Is PeptiStrong a Scam? - TLDR

SUMMARY:  It is our opinion that PeptiStrong is a scam. Many of its studies are either in mice or against a placebo doing nothing. The most interesting study has conflicts of interest, and is incorrectly designed. 

PeptiStrong is a hydrolyzed fava bean peptide. What's interesting about this is that the creators claim PeptiStrong does not directly increase muscle protein synthesis but signals your body to increase it with a single 2.4-gram dose. When they compare PeptiStrong to a placebo, e.g., doing nothing, they test at the 2.4-gram dose. However, in the single study comparing against protein which actually can increase muscle protein synthesis...they increased the dosage nearly 10x to 20 grams? This seems to entirely discredit the whole protein signaling story. Equally, worryingly, they compared PeptiStrong to Milk Protein Concentrate that is only 59% protein. This is among the worst protein you can compare against, chances are the protein you are taking is Whey isolate at 90%+ protein. Even with the nearly 10x clinical dosage against an inferior protein, there wasn’t a significant difference between the two groups in terms of muscle loss, strength loss, or recovery.

If this study was correctly designed, they would compare 2.4 grams of PeptiStrong to a normal 25 gram dose of whey protein isolate. This would actually give us information on the PeptiStrong signaling claim. This study was designed to get a positive outcome for marketing claims, not to answer the question whether PeptiStrong is actually better. 

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof, particularly when you can't feel the benefits, like improving muscle protein synthesis. PeptiStrong studies have four inventors or employees listed as authors (to their credit, they do disclose this conflict). Science without independence is pointless. It's like when the tobacco companies put out human clinical research showing smoking was healthy for you here. The need for independence is so obvious Dilbert even did a comic about it here. These studies are just an advertisement by the creators in disguise. 

Avoid PeptiStrong, just use Whey.

Agree with our opinion? Disagree? Either way, be sure to let the FTC know here.
Alternatively, email Christine DeLorme from the FTC's Division of Advertising Practices directly: [email protected]

What is a TLDR review?

A full ingredient review takes weeks to research and weeks to write up as they are 2000–4000 words in length. We love the research part but don't have a full mastery of the English language and loathe the writing. TLDR means "Too long, didn't read". We are going to try doing the same research and just writing a summary. If an ingredient gets enough views, we will expand this to a full write-up. We hope this allows us to give our opinion on more ingredients and prioritize novel new ingredients that just launched.