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How Supplement Companies Lie To You

By: admin

This blog isn’t going to make me any friends in the supplement industry, but you deserve to know how these companies are manipulating you to buy their products.  

The dark side of the supplement industry is that companies lie and use certain loopholes in laws to trick you into buying their products.

Unfortunately, these same shady practices are used by many companies that look credible to the consumer.

In this blog I’m exposing the marketing tactics and loopholes these companies use so you’ll never waste your hard earned cash on lies ever again.

Next we’ll discuss one of the oldest tricks used by supplement companies designed to fool you that is named…

Pixie Dusting 

Pixie dusting is when supplement companies add a tiny amount of an ingredient to a product and then leverage that ingredient’s effectiveness in their marketing.

They add just enough of the ingredient to list it on their label, but know that the amount in the product won’t have any effect.

This makes the product look more convincing, and allows them to make big claims about what the product can do in their marketing.

The reality is they know what’s actually contained in the supplement is miles away from what’s needed to get any kind of result.

Think of pixie dusting like this:

Imagine ordering a pizza that’s advertised as being especially delicious because of the extra pepperoni they use on the pizza.

But when you open up the pizza box you’re confused to see the pizza barely has any pepperoni on it at all.

The pepperoni is there, but it’s not enough to make a real difference in the taste or texture of the pizza.

This is exactly how supplement companies “pixie dust” ingredients onto their labels.

They include just enough to use on their label and use in their advertising but not enough to make a real difference in the efficacy of the product.The main reason for pixie dusting is because the clinically effective dose of popular ingredients is expensive.

If they had to use the proper amount of the effective ingredients it would cut in the companies profit margins so instead they use pixie dusting. 

Then these companies cover their tracks so they don’t have to disclose how much each ingredient is in the product by using what’s known as proprietary blend.

The “Proprietary Blend” Cover Up

To fool you into thinking you brought a great product, companies will flood the supplement with a cheap ingredient that you can feel.

In pre workouts it’s common to have a lot of caffeine or beta alanine so you feel alert and your body tingles.

This tricks your brain into believing that the supplement is working because you can feel something when you take it.

Then these companies can hide their “pixie dusting” behind the term proprietary blend.

When a company uses proprietary blend on a label it allows them to not reveal the actual dosage of each ingredient in the supplement.

The supplement industry will tell you they use proprietary blends because they don’t want to give away the secret formula of the supplements…

When in reality, they just don’t want to tell you that their supplement is mostly cheap fillers like rice flour, caffeine or beta alanine.

This brings us to the most dangerous thing that happens in the supplement industry named spiking.

How Spiking Gives You More Than You Asked For

The supplement industry is notorious for using undisclosed ingredients unfortunately.

A study conducted by the FDA found that 70% of supplements tested contained undeclared ingredients.

Because of the loose regulations by governing bodies many companies will put undisclosed, and potentially harmful ingredients in supplements.

For example, some weight loss supplements have been found to contain dangerous stimulants that can cause heart problems.

Other muscle building supplements have contained steroids that can cause long-term damage to the liver and other organs.

What happens is these companies spike the first few rounds of a product with a banned substance so the users get exceptional results.

Then before they can get caught they will pull those banned substances from the supplement and sell it with their normal sub par formula.

The customers get amazing results from the product because of the banned substances and then continue buying the product in hopes to keep getting results.

However, some companies don’t pull the banned substances, and take a big risk.

Just a few years ago a popular supplement company’s CEO was sent to prison for 4.5 years when it was discovered their supplement contained steroids.

These are all tactics based on deception for profit which is not only potentially harmful for customers, but also disgusting.

The next tactic used to manipulate you is sleight of hand named “Borrowed Science.”

What Is Borrowed Science?

You remember how we spoke about the idea of supplement companies manipulating customers in their marketing?

Well, borrowed science is another way to do that to make their product look more credible and effective than it actually is.

Borrowed science is when companies cherry pick studies that show ingredients in their supplements are highly effective…

When in reality those studies don’t support what the company says in their marketing.

Here’s what those companies don’t share with you when it comes to the studies they cite that supposedly support their claims:

🆇 Many of the studies are NOT done on humans (they use rats or a single cell.)

🆇 They FABRICATE studies and their results can’t be replicated to prove the results.

🆇 Their supplement has a MUCH lower dose than is used in the study.

🆇 They LIE about the results of studies to convince you the ingredient is magic.

🆇 The studies were done on a COMPLETELY different form of the ingredient than they use in their supplement.

Many companies get away with this because they know that consumers will take what they say at face value and won’t read the studies themselves.

Even if they did read the studies most customers don’t know how to read and interrupt the results from a scientific paper. 

Now, There Are Good Guys In This Industry Too…

And here’s what the good guys of this industry do that other shady supplement companies don’t do…

✅Back up their claim with studies done on HUMANS.

✅ Use CLINICALLY EFFECTIVE doses (from studies) in their supplements.

✅ DON’T use PROPRIETARY BLENDS for products.

✅ Use the MOST effective form of an ingredient.

✅ Use the SAME INGREDIENTS in their supplement as the studies they cite.

✅ Are HONEST about the results you get from their product. 

This is why at Vitargo our motto has always been…

Proof Before Promises™

EVERY claim we make about Vitargo is backed up by clinical research studies

using real Vitargo, not a knockoff ingredient.

We only do high quality, peer reviewed studies with humans.

We test and prove Vitargo benefits strength, endurance and recovery in humans.

We don’t use a proprietary blend to hide anything.

We have strict third-party testing on every single batch.

We have studies with results that can be replicated.

In a sea full of supplement companies that spend more on the labels of 

their products then they do what goes in their bottles…

Our biggest concern WILL always be putting out the best evidence based

products possible for your performance and recovery.

If you want to check out the peer-reviewed and published clinical studies on Vitargo, click the link below to see the results and read the papers.

Click HERE to see out studies done specifically on Vitargo using athletes and humans.

Every claim we make is backed up by rigorous clinical studies showing how effectively Vitargo works for performance and recovery.

Endurance Athletes Can Go 10-23% Longer At A Higher Intensity With Vitargo.

Strength Athletes Who Use Vitargo See A 5% Power Increase…

Vitargo Refuels Your Muscles 70% Faster After A Workout…

You’ll Get 77% More Carbs Back Into Your Muscles Post Workout With Vitargo…

Vitargo Empties From Your Stomach And Reaches Your Muscles 130% Quicker…

Again, click HERE to take a look at the studies that put clinical proof behind what we say about vitargo.

As always at Vitargo we’re here to help and support you however we can so feel free to email us at [email protected]