Vegun Nutrition’s VeganMass: A Vegan Athlete’s Dream Come True

Vegun Nutrition has entered the stage with a knockout meal replacement protein powder for all vegans!

The Vegan Diet is one of the fastest-growing movements in the history of nutrition. A growing mass of plant-driven dieters have claimed better health, longevity, and body composition when going vegan — and some of the research backs that up… when it’s done properly.

The problem is, it’s not easy to be an “optimal” vegan, as you to maintain appropriate vitamin, mineral, fatty acid, and macronutrient levels on a consistent basis.^[1] This is doubly true for those who are athletes, who put increased demands on their body for all of the above components — including protein.

A brand named Vegun Nutrition claims to have the answer to this problem, and they seem to be right. Their answer? The VEGANMASS Certified Vegan weight gainer / lean meal replacement protein for vegans – an idea so well-executed that it’s probably great for any vegan, not just athletes.

A Plant-Sourced Weight Gainer? What is VeganMass??

Don’t be fooled by this name – VeganMass is designed for athletes, but it’s seriously for any vegan. We explain why below.

VEGANMASS is more than just a “mass gainer” and definitely more than a vegan protein powder. It is more of fully-fledged meal replacement that checks a ton of boxes that vegans need, including a complete profile of essential amino acids with added vitamins, minerals, and digestive enzymes that exclusive plant-eaters are often deficient in.

Each serving has 360 calories and a 1:1 ratio of carbs and proteins, at 40g each. And unlike the other weight gainers we see in the sports nutrition world, it’s not full of nasty blood-sugar-spiking carbs like maltodextrin (we often call these products “fat gainers”). VEGANMASS instead uses a real-deal pea-based carbohydrate alongside other ancient grains as it’s slower-digesting carbohydrate blend, keeping you both satisfied and nutrient-fortified.

We have more information below — including how Vegun Nutrition is seeking true vegan athletes to join with them, but first, check out their site for any deals and sign up for PricePlow’s Vegun Nutrition news alerts:

Mike’s VeganMass Review

Take a look at this video! No doubt, this is the smoothest Vegan protein we’ve ever had or seen!

The smoothness is real and the cocoa is great, but it does need a bit of extra sweetness if you have a sweet tooth. Mike recommends a stevia packet (or even a bit of sugar if you’re cool with that). Then this stuff is golden!

The Macros

Before diving into the ingredients, here’s a quick rundown on the macros from a 99g two-scoop serving (the label below will show the full story):

A complete profile of protein (with a full blend of essential amino acids), slow and fast digesting carbs with a low-GI impact, fiber, and plenty of vitamins and minerals!

• Calories: 360
  • Calories from Fat: 50
• Total Fat: 6g
  • Saturated Fat: 1g
• Total Carbohydrate: 40g
  • Dietary Fiber: 9g
  • Sugar: 2g
• Protein: 40g

VeganMass Ingredients

A supplement is all about the ingredients, not the branding or claims, so let’s dive right in. You’ll notice that this is a Certified Vegan, gluten-free, soy-free product, and both the protein and carbohydrate blends bring something new, interesting, and beneficial to the vegan masses (pardon the pun):

• Plant Protein Blend (40g)

  • Pea Protein Isolate

    It all starts with Pea Protein Isolate, which is a great move since this is a “complete protein”, which means it contains all nine essential amino acids (otherwise known as EAAs).

    

    Pea Protein and Whey Protein were both significantly better than placebo (not surprising), but not significantly different from each other.^[2]

    The EAAs are important to everyone because they’re literally essential to get in your diet — you cannot synthesize them yourself. Since vegetarians and vegans often consume too little protein,^[3] they’re already at risk of missing some EAAs — and then they need to consider the quality as well. EAAs are invaluable to building lean muscle through the process of Muscle Protein Synthesis (MPS).

    Pea protein helps you with that, providing all nine EAAs, and it’s also easy to digest and hypoallergenic to boot. We’re seeing it more and more as a whey protein replacement (they perform just as good!)^[2] and while it originally didn’t taste so great when it entered the market, smart supplement suppliers and brands have recently turned that corner and made their products delicious lately. We expect no different from Vegun Nutrition.

  • Sacha Inchi Protein

    

    Never heard of sacha inchi? Then today we both get to learn about one of the most interesting plants we’ve seen in quite a while. Look at these seeds!!

    It wouldn’t be a vegan supplement without a “superfood” involved! That’s what we get with Sacha Inchi Protein, which comes from the seeds of the Sacha Inchi shrub found in the Peruvian Amazonian! This protein also provides a full essential amino acid blend.^[4] But on top of that, it also delivers a great profile of omega-3, -6, and -9 fatty acids, as well as Vitamin A, Vitamin E, and even fiber (VEGANMASS has a solid 9g fiber!).

