SNS Pepti-Plex and Core BOLIC: A Tale of Two PeptiStrong Supplements

It’s no secret that the PricePlow Blog is cranking out the research at breakneck speed, but even by our standards, our summer 2023 article PeptiStrong: Natural Anabolic Ingredient from Fava Beans is one of our clear favorites.

Boost your muscles’ natural performance and recovery abilities with PeptiStrong, a natural anabolic peptide network found in fava beans.

In case you missed it, PeptiStrong from Irish biotechnology firm Nuritas has a fascinating origin story: It’s a peptide network that occurs naturally in fava beans, and was identified by powerful artificial intelligence research tools as having significant anabolic potential.

PeptiStrong: The Hot Anabolic Ingredient of 2023 and Beyond

Nuritas isolated it, ran some studies, and the rest is history — you can read about it in our article linked above. The TL;DR is that PeptiStrong activates mTORC1, a crucial anabolic pathway, enabling improved recovery and increased muscle protein synthesis after training.

PeptiStrong consists of peptides, which are technically proteins. But don’t get it twisted – PeptiStrong’s impact on muscle growth really isn’t from any contribution to overall dietary protein intake. It’s, first and foremost, a signaling informational lever that’s been shown in preliminary studies to modify the expression of key genes that regulate the human body’s “muscle thermostat”.

More specifically, there’s really compelling evidence that PeptiStrong is a potent myostatin inhibitor.^[1] If you’re not familiar with myostatin, it’s a protein that basically puts the brakes on muscle growth. Myostatin levels define the upper limit of how much muscle you can carry at any given time, kind of like your muscle ceiling.

PeptiStrong’s downregulation of myostatin, a protein that inhibits the anabolic response.[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9967853/]

PeptiStrong’s ability to downregulate myostatin is huge news. The industry has spent decades searching high and low for a viable myostatin-inhibiting supplement – it’s arguably the holy grail of supplement science.

So far there have been two high-quality, randomized-controlled human trials on PeptiStrong, showing that it can significantly improve recovery^[1] and the body’s ability to utilize dietary protein for muscle protein synthesis.^[2] Again, check out our main PeptiStrong article if you want to read about these studies in detail as they’re pretty impressive.

The first product launched using the ingredient is Glaxon Anomaly, which came out in 2021, and we’ve also seen a very unique inclusion of PeptiStrong in GNC’s Beyond Raw Dynamic Whey protein powder.

But recently, two new muscle-building supplements have been released from two very innovative brands, and we’re here to break down the differences. They both include full clinical 2.4 gram doses of PeptiStrong, but their supporting cast ingredients take a few different directions. We analyze them here today:

CORE Bolic vs. SNS Pepti-Plex – Which PeptiStrong Product Is Best For You?

If you’re into supplement research like us, the data in the aforementioned human trials^[1,2] probably made you immediately wonder where you can get PeptiStrong and try it for yourself.

SNS Pepti-Plex and Core BOLIC are two incredible new PeptiStrong-based supplements worth trying. But which is best for you to try first?

Every month, we’re getting more options — it’s clear that PeptiStrong is taking the industry by storm, but this means we get more options in terms of complementary ingredients.

The two entrants to the market in fall of 2023 are CORE Bolic and SNS Pepti-Plex. Each formula is tailored to produce slightly different ends, meaning that you may be better off choosing one or the other depending on your specific goals. But PeptiStrong isn’t the only ingredient in these awesome products.

Which one of these two is best for you?

Well, both products’ formulas kick off with the full 2,400-milligram clinical dose of mTOR-activating, myostatin-inhibiting PeptiStrong. But to get a better sense of how each product works overall, we need to talk about their other ingredients.

Core BOLIC: A Full-Blown Muscle Building Formula

First of all, we wrote an in-depth analysis of this product in October 2023. You can read it at

Core Nutritionals BOLIC V2: Updated Formula w/ PeptiStrong. Note the title – Core was so impressed with PeptiStrong that they actually released a new version of their popular BOLIC supplement just to have it as the headliner ingredient.

So besides the 2,400-milligram clinical dose of PeptiStrong, BOLIC also contains:

• Maral root (Rhaponticum carthamoides) (10:1) – 350 mg: a potent source of phytoecdysteroids, testosterone-like plant steroids that increase the anabolic response. It’s super high in ecdysterone (20HE), the best-studied phytoecdysteroid.
  

  Take your gains even further with the recently released BOLIC muscle builder.

  Because of weak affinity for androgen receptors – ecdysterone actually works by selectively targeting estrogen receptor beta^[3,4] – phytoecdysteroids do not cause the unwanted side effects typically associated with AAS use. Still, 20HE is so effective that it’s been proposed as a WADA ban target in multiple peer-reviewed studies.^[5] That’s evidence that it makes a serious difference.

