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I’ve decided to do a blog post that is not a product review. I was sitting at my desk, considering what supplement to review next (I’ll take suggestions in the comments, too), and I was experiencing a bit of “blogger’s block”. Then, I stumbled upon an excellent bit of advice (from Po Bronson), which was, simply, “write about what makes you angry.” What delightful advice that is; many things make me angry! With regards to the supplement industry, however, I do not equivocate in the slightest about what makes me angry: it’s the “quick-fixers”. What’s a quick-fixer? These are the people who think the solution to all their physique problems lies in new product X; these are the people who call us and breathlessly describe their situation, which inevitably concludes with “… so the cruise (wedding, high school reunion) is in nine days and I need to lose 20lbs. before then. Oh, and I can’t do cardio; I have a medical condition. What do you sell that does this?”; these are the people who eat less than 100g of protein per day, but insist that they just “can’t gain weight”, and therefore have to have the new pre-workout formula (because that’s obviously their biggest problem, lack of NO-Xplode!); these are the people that call in and interrupt - smugly - with the assertion that they’ve “done a bit of research, too, and if there’s one ingredient backed by science, it’s arginine” (completely absurd, see here). I can go on for days with these. Have you met a quick-fixer, and therefore dealt with the mind-numbing frustration they cause? Are you a quick-fixer? Well, I’m going to *ahem* fix it for you, and quickly (if you’re willing to listen). Let’s use a case study like they do at all the fancy-schmancy graduate schools, shall we? Away we go.

Scenario: You have $150 in your pocket, own zero supplements, and have ambition. You want to gain lean muscle, but “could be a bit leaner, too”.

First off, congratulations on the ambition part, now you just have to sustain it and you will be miles ahead of 95% of the population; however, there is a serious problem with this statement that needs to be addressed before I can talk about what you should spend your money on. You cannot - to any significant degree - gain lean body mass and lose fat at the same time (unless you are a rank beginner, and even then, these so-called “newbie gains” cannot be sustained)! This is one of the biggest misconceptions out there. I used to say to my clients, “if you chase two rabbits, both will get away.” I get these emails from our customers - we do free diet consults via email with a purchase, by the way - and they often say things like, “I’m 150 pounds at 20% body fat, and I want to be 180 pounds at 10% body fat! I’ve got six weeks; I’ve been up since 5AM drinking coffee and snorting crack - it’s a fat potent fat burner, you know; let’s do it, coach!” Hold up a second, tiger, let’s sit down, take a hard look in the mirror and decide what you really want the most.

My recommendation in the case of overweight people is always the same: you need to lose the fat first. Lean people tend to stay lean (yes it is unfair, but more than likely, they worked hard for that leanness), and they also tend to put on less fat when they do attempt to gain muscle (for a variety of hormonal and enzyme-related reasons).

That being said, let’s revisit the specific scenario at hand: you’ve got $150 and you’re full of fire and brimstone, and let’s say you happen to be sufficiently lean. Again, before we get “all hopped up on NO-Xplode“, are you taking, AT THE BARE MINIUM, 1g of protein per lb. of bodyweight (e.g., a 170lb. person needs 170g of protein per day)? If not, start doing that, and if you can’t reach that number with whole food products, you need a protein supplement. Lately, I’ve been using this one: Myofusion. Going to get it from us? You’ll be out $37.99, but you’re getting 63 servings so it’s definitely cost-effective. Any high-quality protein that is predominately whey will work fine, however. Let’s say you purchased the Myofusion, here’s your current financial state: $150 - $38 = $112.

Now you’re eating high-quality, whole food sources of protein and supplementing with Myofusion when a chicken breast is not convenient or practical, and you’re eating somewhere between 4-6 times per day to get to your magic number: 170g of protein per day (for ease of example, you’ve temporarily become the 170lb. person in question, just go with it). If you’re weight-training with sufficient intensity, post-workout is the one time I consider supplementation to be paramount and irreplaceable. You need to be taking a recovery beverage post-workout as an insurance policy against wasting time in the gym. If you were paying attention above, you’d notice that I was using the Myofusion as a hedge against not getting enough protein from whole food sources. If you’re easily meeting your minimum daily protein requirement (everyone say it with me: 1g of protein per lb. of bodyweight) using whole food sources, feel free to drop the protein powder. Recovery beverages (assuming you’re using a quality one) do something that whole foods cannot: digest rapidly; therefore, they cannot be replaced by whole foods. In this case, speed is to your advantage, especially when replenishing muscle glycogen is of primary importance, as certain enzymes (e.g., glycogen synthetase) that are acutely elevated after exercise will degrade rapidly. Getting amino acids (from protein) to your depleted muscles post-exercise is your other main concern, and this usually can be accomplished far faster with a recovery beverage, too. Not fulfilling these two important needs after working out is a sure-fire way to not make progress at the gym. Purchase your insurance policy, people. Empyrean Nutrition’s Insu-Pro is the best we’ve got, so let’s balance the checkbook: $112 - $45 = $67.