    One very cool thing about this protein is that it’s been shown to improve its users lipid profiles!^[5]

    A very beneficial nut indeed

    Vegun Nutrition is also claiming “improved brain function, cardiovascular support, vision support, increased joint support and overall immune system support” from the protein, but that’s of course not supported by the FDA. Some of the research behind these claims are on its fatty acid content, which includes alpha linolenic acid,^[6] and the high amounts of vitamins A and E.^[7]

  • Smooth Protein Watermelon Seed Protein

    

    You thought the citrulline found in watermelons was cool? Wait until you see the smooth protein made from watermelon’s seeds!

    How else does a vegan protein differentiate? With the protein from the seeds of one of our industry’s favorite fruits — watermelon!

    This “nutritional powerhouse” is said to bring omega-3 fatty acids and B vitamins along with its protein content.

    Developed and sold by Compound Solutions, Smooth Protein comes in a few options, but their watermelon seed protein used here is said to be one of the smoothest plant proteins on the market! It’s also organic, non-GMO, non-allergenic, and gluten-free.

    As the image above indicates, this is Certified Vegan, as is everything else in VeganMass.

  Where are the fats from?

  On top of the protein provided by the above three ingredients, there are also some healthy fatty acids provided. Along with the Clean Cream and ModCarb discussed below, you’ll get 6g fat (1g saturated) in each serving.

• The Carbohydrate Blend:

  There are two primary carb sources that bring us up to 40g carbs in each scoop, and they’re both fantastic sources:

  • Carb10

    Another ingredient developed and sold by Compound Solutions, Carb10 comes from pea starch. We love this carb because it’s simultaneously fast-absorbing, yet low-glycemic! This means it won’t spike your blood sugar and insulin to shocking levels, but you will get the near-immediate energy benefits you want.

    This ultimately keeps the “bonk”, or carb crash, at bay — an important benefit for those who rely on a steady stream of carbs to keep them off the blood sugar roller coaster.

    As a hypoallergenic solution coming from pea starch, there should not be any gastrointestinal comfort compared to other cheap (and nutrient-free) carbs we see in so many meal replacements and weight gainers.

    

    Pulled from the Compound Solutions website, Carb10 seems to have an amazing glycemic / insulin response compared to that garbage maltodextrin, but we’ve requested the full-text of this data

    Carb10 Beats the socks off Maltodextrin

    Compared to maltodextrin, Compound Solutions claims that “Carb10 provides 82% lower insulin response and 27% lower blood-sugar response. With an osmolality of just 30 mOsm, it’s the choice for weight gainers seeking healthier sports nutrition”[CITATION REQUESTED]

  • MODCARB

    

    Plenty of non-vegans are still looking for dairy-free protein powder. VeganMass checks that box!

    Now it’s time for the “spread” of healthy grain-based complex carbs — MODCARB! This organic vegan carb blend comes from the following six sources:

    • Oat Bran
    • Amaranth
    • Quinoa
    • Buckwheat
    • Millet
    • Chia

    Similar to Carb10 above, MODCARB is also low-glycemic, but this time, it’s slow-digesting rather than Carb10’s fast digestion! This means you get fast and slow carbs that are both low-glycemic with VeganMass!

    On top of that, there’s several nutrients, omega-3 fatty acids, and a plethora of amino acids provided by all of these sources. Developed by another highly-trusted ingredient manufacturer in FutureCeuticals, MODCARB is the perfect ying to Carb10’s yang.

• Vegan Vitamin Mineral Blend

  This is where VEGANMASS really shines — and it’s where it needs to. Vegan dieting is hard, and doing it haphazardly can easily result in several vitamin and mineral deficiencies on top of the protein covered above.

  

  This supplement checks a ton of vegan boxes

  This deficiency list includes the following:^[1,3,8-11]

  • Calcium
  • Zinc
  • Iron
  • Magnesium
  • Vitamin A
  • Vitamin D
  • B Vitamins
  • Iodine

  When these are deficient, so many things can go wrong that it’s too long to list here. It’s even worse for athletes, who can easily have lower motor skills, worse energy production, and increased cramping when dysregulated. Granted, regular dieters also frequently face deficiencies in several of these (including iron, magnesium, and Vitamin D especially), but it’s even more challenging for an unprepared vegan.