• Camellia sinensis extract (Bean) (std. to 90% Epicatechin) – 300 mg: Epicatechin is a polyphenol antioxidant that naturally occurs at high concentrations in tea and chocolate. It can significantly upregulate nitric oxide (NO) by inhibiting the enzyme arginase, helping create the massive pumps that can drive muscle growth by improving the function of satellite cells.

  Interestingly, epicatechin also seems to be a myostatin inhibitor,^[6] making the inclusion of this ingredient a potential point of synergy with PeptiStrong in the Core BOLIC formula.

• BioPerine (Piper nigrum) (Fruit) (std. to 95% Piperine) – 10 mg: BioPerine is rich in the alkaloid piperine, which enhances the absorption of every other ingredient by inhibiting stomach enzymes that ordinarily break down nutrients before they can be absorbed.

Again, you can read more in our main Core BOLIC article.

SNS Pepti-Plex: Performance, Pumps, and Anti-Aging Endurance

Here’s one we haven’t covered before, but what a cool formula. Pepti-Plex from Serious Nutrition Solutions consists entirely of branded designer ingredients, which is always a great sign. What’s in it besides the full 2,400-milligram clinical dose of PeptiStrong:

• VasoFlo+ (Specialized Green & Black Tea Leaf Extract) – 300 mg: We’ve never seen this ingredient before, and there’s not a ton of information about the precise bioactive constituent composition, but in general, much of what we wrote in the epicatechin summary above applies to tea extracts in general. Camellia sinensis (true tea) is absolutely loaded with NO-boosting, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant compounds. In general, tea extracts also show a powerful ability to improve glycemic control, boost lipolysis (stored fat burning) and thermogenesis, the process by which your body turns calories (especially body fat) into heat.
• Apigenin (as ApiPure) [Apium graveolens L (whole plant)] – 50 mg: Apigenin is a flavonoid antioxidant that provides powerful anti-estrogen support by two distinct mechanisms.

  First, it inhibits aromatase, the enzyme that converts androgens like testosterone into estrogens. This both decreases estrogen levels and increases testosterone levels.

  Second, it inhibits 17β-HSD, an enzyme that converts estrone (E1) into estradiol (E2). This can decrease overall estrogenic activity since E1 is a weaker estrogen than E2. Apigenin also seems to be an mTOR activator, just like PeptiStrong.

• 

  Senactiv [Panax Notoginseng and Rosa Roxburghii (fruit)] – 50 mg: Senactiv is a popular senolytic ingredient, meaning it promotes autophagy, your body’s process of cellular self-renewal.

  By clearing out dead and aged (senescent) cells and cellular material, Senactiv can 1) decrease perceived exertion during exercise, and 2) help accelerate recovery in the days following by supporting glycogen replenishment and decreasing inflammation. Senactiv has been shown to significantly increase athletic endurance. It also inhibits lipid peroxidation, thus decreasing lipid peroxidation and hence, oxidative stress.

• AstraGin [Astragalus Membranaceus Extract (root), Panax Notoginseng (root)] – 50 mg: AstraGin is a bioavailability enhancer like BioPerine/piperine – but may also be protective for gut health, giving it some additional benefits.
• BioPerine (Piper nigrum) (Fruit) (std. to 95% Piperine) – 10 mg: Another absorption-enhancement ingredient found in both supplements, BioPerine is rich in the alkaloid piperine, which enhances the absorption of every other ingredient by inhibiting stomach enzymes that ordinarily break down nutrients before they can be absorbed.

Conclusion – BOLIC for Pure Muscle, Pepti-Plex for Holistic Health

Ultimately, our take is this: Bolic targets more muscle building more exclusively, while Pepti-Plex approaches pump and performance and would be smart to use pre-workout. And if you’re a drug-tested athlete reading this in the future, check if WADA has moved on Rhaponticum Carthamoides or ecdysterone – in that case, Pepti-Plex would be a safer strategic bet. (See the WADA 2023 Monitoring Program and WADA 2024 Monitoring Program).

Regardless, these are both phenomenal formulas, and you quite literally cannot go wrong. PeptiStrong on its own is amazing, and both teams formulated great supporting casts for it here.

Both of them even support anti-estrogen action — apigenin is the ingredient that has more research in this area.

Meanwhile, in terms of the tea extracts, we’ve seen more muscle-building evidence on pure epicatechin, but Camellia sinensis has a lot more bioactive constituents than just epicatechin. As far as we can tell, VasoFlo contains a broader spectrum of tea-derived bioactive constituents. In our opinion, this means it probably has a bigger positive impact on cardiovascular health, metabolic function, and general antioxidant/anti-inflammatory activity.

If you want muscle building with some powerful holistic health support and some pre-workout pumps, SNS Pepti-Plex is likely your product. If you just want to pack on the muscle as fast as possible, Core BOLIC is the way to go.

Alternatively, you can just let the PricePlow deal system find you the cheapest price, and decide based on cost. Everyone wins in this one: