Alphamine
Cons
- Proprietary blend!
- Contains commonplace amino acids
- 99% of the formula could be Leucine for all we know
- Ferula asafoetida doesn't burn fat
Full Alphamine Review
Alphamine is a fat burner and pre-workout supplement from PEScience.
We’ve never heard of these guys before but judging by their websit,e they’ve been around for a little while.
They currently offer a range of bodybuilding supplements, including protein powders and amino acids, as well as some “wellness products” like probiotics and multivitamins.
According to the bottle, Alphamine offers the following benefits:
- Increased energy
- Boosted mood
- Promotes thermogenesis
The bottle describes the product as “the athletes energy drink”. It is labelled as an “energy powder”.
So clearly, this is a little different to other fat burners reviewed on this site.
PEScience Alphamine is a hybrid pre-workout fat burners.
Sounds very interesting.
The question is; does it work?
How does Alphamine compare to the best fat burners available right now?
Is Alphamine safe?
Can it do what it says on the tin?
In our full Alphamine review, found below, we answer all of these questions and more. If you don’t have time to read the whole thing, we’ve done a review conclusion at the end.
Alphamine Formula
Let’s take a look at the Alphamine formula:
Right away we’re unimpressed with the Alphamine formula.
For starters, we have a proprietary blend.
Proprietary blends are only ever really used to hide unpleasant facts from potential customers.
Manufcaturers claim to need them to protect their formula secrets.
But formula theft never happens.
Prop blends are just deployed because customers wouldn’t buy the product if they knew the truth.
But the proprietary blend itself is of very low quality.
It is essentially just a collection of common place amino acids and a couple of other substances with very little fat burning power.
We also have some caffeine anhydrous, which is a good addition to any fat burner and pre-workout.
It does have some potential negative health effects, which we’ll come to later.
Let’s get into this in a little more detail.
Common Amino Acids
Most of the ingredients in the Alphamine proprietary blend are run-of-the-mill amino acids.
For example, Alphamine contains an unknown amount of L-Leucine.
This is an amino acid found in great abundance in the human diet. Great sources of leucine include:
- Cheese
- Soy beans
- Beef
- Pumpkin seeds
- Peanuts
- Tuna
- Seafood
The list goes on. Now, Leucine is very important for building new muscle mass.
In fact, Leucine can be thought of as a kind of “anabolic trigger”, to borrow a phrase from this article.
But there is really no reason to be paying good money for a supplement that is potentially 99% Leucine.
Remember, we’re dealing with a prop blend here.
We have no idea how any of the individual ingredients are dosed.
We could have 1mg of Leucine in each serving of Alphamine.
Or we could have 1,589mg.
To be listed on the label, ingredients only need to be present in detectable amounts; a microgram is fine.
We hate having to speculate like this, but we think there must be a reason why PEScience are refusing to tell us the full details.
The same can be said of L-Theanine and L-Carnitine Tartrate.
These amino acids do have good uses in the human body.
But we have no idea how they are dosed, and we would not pay $50 for a supplement that is 1,500mg+ L-Carnitine Tartrate and a few micrograms of other aminos.
The fat burning potential of these 3 naturally occuring, widely consumed, cheap amino acids is also very low.
L-Theanine is not known to enhance fat loss at all.
It does reduce caffeine side effects (more on this later), but that’s it.
L-Carnitine isn’t going to make any real difference to your physique or your performance in the gym.
What Is Ferula Asafoetida?
Ferula asafoetida is a herbaceous plant found naturally in places like Iran, Afghanistan and Iraq.
It has been used for centuries as a gneral cure-all, like every “traditional” medicine.
It is used widely in cooking still today. It is a major part of traitional Ayuverdic recipes; it is used to give Worcester Sauce its unforgettable taste; and it is used as an accompaniment to steak in some European restaurants.
Its main use historically seems to be as a digestive aid, although people claim it can also help with menstruation and respiratory problems.
So why is it in Alphamine?
We have absolutely NO IDEA.
The health benefits of this herb have been scientifically examined a lot over the past 20 years or so, and they seem to be pretty impressive.
As the above study states, it seems that Ferula asafoetida really can help with a great number of things. Here is a table showing the pharmacological activity and the responsible constituent in Ferula asafoetida:
That’s all well and good, but Alphamine isn’t sold as a health supplement.
People buying Alphamine aren’t looking for help with their chemotherapy symptoms.
They want enhanced performance in the gym, enhanced mood – you know, the things written on the bottle!
Ferula asafoetida doesn’t give us any of those things.
For all we know, it could make up 99% of this formula.
Alphamine Side Effects
There are some side effect concerns with Alphamine use.
For one thing, PEScience Alphamine contains Choline Bitartrate.
Choline is a very important substance for the human body, especially for the brain.
Choline forms the basis of several compounds vital for proper brain health and function. These include acetylcholine, the “focus” neurotransmitter, and phosphatidylcholine, which is needed for brain maintenance.
The bitartrate is just an ester added to make it more absorbable.
Now, this is not in and of itself a dangerous substance.
But consuming too much choline bitartrate can cause side effects ranging from headaches and irritability to low blood pressure and severe dizziness.
The usual dose of choline bitartrate for purposes of boosting focus is about 350mg.
But there could be as much as 1,500mg in Alphamine for all we know.
Not great!
We also have some caffeine anhydrous in Alphamine.
Caffeine anhydrous is a dehydrated form of caffeine. That means it is more potent by weight than regular caffeine (no dead water weight here).
125mg isn’t going to cause any problems for the vast majority of users. It is about as much as you will find in a large black coffee from Starbucks.
But if you are sensitive to caffeine at all, or if you have any underlyiong conditions, this is probably something you want ot be wary of.
As always, your best bet is to talk to a qualified doctor before you put anything strange into your body.
If you have any negative experiences with this supplement, please let us know so others know what they’re getting into!
-Does Running Burn Muscle Mass? No!-
PEScience Alphamine Review Conclusion
All things considered, this is a pretty poor fat burner and pre-workout.
First of all, we hate proprietary blends.
There’s no good reason why they should be used. They almost always just hide a rip-off of some kind. Best avoided altogether.
The Alphamine prop blend contains some run of the mill amino acids, a focus booster, and a herb known to help with digestion.
Erm…great.
We do get a reasonable serving of caffeine in here, but that doesn’t save Alphamine.
The Alphamine formula could be as much as 99% Leucine.
It could be 99% Carnitine.
You could be paying $50 for something that is 1,589mg of Theanine and a few micrograms of the other ingredients.
That is the reality of prop blends. We hate having to consider the worst case scenario like this; we would much rather we didn’t have to.
If you haven’t read our full Alphamine review, we recommend you do so.
But the take home message here is: there are much better fat burners out there, no doubt about it.
Are you starting a serious cut and want something to give you a little more bang for your buck? Check out our current top rated fat burner. Our review team tried this product out and experienced:
- Decreased cravings
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