  But if you’ll look at the VEGANMASS label, you’ll see many of these minerals covered and more. It’s not all 100% US RDA like you see in some multivitamins, but it’s exactly what you need from a meal replacement – a solid portion of your day’s needs covered in one shake.

• The Digestive Enzyme Blend

  If your digestive system can’t appropriately break down its materials, then you won’t be able to absorb the constituent starches and amino acids needed!

  

  We’ve been harping on the fact that protease helps with post-workout recovery, and demand to see it in more proteins and post-workout supplements!

  This is why VeganMass includes a digestive enzyme blend of papain, protease, amylase, and cellulase to help you digest the product (and other things you eat in nearby meals). A quick recap of these:

  • Protease assists with protein breakdown, helping your body turn the proteins into their individual amino acids. Turns out it aso helps with post-workout recovery! Papain is also a protease typically extracted from papaya.
  • Amylase assists with the breakdown of starches, helping with the carbohydrate component.
  • Cellulase helps the digestive system break down plant matter, which is obviously important to vegans and should be considered by all vegans regardless of using VeganMass or not!

• Organic Coconut Water

  

  VEGANMASS features Certified Organic Coconut Water as CocOganic

  Finally, VEGANMASS has a certified organic Coconut Water extract known as CocOganic. Coconut water is popular due to its high electrolyte content, especially potassium. There are also B vitamins and incredibly important trace minerals we love such as iodine, manganese, and selenium. This ingredient is developed by NP Nutra, who claims it to be the highest-quality coconut water extract you’ll find.

Our closing thoughts on the label are in the conclusion below, but needless to say, this is a product that was masterfully formulated and we can seriously support for not only our vegan friends, but anyone interested in a dairy-free product who fits the macros.

Flavors

At the time of this article, VEGANMASS comes in a 5lb tub of Chocolate Fudge Cake, which Mike has now reviewed on the PricePlow YouTube channel (see our VeganMass Review video or watch it above). When going dairy-free and egg-free, Fudge Cake is something that’s tough for vegans to replace, so we’ll see how well they did with it!!

Sweeteners and thickeners

Outside of the active ingredients and cocoa, VeganMass gets the Clean Cream treatment, which is yet another ingredient from Compound Solutions utilizing high oleic sunflower oil, tapioca starch, and tapioca dextrin.

As for the sweeteners, we have luo han guo (monk fruit extract) followed by stevia — meaning no artificial sweeteners!

Vegun Nutrition’s CEO on the brand and formula

The quote below is worth reading, because it shows where this brand is going:

We spent a full year in R&D to perfect our formula and flavor profile to be able to release the smoothest and best tasting plant-based protein to the industry. One thing we pride ourselves in is that all we will produce is plant-based protein! We see a lot of companies trying to put out a quick plant-protein to take advantage of the market but we are here to bridge the gap between plant powered nutrition and athletic performance. We are going to be a brand plant-based athletes can stand behind, we are here to bring more of the masculine appeal to the plant-based industry and that is something we feel that is missing.

— Johnathan Pace, Vegun Nutrition

Emphasis ours above. He continues:

Vegun Nutrition is looking for vegan athletes

We want to bring more empowerment to plant-based athletes. We are geared to be more of a hardcore brand for plant-based athletes – we are going to bring the powerful performance products and image that is competitive with traditional branding in the bodybuilding industry, we are not just going to be another status quo plant-based company.

All of our products are going to be Certified Vegan to show our commitment to quality. A lot of performance based ingredients are vegan friendly but they are not marketed as such and brands are not educating consumers enough on this and this is where we truly feel our niche will be. We are branded for the hardcore plant-based athlete that wants results and a brand to stand behind!

— Johnathan Pace, Vegun Nutrition

With that said and understood, we’re going to stick with what was said in the intro — even non-athletic vegans could easily benefit from this as a meal replacement (½ to ¾ serving would suffice), as it fills so many nutritional gaps.

Color us impressed with this vegan meal replacement

Pure Plant Power indeed. Vegun Nutrition came firing out of the gates in a big way

As you can tell, this was a meticulously-sourced supplement that relies on several of the most trusted ingredient suppliers in the business. It covers so many bases that the whole idea of a “weight gainer for vegans” should nearly be ignored.

Many vegans are there to lose weight, but when doing it wrong, they can make themselves unhealthy in the process. A product like this helps cover a lot of bases, and it might not even have anything to do with “mass”.

This is why we prefer to consider it more of a “vegan meal replacement”… one that just so happens to have a better macro breakdown than so many of those obnoxious meal replacements and weight gainers alike!

But will the taste live up to the hype? Stay tuned to find out.

The full label to match this very-full product!