Okay, we’re consistently eating adequate amounts of protein and recovering properly; what’s next? Consider these questions: Are you interested in improving overall health and mood and energy? Are you interested in minimizing your risk of almost every major disease currently crippling America? Are you interested in preventing a deficiency that can hinder your progress towards newly minted hard-earned muscle?

All these questions lead to the important question: Are you currently taking an omega-3/essential fat supplement?

Fats (and amino acids for that matter), when labeled essential, refer to the fact that the body cannot synthesize them on their own; they must be realized through dietary intake, and if they are not, the resulting deficiencies can eventually result in death. Now, granted, we don’t have people keeling over from omega-3 deficiency, but there is a world of difference between bare minimum and optimum. The science of omega-3s/essential fats can (and will) be an entire blog post by itself; however, rest assured that inadequate levels of them can have serious ramifications to your progress in the gym. My favorite essential fat product is Udo’s Choice 3-6-9 Oil with DHA. Use a few teaspoons judiciously on salads or in protein shakes throughout the day and you’ll feel… better. Such supplementation will impart modest improvements in mood, concentration and energy; coupled with decreased joint and muscle pain; and, increased fat metabolism and fewer incidences of sugar/carbohydrate cravings. Each individual effect may be subtle, but the sum total is profound. You’ll thank me, and the benefit compared to the cost is immense: $67 - $28 = $39.

Conclusion

What I’ve been doing above isn’t haphazard; I’m not taking the shotgun approach to supplementation (like everyone else).

I’ve been systematically removing three incredibly common roadblocks to progress. By covering your protein intake, your post-workout nutrition, and your essential fat intake, you now have an open highway to drive towards your goal, but you’d be amazed how many people are not currently addressing any of these factors. Zero. Not a single one. You can use the remaining $39 at your discretion; if you’re even slightly concerned about performance, I suggest reading John’s blog post about creatine and beta-alanine, and supplementing accordingly. Cover the basics before buying supplements that I call “feel” products (e.g., fat burners and pre-workout drinks and nitric oxide/arginine pills) and your body will thank you, the scale will drop precipitously, you’ll be the envy of all your friends, famous people will want to sleep with you, a money tree will grow in your backyard… Okay, I’m kidding, but look around you in your gym; would you say the majority of the people are meeting their goals? Ever wonder why? If you’re not meeting yours either, consider going back to the basics. The road to success starts with consistently getting enough protein and essential fats, and insuring your time spent at the gym with a quality post-workout beverage. Get back to the essentials here:

Gaspari Nutrition MyoFusion 5LB

Empyrean Nutrition Insu-Pro

Flora Udo’s Choice DHA 3-6-9 Blend

Kaizen Creatine Monohydrate

PrimaForce Beta-Alanine

I am on a mission to banish every ounce of fat from my midsection in preparation for Chicago’s beach season. I want to walk the shores of Lake Michigan with a paramedic in tow to resuscitate the droves of swooning women. I want sweet, grandmotherly old ladies to heatedly fan themselves and have flashbacks of doing laundry on a washboard while ogling my abs and crooning, “Oh, dear” to one another. Okay, I’m not that vain. I do, however, enjoy the discipline and sense of accomplishment that comes with attaining the level of conditioning my coworker John (here’s his blog post if you’re tired of reading me) refers to as “prison-ripped”.

