule”) is finally on the market!
- Grains of Paradise
- CaloriBurn: Taking Grains of Paradise to Hot New Heights
Finally, a grains of paradise extract that actually passes lab tests for all clinical constituents!
- See also: WAT to BAT: A High-Metabolism Guide to Brown and White Fat
- MCT Oil: The Dietary Fat Source Built for Efficient Energy
- C8Vantage: C8 MCT Powder for Maximum Energy, Clarity, and Performance
- Chromium Picolinate: The Ultimate Trace Mineral For Insulin Sensitivity
- Chromax: 25+ Years of Insulin Sensitivity Improvement
- Chromax and Hunger Regulation: The Chromium / Appetite Connection
- Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA): The Cognitive-Boosting Antioxidant
- InnoSlim: NuLivScience’s Potent Stimulant-Free Fat Burning Ingredient
- Bergamot: Natural Cardiovascular / Lipid Support
- Ephedra
- Forskolin
- Dehydrozingerone (Anti-inflammatory adipose tissue blocker from ginger)
- ZinjaBurn: “The Adipose Tissue Assassin”
- Gamma Butyrobetaine (GBB) – Super Carnitine That Makes You Sweat?!
- Ecklonia Cava
- Sinetrol
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Nootropics (cognitive focus and brain enhancers)
- Rhodiola – The Salidroside-Powered Adaptogen of the Vikings
- RhodioPrime 6X – The Strongest Rhodiola Extract (6% Salidroside)
- Choline
- Cognizin® Citicoline: The Brain Choline
- Bacopa Monnieri
- L-Tyrosine vs N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine
- nooLVL – Clinically-Validated Focus for Gamers
- SAMe (S-Adenosyl Methionine)
- Gotu Kola
- Vinpocetine
Rhodiola: The Adaptogen Powered by Salidroside. In this article, we dive deep into rhodiola, and take a different approach to the adaptogenic herb!
- FDA vs. Picamilon
- Rhodiola – The Salidroside-Powered Adaptogen of the Vikings
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Stimulants
- Paraxanthine (the primary caffeine metabolite, launched in the MuscleTech iQ Series)
- Ephedra (hint: the ephedrine alkaloids have been removed and replaced with other ingredients)
- Higenamine: The Underrated Appetite Supressant Stimulant
- See our DMAA Legal Updates
- DMHA / Octodrine / 2-Aminoisoheptane / 2-Amino-6-Methylheptane – 2016's Stimulant?!
- Dynamine
- Eria Jarensis Extract / N-phenethyl-dimethylamine
- Theacrine
- BMPEA
- Caffeine and Athletic Performance – Can High Pre-Workout Doses of Caffeine be Optimal?
Nutrition21's nooLVL
is the first clinically tested focus ingredient on actual gamers – who played modern games!
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Men's Fertility Supplements
- Zinc Picolinate (ZinMax): A Highly Bioavailable Form of Zinc
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Sleep Ingredients
- Magnesium Glycinate: A Master Class in Magnesium & Glycine
- Anandamide: The Body’s Blissful Endocannabinoid Molecule
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Gut Supplements
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Joint Supplements
- Curcumin for Joint Pain
- MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane) Supplements
- Cissus Quadrangularis
- ParActin
- (See also Anandamide above)
- Arecoline (Potentially carcinogenic ingredient in new pre workouts and fat burners)
- AMP Citrate (banned)
- Isomaltooligosaccharide (IMO Fiber): A Fraudulent “Fiber”?
- Maximum Shred (Scam: $87 Product with $4 of Ingredients)
- Instant Knockout (Is this questionably-dosed fat burner worth $59?!)
- Labz Supplement Brands
- Soylent (see also the Soylent Lawsuit)
- Beware: Ion Exchange Whey — An Inferior type of protein processing
Other Scams / Scandals / Potentially Unsafe Ingredients
Contact us if you have ideas / requests for new ones.
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Cognizin® Citicoline: The Brain Choline
Enhancing cognitive traits like mood, focus, and reasoning is the reason many consumers take supplements. In this fast-paced, competitive world, your brain is your body’s prime real estate. Importantly, in our information economy, how well your brain functions and performs under stress can make or break your career.
That’s where choline comes in.
Choline is […]
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Muscle Glycogen Reload: Sugar, Dextrose, and Animal Creatine Chews
It’s summer of 2023, and everyone’s been talking about creatine again. This time it’s getting more attention from women, which is something we’ve wanted to see for decades.
Always ahead of the curve, the Animal team over at Universal Nutrition has long had many creatine-based supplements, but they reformulated their lineup in 2022, […]
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PeptiStrong: Natural Anabolic Ingredient from Fava Beans
Have you ever wondered how new nutritional supplements are discovered? Historically speaking, there’s more than one answer to this question.
Lately, a new technique for identifying blockbuster supplements of the future has emerged:
AI-driven research.
Researchers are using massive computers, equipped with the latest language learning models, to comb biochemical databases looking for any and […]
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Rhodiola: The Salidroside-Powered Adaptogen of the Vikings
“Fast-paced,” “high-stress,” and “non-stop” are just a few adjectives to describe the world today. We’re always balancing multiple objectives — family, work, recreation, exercise, health, all of which demand large amounts of physical and mental energy. Unfortunately, our efforts are not always enough, and it’s easy to feel weighed down by fatigue, stress, and mental […]
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HMB (β-hydroxy β-methylbutyrate): Performance-Driven Muscle Supplement
Anyone who’s been in the supplement game for a while has no doubt heard of, and probably taken, branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs).
BCAA supplementation is famously anti-catabolic, helping prevent the undue breakdown of muscle tissue during exercise. This is why, during the 2010s, many intermittent fasting OGs like Martin Berkhan of Leangains recommended training […]
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WAT to BAT: A High-Metabolism Guide to Brown and White Fat
Nearly everyone wants a faster metabolism, right? The million-dollar question is, “How do you get one?”
Is it the result of eating certain foods and doing certain exercises? Is it genetically predetermined? Debate over these questions has raged for years – and probably won’t stop any time soon.
Brown Adipose Tissue (BAT) or “Brown Fat”[…]Continue Reading →
Anandamide: The Body’s Blissful Endocannabinoid Molecule
Most of us – hopefully – have experienced the runner’s high that comes from a great workout. It’s this healthy, euphoric feeling that motivates gym goers the world over to hit it hard day after day after day.
It’s tempting to write this sensation off as a spiritual experience, in that it’s a transient and […]
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Rhaponticum Carthamoides: The MAX Phytoecdysteroid Source
In 2022, most consumers of the sports supplement industry have likely noticed a large increase in supplements based upon turkesterone. This naturally-occurring plant-based steroid is in a class of compounds known as phytoecdysteroids, which has seen a large resurgence the past couple of years.
In this article, we dig into one of the […]
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Clean Burn Cleared Up: Which Kaged Fat Burner is For You?
Kaged caused quite a stir in their 2015 supplement industry debut with Pre-Kaged, a truly innovative pre-workout formula that was way ahead of its time.
Over the past few years, three unique variants were added to the Kaged pre-workout line, each tailored to a slightly different type of consumer: Pre-Kaged Elite for the serious […]
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DEXTROSE: The Arms Race Strategy for Quick Energy and Glycogen Reload
Over the past couple of weeks, Arms Race Nutrition has launched two new products:
Arms Race Vegan – A vegan protein powder with inclusions! Arms Race Dextrose – A pure dextrose carbohydrate powderSince we already covered the incredible Arms Race Vegan on YouTube, we’ll dive into dextrose here:
Arms Race Nutrition Dextrose: Why Dextrose?[…]Continue Reading →
