1. Most Brands Basically Sell the Same Formulas.

99% percent of the reason most people buy a supplement is due to the marketing of the product and the flashy labels all intentionally taking your eyes away from the truth being that of the supplement facts showing the product is shockingly not as glamorous as the holographic and shiny labeling on the front.

Believe it or not, you wont exactly break the bank if you want to start your own supplement company either (if you do what most start up brands do and use generic low dosed formula(s) from a private label manufacturer and slap a flashy label on the jug).That's why you've probably noticed "Company A" has the same exact ingredients and dosing as "Company D".

2. "Transparent" is Not Always Transparent.

Many companies tout the idea of selling 100% transparent labels and 9 times out of 10 are lying, here's why. If the supplement facts label has ANY trademarked ingredients then there's a high possibility that this "trademarked ingredient" is actually a blend of multiple ingredients. Let me give you an example..

Super Creatine™ - If you drink energy drinks then you've heard of the ingredient Super Creatine before and I'd wager a bet that you instantly assumed "that's sweet they put creatine in this!". I have bad news for you, that is 100% false.

Super Creatine™ is quite literally just L-Leucine a Branched Chain Amino Acid. A simple google search can help you understand exactly what all the controversy around this trademarked ingredient is (we can't speak on it here due to legal reasons).

3. Efficacious Dosing is Not As Fancy As it Sounds.

What even is efficacious dosing? Seems like a fancy uppity term used way too much on supplement bottles and we all know it, but what does it mean and why do companies say it constantly?

Definition of efficacious: (of something inanimate or abstract) successful in producing a desired or intended result; effective.

Each time you are reading or hearing a product(s) ingredients are efficaciously dosed that is a literal and obvious statement that an ingredient is dosed "effectively" but what is considered an effective dose?

Any amount of an ingredient you ingest in some form or fashion is technically considered effective, seems a bit misleading right?

That brings us back to the flashy labeling (section #1) keeping your attention off the supplement facts (unfortunately).

4. Some Companies Willingly Don't Follow FDA Regulations for Higher Profits.

This is a bold statement for me to make but since I met and spoke with a company owner (who shall not be named) about his so-called "manufacturing practices", I've come to the realization that quality (can-be) thrown completely out the window with no repercussion.

Any supplement sold in the United States is required to follow all F.D.A regulatory practices for manufacturing and distributing. These regulations begin with the correct statements and sizing of certain elements on the product label, all the way down to how the product is packaged and distributed for resale.

We spoke with a certain undisclosed individual at a bodybuilding show this past spring about his operation and asked for information on how he is capable of wholesaling his products for dirt cheap. His answer was a bit disturbing..

His home basement was his operation and that breaks one of the biggest FDA guidelines for legal manufacturing of nutritional supplements. He confidently went into bragging about hand mixing his ingredients that he purchased on a Chinese website for incredibly cheap and went on to state he never intends to package his products legally because he makes much more more this way (and then offered to make our products which of course we declined).

Here is the absolute worst part about this, multiple mom and pop supplement stores and gyms stock his products on their shelves and have no idea what they are truly selling to their customers.

Here's the point, if a company you want to spend your hard earned dollars on can't supply you with their FDA papers (or Health Canada) then you're probably ingesting something made in some dudes basement (can't say we didn't warn you if you find some guys arm hair in your pre-workout jug).

5. Many Brands Are Under a Single Manufacturer's Ownership.

Did you know when you walk into a supplement store or shop online for your supplements that a lot of the times you may be comparing 3 different brands, but they potentially are all owned by the same company?

We didn't know that either until we started dealing with manufacturers personally.

In fact, finding a manufacturer that fit our standards of practice was a complete nightmare and here's why...

When you finally commit to starting a supplement brand you have 2 options, find a manufacturer to make your products for you or invest in a warehousing facility and become your own manufacturer (which one do you think is the better option for a start up?). So if you are absolutely loaded with cash it only makes sense to invest into your own manufacturing facility and manufacture for yourself and other companies but this is where things get tricky!

You think you found a good fit and want to hire a manufacturer to make your products and they sell you on how great it will be to work together so you pull the trigger on the deal. Now you're having them create samples for you to try your designed formula, you get it in the mail and taste it and it's absolutely awful. You say to yourself "How can this taste this horrid? Lets try another flavoring process". This entire process costs you money, but it takes money to make it right?

You finally come to a flavor that seems just decent enough to sell, great! Now comes the bad part... You order hundreds of jugs and production times run much longer than stated in the original agreement and now you're frustrated. 

Eventually your hard work pays off because now you've received the products on your doorstep and guess what? Dozens of your (company) jugs have lids busted open, powder covering the bottoms of the boxes, labels with misspelled words, and you open a jug that isn't damaged and taste it but the flavor is nothing like what you tried and agreed on with the manufacture at the beginning of the process. You lose hope and come to the conclusion you may be too in over your head and give up on your dream.

That's EXACTLY what they want to happen.

Many of the owners of these manufacturing facilities actually own the trademarks and rights to a lot of the companies we have all come to frequently see and recognize today. This in terms puts a massive monopoly on a real potential for anybody to truly introduce quality products into the market without shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars in doing so.

So What's The Point Of All This Information?

Research is your best friend. We highly recommend learning about each ingredient in whatever products and companies you choose to support. Here at Top Dog Nutrition™ we truly do sell 100% Transparent labels with no trademarked nonsense ingredients and with our best selling product SWOLMAXX you get clinical dosages of BCAA's, EAA's, Creatine Monohydrate, Glutamine, and Nitric Oxide which eliminates you needing to buy 6 separate products off the shelves!

-Brandon Long, Top Dog Nutrition Co-Founder

"Welcome To The World Of Better."