…

Did anyone actually buy that “discipline and sense of accomplishment” nonsense? Maybe that’s the attitude I had on day two of the diet, but certainly not now. Six weeks in with no cheat meals and no “adult sodas” and I am utterly dragging ass. My inner masochist dictates that I refuse to stop watching Iron Chef America on Food Network or put down last month’s issue of GQ (let me preempt the naysayers now by saying that I don’t subscribe to that magazine, but my gym does and I read it when I do cardio) when I turn the page to unveil the Top 25 Pizzas in America complete with full-color pictures. Yup, I’m there; those pizzas were talking to me. Somewhere in the midst of the mouth-watering array of my favorite food, in a moment of cardio-induced clarity, I had a realization. I need some stimulants. When beautifully photographed pizzas in a magazine start making me promises, I need some stimulants badly. I had been saving myself for a certain product that I had high hopes for: Cytolean V2 from Gaspari Nutrition. Salvation arrived on Monday in the form of a brown box from Rich Gaspari himself, and soon our warehouse was stocked with the 90 “CytoTAB” bottles.

It’s official; Cytolean V2 is now available for purchase. I was eager to see the ingredients:

Lipolytic Drive Complex ^TM 565mg

Green Tea Extract, Proprietary Extract of Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae, B­-Phenylethylamine HCL, Proprietary Extract of Paulinia Cupana

Psycho-Corticoid Optimization Matrix ^TM 420mg

Caffeine, Lactium® (aS1-casein tryptic decapeptide), 7b-OH (7b-hydroxy-dehydroepiandrosterone), Chinese Boxthorn Extract (Lycium Chinense), Bioperine®, Huperzine A

First Impressions

There are ten ingredients total. I am a bit more partial to products with fewer ingredients because it seems to lend itself less to “pixie dusting”, a practice I described here. That being said, this product isn’t a horrible offender. I think that sometimes these products’ ingredients can produce a synergistic effect, too, so it can be a double-edged sword. With “fat burners” or stimulant products in general, there is an amazing array of different feelings they can confer on the user. I’ll examine this more later; suffice it to say, ten total ingredients is just about where a product like this should be. Pixie dusting is a worse offense when the product in question is a powder-based product. Finally, there is also an ingredient I’ve never seen before: Lactium ®. We’ll check that one out later in the post.

What these ingredients are… really

There are three “creatively” labeled ingredients, and by that I mean that they are somewhat well-known ingredients that are labeled with more obscure names. I’m referring to Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae, Paulinia Cupana, and Lycium Chinense (all three are also labeled as extracts). Allow me to translate, although I wish they would’ve labeled it so I wouldn’t have to:

Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae ­- This is tangerine peel. Its possible uses, especially from traditional Chinese medicine (its most common application), are incredibly diverse. It is most commonly touted as a digestive aid or tonic.

Paulinia Cupana­ - This is just Guarana, shame on them. I mean really, was it necessary to hide the fact that your product contains Guarana by deliberately using its botanical name? Guarana is a natural source of caffeine. It’s not the demon ingredient the energy drink decriers make it out to be. At the end of the day, it’s no different chemically than any other source of caffeine.

Lycium Chinense - This is wolfberry/goji berry. It is often lauded for its antioxidant properties and purported anti-aging/longevity effect.

The presence of tangerine peel and goji berry in a fat burner are curious to me. They’re novel ingredients, to be certain, but I’m not sure if they’re really contributing that much to the total effect of the product. Even further, if they were using them as “buzzword ingredients”, why are they named in a misleading manner? You shouldn’t lose faith, however, because it gets a lot better. Read on.

The other, better ingredients

B-Phenylethylamine HCL - You will often see this ingredient abbreviated as PEA or β-PEA. This is a monoamine (an aromatic group connected to an amino acid by two carbon chains). This one happens to be derived from the aromatic amino acid phenylalanine, as you can probably infer from the name. Phenylethylamines and their substitutions are a very broad class of compounds that include the neurotransmitters epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine; ephedrine; and the (meth)amphetamines and their salts (e.g., Adderall). Please don’t get the wrong idea; I’m not likening β-PEA to methamphetamines. I’m just pointing out that this is a very interesting compound that is part of a family which contains stimulants and hallucinogens, among other things. It is perfectly safe, however, and most users report increased focus and increased body temperature/feelings of warmth, and even mild euphoric feelings at times. The most commonly reported side effects are mild nausea and mild tightness of the throat, but Cytolean V2 probably does not contain enough β-PEA to cause these side effects.

Lactium ® - This is a decapeptide (10 amino acids bonded together) that is isolated from casein (milk) protein. It is hydrolyzed (basically, broken down) by the enzyme trypsin, which is secreted by the pancreas into the small intestine.

