Product Review: BSN Atro-Phex

The second product we are taking a look at on the BSN stop of Furby’s World Tour of Supplements is Atro-Phex.  Once again, I defer to the expertise of my friend, Cody Perry.  Cody is an experienced weightlifter and has competed in and won various Powerlifting competitions. He received a bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science from Transylvania University. After that, he taught weight training at the University of Kentucky where he received his Master’s Degree in Sport Management.  You can follow Cody on Twitter, @Cody3L.

BSN makes the following statement about Atro-Phex, the BodyBuilding.com 2008 Energy Supplement of the Year:

ATRO-PHEX ™ is designed to support:

• Weight Management

• Energy

• Metabolism

• Focus and Alertness

• Performance

I recently used ATRO-PHEX from BSN for a period of 2 weeks straight. I lifted weights daily and consumed a normal diet supporting weightlifting with no focus on mass gains or loss during this 2 week period.

Let me first state that a company that refuses to disclose the caffeine content in their product is not winning any supporters. The maximum dosage they recommend would have you consuming 8 pills a day. A typical fat burner supplement has enough caffeine in it that taking 8 pills worth could cause some serious negative side effects at that dosage.

In response to such claims, BSN’s website offers the following statement:

The amount of caffeine in ATRO-PHEX® cannot be disclosed due to the fact that it’s part of one of the 5 proprietary complexes that make up the complete ATRO-PHEX® formula, namely the Adipose Atrophy & Energy Stimulator Matrix™.

I took Atro-Phex exactly as directed by the company, having one pill 30 minutes before breakfast and then another pill 30 minutes before my lunch 4-5 hours later. Atro-Phex definitely energized me for my workouts. I did not increase my pill dosage above one per serving, no more than 2 per day due to my consumption of the pre-workout I take for my weightlifting sessions that also contain caffeine and my daily beverage intake that also includes caffeine. At this dosage level I did not experience any harsh interactions with the pre-workout supplement I was taking at that time.

I have taken the same pre-workout several cycles over the last 2 years and based on the normal level of focus that PWO gives me I was able to make an evaluation on whether or not I received any extra “Focus and Well-Being” or not. I would say that I did not gain any extra focus from this pill despite its claims. However, I did experience what I would describe as slight mood elevation, a sense of well-being when I took the product.

I did experience slight weight loss during this two week period of time. I believe a longer six week trial would need to be conducted with more precise measurements made in overall body composition to determine its full effects on fat burning and weight management. However, I would make an educated guess based on my increased energy levels and since I did not gain any weight during this time and that it was in fact increasing my metabolism, having a diuretic effect, and I was burning more calories in general. I did not notice any significant change in my bathroom visits. It seems as if it is an effective energy and weight management supplement if used correctly in conjunction with diet and exercise as BSN claims.

As I said in my review of Hyper Shred, despite my general mistrust of supplement companies I would state that BSN may be one of the better companies out there as they have won more awards over the last six years than any other sports nutrition company during that time period. They’ve also grown into one of the largest sports supplement companies in the world in a mere ten years in existence, built on the reliability of the quality of their products.

Overall, I would recommend Atro-Phex to someone asking me of its efficacy. However, I wouldn’t recommend this to someone just wanting fat-burning and weight loss. I would say this is a more specialized type of fat burner, aimed more at someone on the edge of seeking water loss in hopes of breaking through a barrier to see results in tone at an already low level of body fat.

I would also warn the person about its claims of impacting insulin and their refusal to reveal it’s caffeine content. BSN’s Hyper Shred or Thermonex may be more in line with someone seeking a lot of fat loss and not already at a lower level of body fat percentage compared to Atro-Phex which claims its product has diuretic and insulin regulation effects.

Comparative cost: A 48 pill bottle sells for $27.99 on their website; this breaks down into $8.16 per week at their lowest recommended dosage and $32.66 per week at the highest recommended dosage. Compared to this best thermogenic I have ever used, this is a slightly lower cost at the lowest dosage, but much higher at the maximum dosage. My average rating in this category is mostly due to the fact that BSN does not reveal the caffeine content, so it is hard to do a legitimate caffeine mg per price comparison. Despite that, I will say that it would be a good product to use in an offcycle with a different thermogenic.

Effectiveness: The energy is there and I believe a long term trial would result in fat burning and help someone manage their weight once they’ve reached their ideal weight. However, most weightlifters are using pre-workouts that provide a focus factor already and this product does not noticeably contribute to that. The sense of well being was very slight, but was there. A positive benefit to this slight elevation is that there is not a “crash” side effect as it wears off. However, measuring a diuretic effect and insulin regulation effect are not something an average person is able to do without professional assistance, so those claims would mostly go unchallenged by the average consumer.

Long Term Sustainability: My low rating in this category again comes from the failure to reveal the caffeine content. If two pills are giving energy boosts, those boosts are most likely coming from the caffeine; I can’t imagine what 8 pills a day would do, nor would I recommend anyone find out. As you’ll see on BSN’s website, and as I mentioned above, Atro-Phex won a BodyBuilding.com award in 2008, so clearly there is staying power, but with more and more consumers becoming more educated about the ingredients in supplements, I am curious as to whether Atro-Phex will continue to stay sell well without more disclosure.

Negative Side Effects: I experienced no upset stomach symptoms and no feelings of nervousness while taking this product that you can experience from other thermogenics. However, any supplement claiming any kind of effects on insulin have always concerned me because my personal opinion is that insulin should only be regulated by food unless such regulation is under the supervision of a medical professional.

For more information on Atro-Phex and the wide range of products that BSN has to offer, visit BSNonline.net, like their Facebook page and follow them on Twitter, @BSNsupplements.