Does Aminogen Work?
September 26th, 2007 by Paul JohnsonA few years ago on one bodybuilding forum I used to visit, there was a prominent mod who started advocating supplementing with Aminogen. The company behind aminogen, has many claims and research behind it. But does aminogen really work or is it all smoke and mirrors?
Aminogen claims:
The company behind aminogen claims it’s a proprietary synthetic enzyme, that helps breakdown protein during digestion, making it easier to absorb. According to them, aminogen leads to more absorbed protein and nitrogen retention, ultimately leading to more muscle and strength gains. They also claim that aminogen will help against the negative effects of undigested protein, such as gas and bloating.
Aminogen research:
The company has research showing Aminogen works, such
as increasing nitrogen retention, and saying there was a 250% increase in branched chain amino acids. The problem with all this is, who did these studies? It looks to me like the company themselves did(or sponsored) the study. Who is going to trust a study by the supplement company that makes them? Aminogen is a proprietary name, meaning it has no real scientific meaning and therefore we can’t find any studies on this supposed “enzyme” since we don’t know what it is.
Remember how I mentioned that prominent member who was advocating Aminogen? He also was a distrubutor of Herbalife, which happens to make aminogen also. He obviously had financial motive for advocating Aminogen.
Final thoughts:
I can’t say for certain if Aminogen works or not, for the purpose of actually breaking down protein. There is no way to research the compound “Aminogen” since we don’t know what exactly it is(if anything important). We would have to rely on user feedback to find out. If Aminogen works, it should help reduce digestion problems, by aiding the breakdown of protein. If you don’t have any digestion problems when taking protein and aminogen together, then it works as claimed in regards to breaking down protein. If you have a lot of problems digesting your protein it might be worth a try, to see if it eliminates those side effects.
However, increasing the digestability of protein with Aminogen, is not going to automatically increase nitrogen retention, in fact probably just the opposite. Whey protein has low nitrogen retention because it is digested very easily. Hydrolyzed whey protein, has even less nitrogen retention time because it’s in a more broken down form of protein. There is some evidence that increasing protein in your diet, may increase muscle mass, which is the reasoning behind aminogen claiming it also. However, you could get the same effect by simply increasing protein in your diet, without using the expensive aminogen supplement.
i personally use protein delite of Scitec for a few years that contains aminogen and that is the only protein i can digest, so i suppose aminogen has a real effect on protein digestion ans absorption….
Aminogen is not made by HerbaLife, you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Aminogen works, its been clinically proven to work. If it is “smoke an mirrors,” why are there protein makers lined up to buy it?
i think the chemicals we take, whether modification of pre-existing naturally occuring enzymes or a completely new chemical synthesized in biolabs all have their pros and cons.it may work for some and it may not work for all. we can’t blame the companies manufacturing these things if someone out of the ordinary comes down with renal failure if something goes wrong. it is up to the individual to subject themselves to these chemicals available out there.
i personally am on a high protein diet for injury recovery and am on aminogen as one source of my protein. ultimately, i feel that i would rather purchase aminogen as a supplement of protein because it is more cost effective than buying meat everyday.
I don;t know where you did your research. aminogen is made by a company out of NJ called triarco. Not herbalife.Oh, an Mr. Johnson… The product is a combination of several enzymes please read before posting an article that could influence peoples decisions.
I like how people read into what they read…Mr. Johnson didn’t say Herbalife was the exclusive maker of Aminogen.
YOUR RIGHT! MR. JOHNSON NEVER SAID HERBALIFE WAS THE MAIN MAKER OF AMINOGEN. HE SAID HERBALIFE HAPPENS TO MAKE AMINOGEN “ALSO” AS IN ONE OF THE MANY COMPANIES THAT PROABLLY ALSO MAKE IT. SO MATT AND NICK READ CAREFULLY BEFORE YA’LL START TYPING YOUR FINGERS AWAY
Since this is 3rd on google for “Aminogen” I’d like to set the facts straight.
The post before mine, ron, is completely correct. Herbalife distributes Aminogen under their brand name in capsule form. Likewise, Herbalife is not the only distributor (possibly manufacturer as well).
Yes Eve you are correct. Also my point of the post wasn’t who made the product, it was whether or not the product worked.