Apparently, the impetus for the discovery of this peptide was to determine the calming ingredient in milk that soothed infants after breastfeeding. Five clinical studies on women only showed significant reduction in stress markers (as compared to placebo) in the following areas: digestive (+ 29.5%), cardiovascular (+ 12.5%), intellectual (+ 28.1%), emotional (+20.3%) and social (+ 14.2%).You can read more about this here. This is an interesting concept, and certainly a unique ingredient. I will go so far as to say that this is the first time, to my knowledge, that this angle has been taken with a fat burner product.

7b-OH (7b-hydroxy-dehydroepiandrosterone) - This is a downstream metabolite of DHEA and is very similar to 7-keto DHEA. 7b-OH-DHEA has the strongest anti-cortisol/anti-glucocorticoid activity of the supplemental DHEA metabolites, and has shown the greatest propensity to increase resting metabolic rate. This product, Lean Extreme, made the 7b-OH-DHEA ingredient popular in the supplement industry. My personal experience with this ingredient is that it works acutely and rapidly for the first few weeks or so and then tails off in effect, and it specifically targets abdominal fat. Lean Extreme didn’t have any stimulants in it (sigh), but Cytolean V2 has both stimulants and 7b-OH-DHEA (yay!). I do think it is a nice ingredient overall, and worth trying (preferably with stimulants) if you haven’t before.

Huperzine A - This is a plant alkaloid. It has been shown to inhibit the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE). This inhibitory action increases acetylcholine levels in exactly the same way some prescription Alzheimer’s drugs (e.g., Donepezil) do. Without getting too technical, acetylcholine is the primary contractile neurotransmitter of muscle tissue, and in the brain it is involved in plasticity (memory) and excitability (neurotransmitters are chemicals that help your nervous system communicate with other cells). Huperzine A is currently undergoing clinical trials as an Alzheimer’s treatment. This is an interesting ingredient to be in a fat burner as well, and it is also in Gaspari’s other recent product: Mitotropin. It appears that the product formulators at Gaspari Nutrition are fond of this ingredient, and so am I.

Effect

The directions are curious with this product; they indicate that you should take all three tablets in the morning. Most products adopt the opposite approach and request that you take some tablets in the morning, and then additional tablets later that day. Anyway, I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge so I threw three pills down the hatch and waited… (While we’re waiting, let me just point out that the pills receive high marks in badassery for having freakin’ daggers on ‘em)

…

And we’re back. Okay, so they legitimately are not kidding. I was wired, but not in the wild, headachy way that a typical caffeine overdose would yield. I was actually processing everything faster than normal, at least in my own mind. My co-workers did point out that I was talking way too fast as I was frantically trying to communicate to them that I was having hot flashes like a perimenopausal woman.

Seriously, I loved original Cytolean and was sad to see it go, but this product was worth the wait. I didn’t start taking an energy product right away because my personal dieting philosophy is to always have tricks up your sleeve to add at a later date; if you throw everything you have at your body all at once, then what happens when you stop progressing? Cytolean V2 delivered everything I needed at a critical juncture in my diet: energy, appetite suppression, focus/concentration, and increased lipolysis. Granted, increased lipolysis is hard to quantify, but I attribute the “heat waves” feeling to increased oxidation of fatty acids which is an exothermic (i.e., heat-releasing) reaction. I would highly recommend this product to anyone who has hit a wall in their dieting pursuits, or just someone looking for more energy in general. If I had to guess, it’s the Lactium ® ingredient that really changes the “feel” of the product; you don’t feel haywire at all. I’m really impressed with this ingredient if it is indeed the culprit. I even felt that the product put me into a “get things done” frame of mind at work; this, again, earns it high praise in my book. Anyone who has ever dieted for a substantial length of time knows the accompanying lethargy and irritability and hunger can be productivity killers. For me, the mental fog was lifted and I was able to concentrate entirely on the task at hand.

Final Thoughts

I always tell our customers that fat burners and stimulants are “feel” products. They don’t do much in terms of increasing caloric expenditure directly. Instead, they make you feel certain ways that may be beneficial to your energy or hunger levels, or even your sheer willpower to adhere to the diet. In this way, they increase caloric expenditure indirectly by causing you to eat less and move more. It really is that simple. Furthermore, I am particularly fond of products that impart clarity of focus or improve concentration, and Cytolean V2 did just that. My criticisms would be the deliberate misdirection with the labeling of the ingredients, and the curious dosing instructions. I do plan to experiment with my own dosing protocol: two tablets in the AM and one capsule mid-afternoon. I am not going to exceed three tablets per day, however, because I would like my bottle to last a whole month. Cytolean V2 is also designed to neatly stack with Mitotropin, and they are perfect complements to one another because Mitotropin is not “stimulant-y” at all. I am not inherently biased towards Gaspari; they did an excellent job on these products. My recommendation would be to pit this product against any run-of-the-mill hyper-caffeinated fat burner you may be currently taking. The innovation and effect of this product will not disappoint.

Here’s the eponymous Rich Gaspari himself on the product:

Finally, you can purchase it here for $29.95

As always, please leave a comment or question on the blog or a product review on the product page!

EDIT

Okay guys, as promised, I’ll always do due diligence for you. I contacted my Gaspari representative and was ultimately directed to Liz Gaspari herself (Rich’s wife). Here was her — surprisingly awesome — response:

For the paulinia extract, the reason we didn’t just say guarana is because of new cGMP requirements. They dictate our label must match our C. of A. from the materials supplier. For this proprietary extract, the supplier labeled it paulinia instead of guarana.

For the pericarpium, this is a novel extract that no one has used before. Some people mistake it for the bitter orange citrus aurantum extract (synephrine). We want it to be clear and specific that it is not that extract. There are studies which show our specific extract to inhibit adipogenesis.

For the goji berry (boxthorn), we didn’t list it as goji berry because most people associate that fruit with antioxidants only. Our extract is for the potent MAOI found in boxthorn which is referenced in several studies.

Although some companies may rename ingredients that are common to sound more exotic, we are trying to be as specific as possible while still protecting our proprietary extracts.”

My Final, Final Thoughts

I officially have nothing negative left to say. This is an unbiased and honest review, and I was taken aback by the acumen shown here by a supplement company.

A) Paulinia Cupana - they’re adhering to their manufacturing standards. cGMP stands for current Good Manufacturing Practices; it basically dictates that utmost care is taken during every facet of the whole process, from acquring the raw materials until you purchase the product. C. of A. stands for certificate of analysis. Basically, a laboratory will certify the purity of an ingredient contained within a product. These are all good things for you, the consumer.

B) Inhibiting adipogenesis, if indeed possible, is certainly an exciting prospect. Adipogenesis is the creation of new fat cells. So, theoretically, this product could be used even in the offseason to attempt to maintain leanness while trying to add muscle.

C) In my opinion, it is the boxthorn addition that puts the final “there’s-no-reason-why-you-shouldn’t-buy-this” stamp of approval on this product. B-PEA has one significant drawback: due to an enzyme called MAO (monoamine oxidase), it has an extremely short half-life and not much of it crosses the blood-brain barrier. The addition of a MAO Inhibitor effectively solves this problem.

Most companies just throw B-PEA into their products because, well, someone else did? Using a MAOI with this ingredient shows that Gaspari Nutrition has an good grasp of physiology/biochemistry, which, unfortunately is not a prerequisite to being  in this industry. Lately, it seems all you need to know how to do is skillfully use copy and paste and try to pass it off as your own. Gaspari took a tricky ingredient that they were apparently sold on and found a way to make it effective enough to be worth your while. If nothing else, you should appreciate that.

Read Liz’s response again. ” … this is a novel extract that no one has used before” (as are others mentioned above, e.g. Lactium). Trust me when I tell you how refreshing this actually is. Innovation is fantastic to see in this “me too” industry where everyone is trying to keep costs down and stay inside safe (proven) zones. Research and development? Nah, that costs too much, right? Let’s just see if we can buy another 7-page special advertisement in the next Muscular Development. Yeah, that should do it. Here is an example of a company fighting for your business, and I strongly suggest you reward them for it. I don’t see an extra penny if you buy this product over any other we sell, but at least I can have the peace of mind that comes with recommending something that works really well. Try it and see. I (and now you) cannot fairly criticize anything about this product anymore, except perhaps the fact that the cool insights into the three products that were clarified needed clarification in the first place. But hey, that’s what you guys have me for, right?